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LINKING PEOPLE, JOINING NATIONS
proven it was stated that C-VIII would keep this situation under review.
1
IIW also held
a very successful
Colloquium on Health and Safety
in 1980 that addressed many of the
problems facing the welding industry. Occupational Health and Safety (OHS) was to come
under increasing scrutiny in the 1980s with national and local government bodies placing
greater emphasis on improving workplace safety through legislation, even to the extent that
direct action could be taken in the case of non-compliance, particularly where neglect or
omission could be proven.
In many cases, with regards to the long-term effects of welding, the
jury was still out and most evidence was either circumstantial or anecdotal
and it was easy to deflect criticism on other causal effects. C-VIII was
quite active in the 1980s with a number of publications, including
Potential
Health Hazards for Welders Involved in Oxy-Fuel Gas Welding, Heating
and Cutting
;
Brazing and Soldering
; and
Plasma Arc-Cutting and Welding
prepared by Mr M. Tinkler (Canada).
2
Tinkler, incidentally, also chaired a
working group that produced a series of fume data sheets for the various
consumables well before the Globalised Harmonized System of classification
and labelling of chemicals (GHS) impacted consumable manufacturers. Dr
Grant McMillan (UK), a future Chair of C-VIII also published a paper on
the
Health of Welders in Naval Dockyards
which was of primary interest to
him since he was involved in this area through his position as a physician
with the Royal Navy’s Institute of Naval Medicine.
3
C-VIII was to become
a regular producer of similar documents and papers on health and safety
during the 1980s, many of which were published in
Welding in the World
.
An area that did raise initial concern with C-VIII was hardfacing and this resulted
in one of IIW’s early publications through the issue of fume information sheets outlining
the potential hazards and precautions to be undertaken when using arc
surfacing materials, welding nickel alloys or nickel-chromium alloy
consumables, and when using consumables for welding and brazing
cast-iron. These all had varying levels of toxicity during the various
arc welding processes. This was one of the first times that guidance
documents such as these for hardfacing were issued through IIW
for the use of the welding industry.
4
IIW, through C-VIII, in conjunction with the Lindholmen
Industrial Development Centre in Göteborg, Sweden, also
set up four workplaces for manual arc welding in 1990
whereby a variety of equipment was used to obtain a practical
understanding into the improvement of the welder’s work
Grant McMillan