NIOSH has set recommended guidelines for occupational metalworking fluid exposure, to keep our workers healthy.  This 10 chapter book touches base on many facets of the metalworking industry, and includes suggestions for Occupational Safety and Health programs for prevention of work-related injuries, illnesses, and deaths.  This set of guidelines is invaluable to the industry, as plant workers are constantly exposed to various forms of potential mishaps and danger…metalworking fluid exposure is just one of the aforementioned hazards, and therefore, it is a concern with which everyone in the metalworking industry should be familiar.

Some plants may choose to exhaust their contaminants, usually if the contamination is a nuisance which permeates the air and forms a cloudy, foggy environment.  Exhaust is an effective method to rid the shop air of the visible fog, but it’s also blowing out all that precious heat and air conditioning, helping to keep that electric bill nice and hefty.  More importantly, exhausting your contaminated air is polluting the environment, ruining other people’s air as well as your own…a lose-lose situation.  Another point to bear in mind is that your workers are inhaling this contaminated air as it’s coming off of the process, where it is a lot more concentrated, therefore more dangerous to the operator.  So, exhausting the ambient air doesn’t really solve the immediate problem, only the nuisance afterthought, and there comes a time when employee safety must be embraced.

Each day, more and more machine shops are putting measures into place to clean up their shop environment, whether it is due to OSHA regulations, employee health concerns, or aesthetic cleanliness.  Whatever the reason may be, these shops are on the right track, and it’s only a matter of time before everyone realizes that this is a situation in which it’s okay to follow the crowd…