VDMA guideline "Welding without fume - capturing, extracting and filtering"
The VDMA Working Group on Dedusting Technology summarizes the most important regulations on air pollution control at welding workstations in the current new edition of the guide "Welding without smoke - capturing, extracting and filtering". It not only provides orientation and assistance for manufacturers and operators, but also answers fundamental questions.
The new edition of the guide provides an overview of the current legal requirements and measures for air pollution control at workplaces where welding work is carried out on metallic materials. This includes the following processes: Welding, thermal cutting and gouging, thermal spraying, soldering, flame straightening, additive manufacturing processes with metal powders. The publication of the Working Group on Dedusting Technology concentrates primarily on welding in the narrower sense and does not deal with the welding of plastics.
Fumes and gases that are classified as hazardous substances are generated during welding processes, among other things, which is why laws, ordinances and regulations on occupational health and safety deal with the subject in numerous points. However, the legislation is often difficult to understand. In view of the complexity of the regulations, the VDMA guideline aims to present the background in a comprehensible way, to point out correlations and to provide impulses. It also answers fundamental questions: How does welding fume arise, what does it consist of and how does it spread? And how does it affect people? "Working with welding technology poses a particular challenge for employees due to the many different types of exposure," says Klaus Rabenstein, Chairman of the Dedusting Technology Working Group. "The revised VDMA guideline therefore supports companies on the way to better occupational health and safety, although it should not replace the study of the relevant directives, laws and regulations." The new edition "Welding without fume - capturing, extracting and filtering for mobile and stationary systems" is available for download.