Health and safety in the shop or garage
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Do not use thinners or solvents to clean your hands or other body parts. Solvents and thinners do soak through your skin and into your blood stream. Many solvents and thinners are very toxic and could cause severe irritations, sickness or death. | Do not use thinners or solvents to clean your hands or other body parts. Solvents and thinners do soak through your skin and into your blood stream. Many solvents and thinners are very toxic and could cause severe irritations, sickness or death. | ||
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| + | ==Brake parts cleaner, welding, and phosgene poisoning== | ||
| + | Phosgene, a deadly gas, may be produced when welding parts that have been cleaned with solvents containing chlorinated hydrocarbons, such as brake parts cleaner. | ||
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| + | Phosgene was used during World War I as a chemical weapon. It is often not detectable, but may also smell like freshly mown grass or musty hay. | ||
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| + | Phosgene is a combustion product of various common chlorinated solvents. It does not occur naturally. Ultraviolet radiation (like that created during welding) can convert chloroform into phosgene. | ||
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| + | Phosgene is an irritant that damages the skin, eyes, nose, throat, and lungs. Symptoms of phosgene exposure include coughing, burning sensation in throat and eyes, watery eyes, blurred vision, shortness of breath, nausea, vomiting, and pulmonary edema. Delayed effects of phosgene exposure (up to 48 hours later) include difficulty breathing, coughing up white or pink fluid, low blood pressure, and heart failure. Long-term health effects of phosgene exposure can include chronic bronchitis and emphysema. | ||
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| + | The effects of gas poisoning may not show up immediately, and may be cumulative over time, with multiple exposures. | ||
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| + | By the time you can smell phosgene, you've already been exposed to a hazardous dose of it. Because of this, prolonged exposure to phosgene without intervention is possible. The OSHA permissible exposure limit to phosgene is 0.1 ppm averaged over an 8-hour workshift. Phosgene is considered immediately dangerous to life or health at 2 ppm. Because the odor detection threshold is 0.4 to 1.5 ppm, odor does not provide sufficient warning of harmful phosgene concentration in the air. | ||
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| + | If you think you may have been exposed to phosgene, move outside or to fresh air. Phosgene is heavier than air, and will sink, so move to higher ground if possible. If your eyes are burning or your vision is blurred, rinse your eyes with fresh water for 10 to 15 minutes. Seek medical attention. | ||
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| + | ===Details=== | ||
| + | *[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phosgene Wikipedia page on phosgene] | ||
| + | *[http://www.cdc.gov/niosh/npg/npgd0504.html NIOSH pocket guide to phosgene] | ||
| + | *[http://www.atsdr.cdc.gov/mhmi/mmg176.html CDC medical management guidelines for phosgene] | ||
| + | *[http://www.bt.cdc.gov/agent/phosgene/basics/facts.asp CDC facts about phosgene] | ||
== Skin Protection == | == Skin Protection == | ||
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[[Category:Garage and shop]] | [[Category:Garage and shop]] | ||
[[Category:Safety]] | [[Category:Safety]] | ||
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==References== | ==References== | ||
*http://www.hotrodders.com/forum/sulfuric-battery-acid-uses-136173.html | *http://www.hotrodders.com/forum/sulfuric-battery-acid-uses-136173.html | ||
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