Sunday 29 July 2012

Welding Safety Equipment - "Safety never takes a holiday !!!"

Welding is a potentially very dangerous and hazardous job. Therefore it is essential that you have the right protective equipment needed before you start.

When you weld you produce a huge amount of heat, light and fumes that can be incredibly harmful to you. So to shield you from these dangers you need to have the right protective equipment.

When choosing welding safety equipment, there are many things to consider but a prime consideration would be the type of welding that would be going on. This would determine what possible dangers the welding professional would be exposed to and how best to go about combating these dangers.

The use of welding safety equipments is essential to protect the areas of the body most vulnerable to hazards, which result directly from welding activities. As a result, welding safety equipments focus on protecting the head, the eyes, the body, the legs and feet of a welding professional. Welding safety equipments would include welding apparel, welding safety goggles and safety harnesses amongst others.

To start with you should have a welding mask and safety goggles that you wear underneath your mask. These welding masks will guard you against the damaging effects of the ultraviolet and infrared lights that are produced whilst welding. They will also protect your head and eyes from flying bits of metal, slag, burns and fumes.

OSHA (Occupational Safety and Health Administration) recognizes three broad categories under which welding goggles fall. These are the Eyecup Clear Safety Lens welding goggles; the Eyecup Coversepc Clear Safety Lens welding goggles and the Eyecup Coversepc Tinted welding goggles.


If your welding mask doesn't cover the whole of your head then it may be necessary for you to wear further headgear. A welder's fire-resistant cap will protect your head from flying sparks and burns. Similarly earmuffs will shield your ears against flying hot metal and also guard them from excessive noise.

Another important piece of safety equipment when welding is a good pair of boots. The boots should be made of leather, steel-toed and high-topped. These will help protect your feet and ankles from injury.

The next area of safety equipment to look at is gloves. You should always wear dry, thick, insulated welding gloves. These are necessary to protect your hands from burns and radiation. Welder's gloves are usually made of leather and are fire-resistant.

The safety harnesses are used by workers for welding activities in the air and are imperative in protection from falls. There are a lot of injuries from falls resulting from malfunctions of safety harnesses. The major reason for these injuries is that most safety harnesses have nylon webbings which could easily burn when sparks from welding activities touch them. Welding apparel protecting vulnerable parts are advised.

Finally you need to insure that the rest of your body is protected. You should always wear clothing of heavy materials such as wool or thick cotton. These materials are harder to ignite and therefore provide better protection against burns. You should avoid wearing any synthetic fabrics as they will burn easily and can melt onto your skin.

When choosing your clothing you need to make sure that all the parts of your body are completely covered. This means wearing long-sleeved shirts and long trousers, definitely no t-shirts or shorts. Your clothing needs to be kept clean and free from holes, tears or frays. Any clothing that is stained with oil, grease or any other solvents will be more at risk of catching fire. Whereas clothing that has holes or is frayed will be more likely to let heat and sparks through or become snagged on something.

All welding safety equipment should be purchased from reliable vendors and should come with clear and legible instructions.
For more visit : eVersity.co