Abstract

A laboratory experiment was undertaken to assess what immediate changes, if any, take place in the pulmonary function of welders after exposure to the high level of fume to which they are routinely subjected at work. Twenty-five fit volunteer welders were exposed to fume levels of about 20 mg m⁻³ for 90 minutes. The results of pulmonary function tests performed before and after exposure demonstrate that the fume generated by manual metal arc welding with a Fortrex E 11018 rod does not impair ventilatory function as measured. The small improvement seen may have been a temperature effect due to the heat generated by the process. This finding should be extrapolated to the fume generated by other rods and welding techniques with caution.