For many years, companies in cold or hot climates have installed cartridge dust collectors designed to remove welding fumes and recirculate heated or cooled filtered air back through the workspace. But in temperate regions where manufacturing areas are not climate-controlled, many plants have found it more expedient to exhaust weld fumes outside.
A new EPA regulation about to take effect will change all that. The regulation addresses Metal Fabrication Hazardous Air Pollutants (MFHAP) and is titled “National Emission Standards for Hazardous Air Pollutants: Area Source Standards for Nine Metal Fabrication and Finishing Source Categories”. (View the regulation at http://www.epa.gov/ttn/atw/area/fr23jy08.pdf.)
The regulation encompasses all manufacturing processes using materials that contain 0.1 percent of cadmium, lead, nickel or chromium and any material that contains one percent manganese. Most welding rod and wire has more than one percent manganese, so nearly every welding application falls under this regulation. Other manufacturing processes identified include dry abrasive blasting, machining, dry grinding and polishing, Simply put, there can be no visible emissions (zero opacity) from these types of manufacturing processes. Plants currently exhausting contaminated air outside from these processes will no longer be allowed to do so. Here are the most important steps EHS professionals should follow in approaching this challenge:
New facilities built after July 23, 2008, are required to submit notification of compliance within 120 days after startup. Existing facilities must comply by July 25, 2011, and must submit notification of compliance before November 22, 2011. If you have not begun the planning process yet, there is no time to lose.