Re: Smoking in the structural shop
Originally Posted by
mikecwik
In just about any shop I would think cigarette smoke would be the very least of your worries as to what you breath in. You breath that is for maybe a couple minutes a day while the rest of the stuff is 8 hours.
I disagree. When multiple people smoke (or one, close by) the "second hand" smoke can get really thick and is breathed by everyone there. Particulate matter can be filtered out, smoke can't; requires chemical adsorption masks.
I'll refrain from telling my own old stories about avoiding "office smoke", which were more difficult as mine predated the smoking laws.
Originally Posted by
WorldPowerLabs
I have a friend who smoked heavily for many years (he's since gotten married and quit at the wife's insistence). He is a bit of an audiophile and about twice a year, he'd drop off a piece of stereo equipment for me to fix. The stuff was always filthy with cigarette tar. Fully half of the problems were caused by that tar getting into switches and controls... I bought a benchtop power supply once -- Raytheon one right out of the early 1970s. I thought it was an avocado green color, until I removed PCB from the housing and washed the latter. Then, I realized it was painted metallic silver, and the greenish tint was tobacco tar.
I also once lived in a rental house where the previous tenant had told the landlords that his "friends" would "occasionally" smoke. Truth was, he himself smoked like a chimney. You could clean a wall 4 times and still see it bleeding tar in the humid weather. We ended up repainting a couple of rooms with stain-blocking paint, and even in those, the stains bled through again in a couple of places. Took a good year before the smell dissipated, too.
If you want to smoke, I really don't have a problem with that -- just don't do it in my house or near flammables in the shop. However, I'll never start myself.
Ben
When doing wet-chemistry drug analyses of bodily fluids including blood, the extracts from heavy smokers can look like fresh, soft road tar. The crap from druggies can be worse, partly 'cause most smoke too. On rare occasion, "second hand" smoke does cause similar effects.
Originally Posted by
Insaneride
Those cigarette loads got me in trouble with my grandfather.
Try a horse hair instead, it may help somebody to quit.
Marijauna is pungent but doesnt smell as bad as cigs IMO.
But marijuana causes detectable changes in brain structure and functioning, and smell is subjective. I actually find fresh cigarette smoke, when very dilute and in a cool, moist environment such as a creek bed, to be interesting and enjoyable. Doesn't mean I'd ever smoke though.
Originally Posted by
Yarply
Bingo. They have a smoking ban in the shop I work, and I got chewed for smoking next to an ineffective exhaust fan. They are all worried about cig smoke but dont bat an eye to us breathing the aluminum oxide fumes permeating the whole area.
'Interesting first post', resurrecting a very old thread....
I bet the smoking violates posted rules, and possibly workplace laws these days, so is actionable now.
If you can document the "fumes", maybe research good control methods and bring all the information to the attention of the managers/owners, explaining it could save future problems?
