Welding fume exposure assessment under isolated process conditions

The exposures of artist welders to fume generated during isolated field-based and laboratory-based welding activities were assessed. Emission rates and emission factors unique to each artist welder's particular welding process and materials combination were also developed.;Three artist welders who resided in Illinois were selected from a group of artists who completed a questionnaire regarding welding practices. These three artist welders participated in personal exposure monitoring under both field and laboratory conditions to enable the assessment of personal exposures as well as area sampling results. The area sampling results were used to derive emission rates and factors for each unique welding process and process parameters. The artists typically worked alone, as opposed to welders in general industry, who typically work in close proximity to other welders. This allowed the isolation of the exposures of the artists to fume.;The findings indicated that the field- and laboratory-based exposure concentrations for each unique welding process were comparable to literature-based values. The emission rates and emission factors, obtained under both field and laboratory conditions, were also comparable to values reported in the literature. Discrepancies were attributed to the field-based activities related to welding, such as grinding and cutting, which typically were not incorporated in laboratory- and literature-based experiments.