One of the challenges in industrial hygiene is to continue to ensure that we are educating ourselves with evolving technology. In an age where there are new breakthroughs every day, mitigating hazards can prove difficult when there is little to no research on potential hazards to health, let alone rules and regulations to ensure that organizations are protecting the health and safety of their employees.
Additive manufacturing (AM) or 3D Printing (for this article will be referred to AM) has seen many advancements in the past decade. This technology has become accessible to more industries and to individuals for personal use due to decreasing front-end and material costs. With more industries and individuals integrating AM into their processes and activities, it is important that we as health and safety professionals understand the risks and hazards associated with this technology.