[SML] Tool box: what's in your kit

[sdwheaton at fuse.net]

On 7/5/2015 11:03 AM, Dale Farmer wrote:
> On 7/5/2015 2:10 AM, sdwheaton at fuse.net wrote:
>>
>>
>> ----- Original Message -----
>> From: "Dale Farmer via Stagecraft" <stagecraft at theatrical.net>
>>
>>> If you wear contact lenses, your backup glasses, container for contacts, and whatever needed to put them back in after the call.
>>
>> Good advice...
>>
>>> If there is electrical arc welding, contact lenses must be removed due to the UV adhesion danger.
>>
>> Bogus advice...
>>
>> http://www.optometry.org.au/media/278085/position_statement_contact_lenses_and_welding.pdf
>>
>> Stuart
>>
> I stand corrected.  Then I do wonder what other effect caused the guys I treated with soft contact lenses adhered to their eyeballs.  They were both standing firewatch for welders on the ship.  Neither had dark goggles and both denied looking directly at the arc.


I would suspect drying action from wind/fans, smoke/fumes from whatever was being welded, solvents being used nearby, and possibly working too long in the contacts.

A great deal of fear of welding is misguided based upon failing to understand the inverse square law.  Simply put, the intensity of welding light falls off as the square of the increase in distance, at 10' distance from the arc, the light, including  UV and IR is 1% of the amount at 1', this is why every kid who ever walked past a construction site can still see just fine.

Unless you are working in a very confined space, the firewatch should be far enough away to have limited exposure, and should be watching everything except the arc, the welder can see the arc, the firewatch is watching for a fire the welder cannot see.  Another thing to think about is reflected arc light, if the room is white, or you are working in a galley full of stainless, the amount of bright light reflecting around the room may increase exposure.

I doubt if your welders fit the next category, but I have also read reports of women who carry eyedrops, and CA glue to repair damaged fingernails, and there have been cases of mixing up the bottles. The cornea actually heals very quickly and most of these cases resolved within a few days.

And while the plural of anecdote is not data, the welding forums are full of people who have worn contacts for years without trouble, even though we all occasionally flash ourselves, and several have had metal droplets get past the shield and the safety glasses to land right on the contact.  The word there is that it is far easier to remove the contact with the metal stuck on it than to remove the metal from the cornea.

Stuart