Evening all
I have been watching this thread with interest, so here is my 2 penny worth.
As a professional H&S Consultant, dust is a big issue to all concerned, but....isnt there always a but. With all the chip extractors, hovers, masks, air filters etc you will always have ambient dust. Although dust is heaver than air you will get airborne dust as soon as you get air movement in the premises where you work.
So even if you have a mask you are arleady inhaling it before you start, or even if you are not doing any real dusty work. I too like many others have a mask, but only use it when I am doing heavy or long periods of sanding, and no I don't have a beard.
My father was a cabinet maker from when he was demobbed at 27 and worked with wood in one way or another until he died a couple of years ago due to cancer (prostrate) and he smoked and drank like billieo. In the world of H&S an employer has a duty of care towards their staff and have to ensure that the work place is safe as is reasonable practicable and this involves equipment, training, cleaning....blah blah blah. When we start to look at extraction, then is goes to overdrive...particle checks on the tubes, exhaust particles, filtration, volume of air extracted per hour and for what type of machine etc So where is this going to stop....errr never, it is impossible to remove the entire dust generation either in hobby or professional lives. I hope to leave the H&S World to do what I want as a cabinet maker....does it worry me about breathing dust...the answer is no, not really for one, I am going to die one day, two, it is part of the risk we take every day when making stuff out of wood and three there are worse thing to die from. To be honest, most people will become sensitised to wood of one speices or another or maybe all and then you can no longer work with wood...to me that is the worst, not being able to do what you love.
Like Dr Bob, I run and exercise, why because it is something I have always done. Is it going to protect me, yes in some ways. Will it stop me from dieing....No. So in reality if you take ( as a hobby woodworker) sensible precautions, you should be fine, but who really knows as we are all different on a microscopic level. As for companies...well that is a different matter all together.
So all in all, if you are really paranoid about dust, then why are you playing with wood and making dust. After all you could step into a road and get run over by a bus.
