An analysis of selecting personal protective equipment clothing used in foundries

A foundry is a type of factory that deals with producing metal casting. The metals are casted in to shape by being melted into liquid and is then poured into the mold. Personal protective equipment (PPE) is worn to protect the worker from the hazard that engineering control cannot protect the worker from. A Private company wanted to evaluate their current PPE clothing to understand how well they protect a worker against molten metal splash PPE clothing was tested using the American Standard for Testing Material (ASTM) standard F955-07 entitled "Evaluating Heat Transfer through Materials for Protective Clothing upon Contact with Molten Substances." The ASTM standard F955-07 evaluates the protection of the PPE clothing by their visual appears and calculating the total heat energy through the fabric after molten metal impact. The visual examination evaluates extent of fabric damage by five different categories( charring, shrinkage, metal adherence, and break out/ perforation).The total heat energy is calculated to determine if the PPE clothing will protective a worker from a 2nd degree burn if splashed with molten metal. Twenty six different clothing was used for this experiment of those twenty-six, twenty-one was tested with molten iron and the other five was tested with molten brass. An examination of their results was completed to determine how well the private company was protecting their workers, and if personal protective clothing manufactured for protection from molten metal splash provides the best protection for foundry workers. Results found that majority of the clothing used in the foundries did not protect the worker from attaining a second degree burn, and the PPE clothing manufactured to protect against molten metal provides the best protection against molten metal splash.