Toolbox Talk · Welding · English
Migna Safety Solutions
Welding Fume
About 9 minutes to deliver · 29 CFR 1926.353 · 29 CFR 1910.252
The plume coming off a weld is not smoke. It is metal that boiled, condensed into particles small enough to reach the deepest part of your lungs, and is now sitting in the air at head height.
Keep your head out of it
The simplest control on this list and the one that gets ignored. The plume rises straight up, and a welder leaning over the work puts their face directly in it.
- Position yourself so the plume goes past you, not through you. Move the work, move yourself, or use a fan to cross-draught it away — never blowing across the arc itself.
- Local exhaust as close to the work as practicable. 1926.353(a)(3) describes exactly this: freely movable hoods placed by the welder as close as possible to the arc.
The metals the standard singles out
1926.353(c) requires ventilation, and in several cases airline respirators, for welding, cutting or heating in enclosed spaces on:
- zinc-bearing metals or zinc coatings — that is galvanized steel
- lead base metals or lead-bearing coatings
- cadmium-bearing filler
- chromium-bearing metals or coatings — stainless
Galvanized is the one that comes up daily. Burning zinc gives you metal fume fever: flu symptoms, chills, aching, a metallic taste, hours after the shift, gone by morning, back the next time. It is unpleasant rather than permanent — but it is a signal that you have been breathing the plume, and the other metals on that list do not let you off so lightly. Grind the coating back from the weld area first, and ventilate.
Stainless and chrome-plated produce hexavalent chromium, which is a carcinogen with a very low limit and no warning symptom at all.
Confined spaces
Welding in a confined space is a different job. Ventilation is required by 1926.353(b), and if it cannot be provided without blocking the way out, you need airline respirators and an attendant outside maintaining communication and able to help in an emergency. Oxygen is never used for ventilation, cooling or blowing dust off clothing — an oxygen-enriched space ignites from a spark that would do nothing in air.
Before you strike an arc
Know the base metal, know the coating, know what the rod or wire is. And never weld or cut on a drum, tank or pipe that has held anything until somebody qualified has certified it clean.
Ask the crew
- Is anything we are welding today galvanized, painted, plated or stainless?
- Where is the extraction, and is it close enough to the arc to do anything?
- Has anyone had the chills and aches after a shift on galv?
This is a toolbox talk, not a course. It is general awareness on one topic — not site-specific, not a hazard assessment, and not a substitute for assessment of your workplace by a competent person, your written programs, or manufacturers’ instructions. It does not by itself satisfy any OSHA training requirement. Regulations change; verify against the current standard. Whoever delivers it is responsible for deciding it is suitable and sufficient for the work. Where a talk covers first aid, resuscitation, or mental health it is general safety information, not medical advice, not a substitute for professional medical care or certified emergency-response training, and it confers no certification — in an emergency, call 911. Free to print and use, as is, with no warranty of any kind. Migna Safety Solutions · training.mignasafetysolutions.com
Attendance Record
Form supplied by Migna Safety Solutions
Welding Fume
29 CFR 1926.353 · 29 CFR 1910.252
I delivered this talk and determined it was suitable for this crew and this work.
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Keep this sheet with your training records. This form is supplied blank by Migna Safety Solutions — we did not deliver this session, were not present, and make no representation about what was said or who attended. A toolbox talk is general awareness on one topic and does not by itself satisfy any OSHA training requirement. The employer remains responsible for site-specific hazard assessment and for the training its workers are required to have. Where a talk covers first aid, resuscitation, or mental health it is general safety information, not medical advice, and confers no certification — in an emergency, call 911. Free to print and use, as is, with no warranty of any kind. training.mignasafetysolutions.com