IIW History 1990-2015

With respect to research experiments on welding fume there were questions regarding the consistency in the methods used for sampling and characterising arc welding fume particles. McMillan was to comment on this by indicating that ‘...the dynamic physical and chemical nature of welding fume presents challenges to meaningful sampling and analysis and care must be taken to ensure that the results of the analysis actually represents the hazards the welder is facing and have not been significantly altered by the sampling method’. 31 The problem of manganese and its link to manganismwas still a vexing one and galvanised discussions even further by C-VIII in the period up to the end of McMillan’s third and final three-year term as Chair. Whilst the C-VIII statement on manganese had not been issued at this stage McMillan discussed his current thoughts on whether manganese was linked to Parkinson’s disease, or manganism, both of which by now were considered to be two quite different types of neurological disorder. Based on the low incidence in the literature of manganism being associated with welding, McMillan suggested to the Commission that welders were not apparently at a high risk of clinical damage from exposure to manganese in the fume. The IIW Statement on Manganese , included in the IIW 2008 International Conference proceedings, was to reiterate McMillan’s conclusions by stating that there is no convincing evidence that exposure to manganese-containing fume carried an increased risk in causing neurobehavioural issues, and that clinical manganism and Parkinson’s disease can be differentiated from one another with care and thorough investigation. 32 At the end of the meeting Beaufils presented McMillan with a certificate of appreciation for his many years of service to C-VIII and Dr Luca Costa (Italy) was named as McMillan’s successor as Chair. It was also announced that Mr Jeffery Sowards (USA) of Ohio State University had been awarded the Granjon Prize (Category IV) for his paper Method for Sampling and Characterising Arc Welding Fume Particles .

Benefiting welders with good fume extraction

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