Another Warning: Common Cleaners Can Turn Into Poison Gas

Wayne Coe

Wayne Coe

Forum Owner - Moderator
This is an article that was written by Steve Garn (Brew Dude) www.brewracingframes.com and appeared in American Iron Magazine in August 2009. The article has appeared in several of the Blacksmithing Newsletters. Everyone needs to be warned of the common danger. This is another thread that should probably be a Sticky.



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www. Bre w RacingFrames.com.
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WOW!!! After attending a two week HazMat course a few years ago, my eyes were really opened to alot of new dangers that I did not know exist. This is a new one to me. After attending the HazMat course and seeing the dangers of many of the chemicals and materials used in common households, I would strongly advise everyone to compile a HazMat book for thier shops. For those who don't know what I'm talking about, it's just a binder which contains the MSDS data for each if the chemicals you use in your shop. On the MSDS sheets (you can get these from the manufacturer of the product) it will provide the ingredients in the products as well as the "Dos and Don't" (ie. Don't mix Crystal Drano and household bleach). It will also provide you with proper storage proceedures for the product as well as health related information in the event of exposure.

Thank you for sharing this Wayne. Hopefully everyone will read this thread and learn something that can and will save thier life.
 
Hopefully the other thing that can be taken from this story is something , as men , most of us have been guilty of .
What I'm talking about is that the gentleman in the story , even after learning he had just poisoned himself , still waited - 9 DAYS - before seeking any medical attention .​
I know we all go through a phase , usually age 16 - 30 , where we think we're invincible .​
Common Sense people - we all make mistakes - Don't think you can wait it out ...​
We have a lot of young makers here in that age group . Tragedies can happen quick , you need to respond to them intelligently , as this can be a dangerous hobby . Please be careful .​
 
A good topic, for certain. Murph is absolutely right about checking MSDS sheets. In my printing career, I once got a sample of a new blanket wash (basically a solvent for removing ink) from a supplier. The very first time I used it I got a headache that lasted all day; called the supplier the next morning demanding the MSDS sheet and was told, "we can't give you that, it's a proprietary formula and we don't want anyone copying it." BALONEY! I sent the junk back postage due and never ordered from them again.

EDIT: getting back to the original intent of the thread... for goodness sakes NEVER allow bleach and ammonia to mix. It's important to be careful with either one by itself (can be very irritating) but the two together produce really nasty stuff, in WWI it was used to debilitate troops and would definitely ruin your day, possibly even kill you.

More interesting links:

Understanding Warning Labels

Common but Hazardous Household Chemicals
 
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Great Post Wayne! Always work in a well ventilated area working with everything.
 
Bill T said:
Hopefully the other thing that can be taken from this story is something , as men , most of us have been guilty of .
What I'm talking about is that the gentleman in the story , even after learning he had just poisoned himself , still waited - 9 DAYS - before seeking any medical attention .​
I know we all go through a phase , usually age 16 - 30 , where we think we're invincible .​
Common Sense people - we all make mistakes - Don't think you can wait it out ...​
We have a lot of young makers here in that age group . Tragedies can happen quick , you need to respond to them intelligently , as this can be a dangerous hobby . Please be careful .​
Click to expand...

There is a similar problem with older men like myself. Over many years of going to a doctor (not too often) with something you think could be something serious or the start of something serious and the doctor basically tells you to man up (maybe not in those words) and deal with it and then you get the bill for the 5 minutes you spent in his office..... you might not be so willing to head to the doctors office, let alone the emergency room. If you get bit by a rattlesnake and you know it's a rattlesnake, you'll get yourself to the doctor, but get bit by a snake that you have no clue what it is and you might sit around waiting to see if your skin turns black before you go to the doc.

EDIT: I guess that's a good reason to know what kind of snakes your handling :)
 
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Wow you never know what's going to bite you in the back side. There are so many things out there that can hurt you that seem basically harmless. I for one am guilty of not reading all labels, but not anymore. Thanks for posting Wayne and yes this should be a sticky.

Larry
 
I have enough trouble with acid and chlorine sanitizer. Not mustard but chlorine gas as they used in the trenches of WWI. Had an employee thought the drainwas smelly so poured sanitizer down it and cleared the plant out for a couple of hours.
 
Good thread guys. I deal with chemicals all the time and you can find MSDS's on line with a little effort. I find that easier than contacting a company because I'm too lazy to do that.

As far as cleaners go, I understand that Simple Green was developed by a man who witnessed a bad chemical incident and decided to do something so it would be less likely to happen again. I also understand it works very well.

Carey
 
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