It is universally applicable to use the best welding equipment and safety practices. Everyone is exposed to similar hazards when welding, it does not matter who it is, an independent fabricator, to a billion-dollar engineering firm, you are responsible for overall safety. Below are 12 tips to improve the welding safety of your company, and it includes advice to improve productivity.

1. Reading the book

There is important safety information in the welder’s operating manual, and procedure information or maximizing the potential of machines. Ensure all that operate a machine becomes familiar with the contents. If a manual is lost or damaged, you should get a replacement from the manufacturer. There are many manufacturers that offer online manuals. No article should be used for replacing a manufacturer’s recommendations and suggestions within the manual.

2. Button up

When you have skin that is exposed, it becomes susceptible to damaging and painful effects that infrared and ultraviolet rays provide. Additionally, open pockets can catch sparks, and they can travel down shirts or pant cuffs that are not buttoned fully. While the welder is ‘under the hood’, the sparks could smolder and go unnoticed. You should always button shirt cuffs, collars, and front pockets to avoid catching the sparks, while covering your skin. Also, you should never weld with butane lighters or matches in your pockets. Because pants with cuffs can catch sparks, you should avoid wearing cuffed pants too.

3. Wearing correct gear

Short sleeve shirts and shorts should never be worn when welding. If you are simply doing a quick tack weld, you still need to take proper precautions and wear safety gear, including gloves, helmet and clothing.

You should wear flame resistant clothing only, such as shirts made with material that is woven tight, or a welding jacket and denim pants. Excuses of a welding jacket being too heavy to move in, or getting to hot are things in the past. This is because safety gear producers are creating welding jackets that are lightweight and flame resistant, or using pigskin leather and a mix of these two which provide improved protection with an increase of movement than before.

Now, gloves are no longer a one size fits all issue. The producers of safety gloves are now asking them with ergonomically curved fingers, with various designs based on the type of welding. Some of these include medium-duty MIG or TIG gloves, and heavy-duty Stick/MIG gloves, which offer additional dexterity and touch, but many more options are available too. Although, it should be noted that welding gloves are not enough to handle materials that were just welded, you should still use pliers to avoid being burned.

4. The correct shoes

When it comes to shoes, the best for protection are boots or high top leather shoes. You should wear pant legs over the shoes or boots, and never wear cloth shoes such as tennis shoes. If you ignore this tip, the first sign may be an unpleasant burning as the sparks and hot metal droppings go through

5. Breathing

Smoke and fumes that are emitted in the welding process often pose health hazards. When you are welding in a small confined area, there could be an accumulation of toxic fumes, or the shielding gasses could replace the breathable air. You should make use of an exhaust hood for removing any fumes to make sure you have enough clean air available for breathing. There are certain materials that require using respirators during the welding process, so the manufactures welding electrode data sheet should be read, or consult the industrial safety specialist or welding engineer to determine the correct procedure.

6. Don’t look at the light

When welding, it only takes a glance to the rays from the welding arc for ‘arc flash’ to be experienced by unprotected eyes. This is a condition that is not only painful, but may not be apparent for hours after exposure.

The welding helmet needs to be properly fitted with a filter shade for protecting the face of the operator, as well as their eyes during watching or welding. Additionally, approved safety glasses should be used under the helmet that have ear protection and side shields. Also, installing barriers or screens when appropriate can help protect bystanders from experiencing arc flash.

You should always choose a lens shade that is appropriate for the welding application. A guide is offered by OSHA for determining the correct lens shade based on various welding criteria. If the materials and parameters of welding you conduct does not change, the best option may be a fixed-shade lens.

7. Auto-Darkening Helmets

Auto-darkening helmets come with sensors that cause the lens to go dark in a fraction of a second. All of the helmets have to been ANSI standards, with the ANSI Z87.1-2003 being the most recent.

Helmets of industrial grade use speeds between 1/10,000 and 1/20,000 of a second with adjustable shades with a setting for welding that ranges from #9 to #13. Additionally, industrial grade helmets offer sensitivity adjustability which can be useful when welding low amperage. They also come with adjustable delay controls for determining how long the lens remains dark when stopping the arc.

There are various modes in new helmets that allows a single helmet to be used for welding, grinding and cutting. The latest mode developed is able to detect the arc electromagnetically, which provides full protection as sensors become obstructed, like welding out of position or pipe welding

You should always avoid helmets that auto darken with reaction times that are 1/2,000 or 1/3,600 a second because these are not proper for industrial use. Additionally, the reaction time can be delayed by cold weather, this goes for all auto darkening helmets. Helmets that are higher end have ratings for being used to 14 degrees F. Although, the lower end auto darkening helmets with reaction times that are slower may not work quick enough when it’s cold

8. Avoiding Repetitive Stress Injury

In comparison to helmets with a traditional fixed shade, auto darkening helmets help to reduce fatigue of the neck due to being lighter, allowing the operator to close their hoods without having to snap their necks. Additionally, several seconds can be saved between welds with auto darkening helmets, which can add up over time to many minutes. This allows companies to adhere more to build times.

As a professional model auto darkening helmet can cost over $300, to help encourage operators to use them, some companies like Vermeer Manufacturing will split the cost of helmets 50/50 with operators. After three years, the operator will own the helmet outright. Also, with the various graphic designs available, it helps add to the operator’s appeal, which increase the benefits of the auto darkening helmets. In order to make purchasing the helmets easier, Vermeer has an on-site inventory that is maintained by a welding supply partner.

9. Losing the Clutter

To remain organized, Vermeer marks and labels each place for equipment. Each thing has its own place, and the welding area only contains the equipment and tools needed by the operator, nothing else. Instead of using a table that has a fixed height, operators are able to choose the height that is appropriate as welding tables use a scissor mechanism to change height.

10. Using Boom Mounted Wire Feeders

Flexibility, comfort and efficiency is added to higher production weld stations using Boom mounted wire feeders. Wire feeder controls are located at the base of 16 ft or 12 ft booms, with a drive assembly located at the end.

Booms rotate 360 degrees, with a 60-degree vertical movement, creating a work area of 24 ft or 32 ft in diameter. The boom is held in place by a counterbalance when the position is set by the operator.

Safety manager from Brookville Equipment Crop, Cameron Miller has noted “We find boom mounted feeders to be ideal. It is our mission to create a safe workplace or employees, including limiting trip hazards that cable clutter creates. Additionally, eliminating the need to lift feeders, which can hold wire up to 120 lbs. Our operators also weld using various positions, from being on the floor to being on locomotives, so we needed a setup that was clean and versatile. Using boom mounted feeders, our operators can safely conduct their tasks, and maximize productivity and safety.” Brookville’s overall lost time incidence compared to a year ago is down 90%, so boom mounted feeders have benefited greatly.

11. Optimizing fixturing and use it when possible.

A siple gearbox is able to rotate a component of 2,200 lbs. This can increase safety as it eliminates usage of hoist and chains to turn the components, thus eliminating the source of potential hazards.

12. Carrot and Stick Approaches

In order to create a successful implementation, you should avoid making a safety ‘program’ out of welding. Because programs often fade once the initial activity is conducted, employee’s often have different views on ‘programs’. Rather, you should work on incorporating safety in the daily tasks and habits of incentive compliance. The carrot approach is Brookville’s safety method.

“We use rewards to make safety a personal goal. For instance, we gave one of our employees a new Carhatt jacket because of his contribution to safety. Each of our employees understands the reason that he won the jacket.”

The stick approach is used by other companies. For instance, if an employee witnessed a violation of safety, but did not report it they may be held accountable to the same consequences of the violator. Is this harsh? Of course, but it helps to keep the safety of a corporation. Usually, many companies mix the carrot and stick approach in an effort to keep things safe.

As the safety of welding becomes a natural aspect of corporate culture, you’ll begin noticing less lost time incidence, with improving productivity.