Thread: Environment and health re fibreglass work

As far as I'm aware, fibreglass is in the category of a nuisance dust (nothing like as nasty as asbestos) as it breaks into smaller and smaller biologically disposable bits rather than great big long cell skewering spears. Essentially, treat it like wood dust.

The resins - styrene or epoxy - can cause allergic reactions, and some people can sensitise to it. Gloves and a paint-type respirator are always recommended.

Good ventilation is the key. Sand outside where possible or open the garage door and window for cross ventilation.

Whenever we used to fix Kayaks as part of scouting, we used latex gloves, dust masks and overalls that were kept just for that purpose

I suggest you get hold of the MSDS for the specific products you are going to use and read them.

Fibre glass is a bit of a pain to work with; the tiny tiny tiny fibres get into your skin and irritate the hell out of you. Latex gloves are a start, polyurethane would be better. Try and get hold of some disposable white coveralls, the fibres don't penetrate those like they will cotton coveralls. Cut the glassfibre mat with SHARP shears only, and try to avoid any need for sanding. If you do sand, use a sander with dust extraction. And wear a good flter type respirator and goggles; not safety specs. A little bit of GRP dust in the eyes really irritates...... Working outdoors is unlikely to cause a problem to cattle on the property, but I wouldn't cut chopped strand mat anywhere that I couldn't sweep up afterwards.
The chemicals used in the resin have their own problems. Each part of epoxy resins is toxic but when mixed together and cured they are harmless. Polyester resins are cheaper, thinner and easier to use but have a nasty habit of catching on fire if you muck up the mixing instructions (but you do have to be a complete d**khead to foul up that badly). Read the MSDS (you can download them if the supplier chooses not to provide any....) and follow the precautions!

To start with the glass in fibreglass presents exactly the same problems as silicosis, being accompanied by resins and other stuff does not help.

ABOVE ALL, work very clean and have very good ventilation.

When sanding use a dust extraction...a good well filtered vacuum cleaner ( not mums) is esential, a random orbit sander helps a lot and runn always on the vacuum....keep the vacuum hose close to the job when hand sanding.
To clean up use the vacuum cleaner.......vacuum vacuum vacuum.

DO NOT blow heaps of dust arround the workshop with compressed air, don't blow the job off with compressed air don't clean the shed with a leaf blower.
Double bag all dust.

The epoxies depending on which one, can give you roaring headaches and or bring you our in rashes that last for weeks if you are sensitive.

Do not get any of the resins or hardeners in your eyes in the liquid form, a drop of MEKP ( poly resin catalist) can result in permanent blindness.

Realy good ventilation...I mean fast moving air is esential when working with epoxies and other resins.....but you have cleaned up all your dust first havn't you.

Realy good ventilation, lots of good rubber gloves ( I use blue high risk medical gloves from my refinish supplier), and be realy fussy how you handle things.

DO NOT use solvent to get epoxy off ya hands, citrus bassed hand cleaners or vinegar is the go...solvents will allow the toxins in the epoxy to cross the skin barrier more redily....Septone Citri Scrub works well

The message above all is to work clean and tidy.......realy clean.

The cleaner and more carefully you work the less intrusive PPE you will need.

go have a lurk in the wodeen boat section..there is heaps of stuff there.

cheers

Thanks for the tips and advice. Have since heard the Methyl Ethel Ketone Peroxide can cause blindness in 8 seconds. Also read some research done in 2009 that fibreglass has similar fibres to asbestos and can cause fibrosis, lung cancer and mesophilioma. It is the very small fibres that lodge deep in the lung. Fibreglassing products are worth billions so we will probably not hear about the real hazards too much.

Um fibreglass can not cause mesothelioma..that is an asbestos specific disease.

As I said Glass fiber can produce silicosis and the fibres can behave a little like asbestos, but they are nowhere near as nasty...the body can eventually disolve glass, it can not disolve asbestos.

The nasty thing about asbestos is how fine the fibres are and the shape of the fibres....AND that they can reman in the body for decades untill the various diseases appear...over that sort of time the body will have disolved or expelled glass.

either way ya don't want to be breathing glass fibres

Handling the stuff with care, cleaning up and not flaping or blowig the stuff about, goes a loooong way to prevention.

cheers