Soot, Grease and Metal Dust: Cleaning Up After a Welding Shift

Take your gloves off after a long day of welding and look at your hands. Black soot in the creases. Grinding dust ground into the knuckles. Anti-spatter, cutting oil and mill scale on your fingers. You can wipe most of it on your jeans. That does not mean it is gone.

This post is about what ends up on a welder’s skin, why the end-of-shift wash matters more than most people think, and how to set up the shop so it actually happens.

What is on your hands after a shift

OSHA names metal fumes as one of the main health hazards of welding, along with UV radiation. Fume is not just something you breathe. The particles settle on your skin, your clothes, your bench and your lunch.

What is in that fume depends on what you are welding. One metal OSHA singles out is hexavalent chromium, which has its own OSHA standard. Welding on stainless steel and other chrome-bearing alloys is where it usually comes from.

Add grinding dust, cutting fluid, oil on the stock, and the grease on every clamp in the shop. By the end of the day your hands carry a mix of metal, carbon and oil.

Why the skin side matters

OSHA’s hexavalent chromium page lists skin effects alongside the lung effects most people know about:

• Prolonged skin contact can cause dermatitis and skin ulcers.
• Some workers become allergic to it. Once sensitized, even small amounts can cause a serious rash.
• Contact with broken skin can cause chrome ulcers: crusted, pitted sores.

The other way skin contamination hurts you is the plain one. Whatever is on your hands goes into your mouth when you eat, smoke or chew. That is why OSHA’s chromium standard has specific hygiene rules.

What OSHA’s chromium rule says about washing

Where workers are exposed to hexavalent chromium, OSHA’s standard (29 CFR 1910.1026) requires:

• Readily accessible washing facilities capable of removing chromium from the skin.
• Workers with skin contact wash their hands and faces at the end of the shift.
• Workers wash before eating, drinking, smoking, chewing tobacco or gum, applying cosmetics, or using the toilet.
• No eating, drinking, smoking or chewing in regulated areas, and no food or tobacco stored where skin contact can happen.
• No work clothing or gear in eating areas unless the chromium has been removed first.

Even if your shop is not under that standard, it is a good model for any welding job. Wash hands and face before you eat and before you go home.

Why hand sanitizer is not the answer

The CDC says hand sanitizer may not work well on visibly dirty or greasy hands, and it may not remove harmful chemicals such as lead. Soap and water work better for chemicals. A squirt of sanitizer over soot just moves the soot around. Welders need a real wash.

What to watch for

• Black or gray residue that stays in the creases after a quick rinse.
• Red, itchy or scaly patches on the hands or wrists, especially if they keep coming back.
• Small sores or cracks that are slow to heal.
• Burns and nicks from spatter. Open skin lets more in, so keep them clean and covered.

If a rash or sore will not settle down, or keeps coming back when you work certain metals, tell your supervisor and see a clinician.

The end-of-shift wash

• Gloves off, carefully. Pull them off by the cuff. Do not beat them clean against your leg.
• Wash at a sink with a hand cleaner made for heavy soil. Work it into the knuckles, between the fingers, around the nails and up the wrists.
• Scrub for at least 20 seconds, then rinse well.
• Wash your face too. Soot collects around the hood line and on the neck.
• Dry with a clean towel, not a shop rag.
• Change out of dirty work clothes before you eat or head home, if your shop has lockers.

We make I.C. Heavy Duty Hand Cleaner for this. Pumice scrubbers and cleansers strip oil, grease and carbon. It is solvent-free and silicone-free, and benzalkonium chloride kills 99.99% of germs. It has a light lemon scent.

Set up the shop so people wash

The best hand cleaner does nothing in a bottle across the building. A few changes make the wash happen:

• Put a sink and cleaner near the booths, not only in the restroom.
• Mount the cleaner. A 32 oz refillable wall dispenser at the shop sink keeps it in reach and off the floor. The level window shows when it needs a refill, and a lock keeps it from walking off.
• Keep food out of the shop floor. A break area away from the booths keeps fume dust off lunch.
• Stock towels. If the towel dispenser is empty, people dry their hands on their pants.
• Follow up with hand cream at the end of the day. Washing this often dries skin.

Your hands are only part of the picture. The arc also burns the skin your hood misses. See our welders page and Field Notes: Welding and Arc UV for the rest of the routine.

FAQ

Do I really need to wash my face after welding?

If you work with chrome-bearing metals, OSHA’s chromium standard requires workers with skin contact to wash hands and face at the end of the shift. Even on mild steel, soot and dust collect around the hood line. A quick face wash before you leave is a good habit.

Can I use shop solvent to get the black off?

No. Solvents strip the skin’s natural oils and can lead to dry skin and irritation. Use a hand cleaner made for heavy soil on skin, and save the solvent for parts.

Does a hand cleaner remove hexavalent chromium?

OSHA requires washing facilities capable of removing chromium from skin, and regular soap-and-water washing is the core of that. If your shop is under the chromium standard, your safety program decides which facilities and products meet it. Follow it, and wash before you eat and at the end of every shift.

Sources

• OSHA, Welding, Cutting, and Brazing: Hazards and Solutions (metal fumes, UV radiation, hexavalent chromium): https://www.osha.gov/welding-cutting-brazing/hazards-solutions
• OSHA, Hexavalent Chromium: Health Effects (dermatitis, ulcers, sensitization, chrome ulcers): https://www.osha.gov/hexavalent-chromium/health-effects
• OSHA, 29 CFR 1910.1026, Chromium (VI), paragraph (i) Hygiene areas and practices: https://www.osha.gov/laws-regs/regulations/standardnumber/1910/1910.1026
• CDC, Hand Sanitizer Guidelines and Recommendations (dirty or greasy hands; chemicals such as lead): https://www.cdc.gov/clean-hands/about/hand-sanitizer.html
• CPWR / eLCOSH, Physician’s Alert: Skin Conditions (solvents and dry skin): https://www.elcosh.org/document/62/d000281/Physician%2527s+Alert%253A+Skin+Conditions.html
• R&R Lotion product data: I.C. Heavy Duty Hand Cleaner (benzalkonium chloride 0.13%, pumice); 32 oz Refillable Wall Dispenser.