Cobalt control and other filing room ventilation issues.

The need for control of cobalt from saw filing has been demonstrated by health studies in Finland, Washington state and British Columbia. I am most familiar with the study done in BC, because that is where I live and work. That study was done by a team led by Drs. Susan Kennedy and Kay Teschke, of the University of BC. They observed work activity and measured filers lung function in 8 sawmills, from June to December 1991. They found a high incidence of significantly below normal lung function. Their report was widely and effectively communicated to the sawmill industry. By 1996 ventilated enclosures had been installed on over 200 wet grinding machines in BC sawmills. There are other sources of metal dust, organic dust, mist, fume and smoke in filing rooms. Local exhaust has been used on most of them, in some filing rooms, for decades. With the introduction of highly functional enclosures on wet grinding machines, there have been a few enclosures installed on other sources.