oxalic acid sublimation

[beesknee]

Hello every one, my ? is what is the best mask/respirator to use when vaporizing oxalic acid,thanks in anticipation Brian

 

[Erichalfbee]

Google for a mask with an N95 particulate rating which I'm sure is the European standard. Agri-Nova supply a mask with their Varrox but I can't remember what it is. I don't use one. tut tut!!!

 

[beesknee]

Google for a mask with an N95 particulate rating which I'm sure is the European standard. Agri-Nova supply a mask with their Varrox but I can't remember what it is. I don't use one. tut tut!!!

thanks for that

 

[einsteinagogo]

Google for a mask with an N95 particulate rating which I'm sure is the European standard. Agri-Nova supply a mask with their Varrox but I can't remember what it is. I don't use one. tut tut!!!

I'm not sure the Agri-Nova mask is rated at anything!

It looks like one you would use to stop colds, certainly not OA!

I don't use it!

I use a 3M, Full Face, respirator, with changeable cartridges, probably OTT, but safe.

 

[Moggs]

The dust masks as supplied for use with some vapourisers are not suitable for fumes. Indeed, poor protection with any degree of complacency makes for a dangerous combination.


I've had that déjà vu before...

 

[oliver90owner]

I would suggest you seek advice from your local PPE supplier. Different filters are available for different particulates.

 

[TryingToLetThemBee]

Nothing to beat getting upwind of a decent breeze.

 

[Arfermo]

Nothing to beat getting upwind of a decent breeze.

Couldn't agree more. Too many 'elf and safety nerds hereabouts.

 

[Gilberdyke John]

Nothing to beat getting upwind of a decent breeze.

And a good length of suitable capacity connection cable

 

[Moggs]

Couldn't agree more. Too many 'elf and safety nerds hereabouts.

I would imagine that this is aimed, in part, at me. Yes, I am in fact a H&S professional as part of my work. It's unfortunate that attitudes like yours contribute to untold misery when it's all too late and damage to health occurs through an unnecessarily cavalier or misinformed approach. Oxalic acid fume can be damaging.


I've had that déjà vu before...

 

[Gilberdyke John]

I would imagine that this is aimed, in part, at me. Yes, I am in fact a H&S professional as part of my work. It's unfortunate that attitudes like yours contribute to untold misery when it's all too late and damage to health occurs through an unnecessarily cavalier or misinformed approach. Oxalic acid fume can be damaging.


I've had that déjà vu before...

Too many H&S professionals about who seem to think their purpose in life is to sit behind a desk inventing rules. These are then aided and abetted by a thousand more amateurs spreading misinformation and enhancements until the whole thing becomes the nonsense we now have. Common sense has gone out of the window.

 

[Moggs]

Too many H&S professionals about who seem to think their purpose in life is to sit behind a desk inventing rules. These are then aided and abetted by a thousand more amateurs spreading misinformation and enhancements until the whole thing becomes the nonsense we now have. Common sense has gone out of the window.

Examples?
The OP asked a perfectly reasonable question concerning a health hazard only to see an inference by certain irresponsible people that such equipment isn't needed - even in the light of manufacturers' acknowledgement of the risks. Go figure.

I've had that déjà vu before...

 

[mbc]

I'm struggling to find any reference to damaged lungs from oxalic acid fumes, if anyone can post a link I'd be grateful.

 

[Arfermo]

I'm struggling to find any reference to damaged lungs from oxalic acid fumes, if anyone can post a link I'd be grateful.

I've hunted for that information over the last 8 years and have found nothing that confirms, for instance, claims of mortality from the sort of minor whiff of the fumes that a beekeeper might get doing sublimation with due care, having read what the sublimation tool makers offer by way of basic advice, by putting up the traditional umbrella of course. Stand upwind and well away and any whiff one might get is so dilute that it is non-existent as a perilous event. H&S be damned - utter rubbish in this circumstance. Next thing will be space suits and oxygen tanks?

 

[Cussword]

Oxalic acid fume can be damaging.

So are the fumes from car exhausts, people have the sense not to lie down behind the vehicle and breathe them in.

 

[Gilberdyke John]

Examples?
The OP asked a perfectly reasonable question concerning a health hazard only to see an inference by certain irresponsible people that such equipment isn't needed - even in the light of manufacturers' acknowledgement of the risks. Go figure.

I've had that déjà vu before...

There's plenty of them about mostly revolving around activities which everyone who was around before the HSAW act came into being did every day WITHOUT DYING but now see restrictions at every turn. As a youth I sprayed formaldehyde onto the glass inside our glasshouses, burnt sulphur in the vinery, climbed ladders to pick fruit from trees with a bushel basket in one hand, had the temerity to walk near the edge of a flat roof without a railing round it, played on park equipment mounted on concrete bases and lots more. Staggeringly I had enough sense to know how to manage not to come to grief. I could even walk along the edge of a river and not fall in.
Darwinism is a fact.

 

[Cussword]

There's plenty of them about mostly revolving around activities which everyone who was around before the HSAW act came into being did every day WITHOUT DYING but now see restrictions at every turn. As a youth I sprayed formaldehyde onto the glass inside our glasshouses, burnt sulphur in the vinery, climbed ladders to pick fruit from trees with a bushel basket in one hand, had the temerity to walk near the edge of a flat roof without a railing round it, played on park equipment mounted on concrete bases and lots more. Staggeringly I had enough sense to know how to manage not to come to grief. I could even walk along the edge of a river and not fall in.
Darwinism is a fact.

That's exactly what I meant

 

[Moggs]

There's plenty of them about mostly revolving around activities which everyone who was around before the HSAW act came into being did every day WITHOUT DYING but now see restrictions at every turn. As a youth I sprayed formaldehyde onto the glass inside our glasshouses, burnt sulphur in the vinery, climbed ladders to pick fruit from trees with a bushel basket in one hand, had the temerity to walk near the edge of a flat roof without a railing round it, played on park equipment mounted on concrete bases and lots more. Staggeringly I had enough sense to know how to manage not to come to grief. I could even walk along the edge of a river and not fall in.
Darwinism is a fact.

Yippee! So did I. However, try and show me just one piece of H&S legislation that is not appropriate. I'm not talking of rumour-mongering and 'bad press'. Yes, there are tales of conker matches being prohibited in playgrounds and such-like but these over-zealous, back-protecting misinterpretations of H&S law are not helpful.

However, when the risk of respiratory damage due to acidic fume inhalation is present and such risk can be controlled relatively easily, why not, for goodness' sake? That, surely, is 'common sense'!

My advice would be to look at facts - look at the Law and perhaps look at the consequences of not taking 'reasonable' precautions where real hazards exist.

And in this case, from a RA point of view... Risk exists, consequences of risk are significant (let's imagine an inadvertent lungful of OA fume), cost of control is slight. Your choice.

 

[Moggs]

I've hunted for that information over the last 8 years and have found nothing that confirms, for instance, claims of mortality from the sort of minor whiff of the fumes that a beekeeper might get doing sublimation with due care, having read what the sublimation tool makers offer by way of basic advice, by putting up the traditional umbrella of course. Stand upwind and well away and any whiff one might get is so dilute that it is non-existent as a perilous event. H&S be damned - utter rubbish in this circumstance. Next thing will be space suits and oxygen tanks?

I take it by the apparent condemnation of all things H&S that you are jumping on the bandwagon and using this issue of reasonable control measures to bash all aspects of safety management. We all have choices - just as the ill-informed manager has the choice to implement 'silly' or 'over-the-top' regulation. That will unfortunately remain his/ her prerogative but all-too-often does not reflect the real issues behind H&S legislation, especially in the workplace where employers have a statutory duty of care.
One only has to pop into an A&E Department now and again to see the consequences of getting things wrong. We all take risks, minute by minute - if we didn't, we would stay in bed all day. Unfortunately, there are those individuals who sometimes get the risk assessment wrong and end up injured, or dead. I agree that sometimes, control measures are over-prescribed but that is the fault of the misinformed, not that arising from a pragmatic, objective and 'real' assessment of risk.

 

[Quis Custodiet]

Too many H&S professionals about who seem to think their purpose in life is to sit behind a desk inventing rules. These are then aided and abetted by a thousand more amateurs spreading misinformation and enhancements until the whole thing becomes the nonsense we now have. Common sense has gone out of the window.

May one say how right you are (without wishing to inflame the situation). The world today is infested with "job-worths", instant experts and morons who got their names on some complimentary certificate after five days of imaginary partime study. These have in common, the lack of wit to realise their total inability to make any positive contribution to society and that in the commercial world they would be unemployable. They have grandiose titles bestowed on them, usually by left wing governments / local authorities; the correct title is Parasite. I find it difficult to maintain this level of retraint and so conclude by expressing sympathy to those whose lives are impinged on by these misfits.