Welding LEV Evaluation Making Progress
The welding PACT has done an initial evaluation of 135 mobile or portable ventilation devices. The goal is to do a complete evaluation of three finalists' usefulness for construction welders.
- By Jerry Laws
- Jun 19, 2012
INDIANAPOLIS -- Dr. John Meeker updated an AIHce 2012 audience June 18 about his progress at evaluating commercially available local exhaust ventilation systems for construction welders' use. The welding PACT (Partnership for Advancing Control Technologies) of CPWR, the Center for Construction Research and Training, is bringing construction stakeholders together with researchers to assess control technologies' performance on multiple factors, principally flexibility, durability, and ease of use.
Meeker, ScD, CIH, a University of Michigan department chair, also plans to evaluate products' effectiveness. It is difficult to gauge competing products based on manufacturers' published data, he said, citing flow rates and sound levels generated as particularly difficult in that regard.
The Trion Air Boss and the Lincoln Electric X-Tractor received the most votes at the June 8, 2012, PACT meeting. He said the goal, after initial evaluations of 135 portable or mobile LEV products, is to choose three finalists, completely evaluate them, and then share the findings with the industry, probably via the CPWR Solutions database.
About the Author
Jerry Laws is Editor of Occupational Health & Safety magazine, which is owned by 1105 Media Inc.