[PA-NJ Glassblowers] Uroboros Glass - Glass Safety Reminders
Tony Patti
gaffer at glassblower.info
Sun Feb 7 11:26:53 EST 2016
The email below is such an atypical email that I thought it was worth sharing.
Both the email below, and also the Uroboros Glass MSDS (Material Safety Data Sheet)
are good reminders about safety practices around glass.
http://www.uroboros.com/pdf/MaterialSafetyData.pdf
Tony Patti
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Dear Uroboros Friends,
As some of you have likely already heard on TV news, the Portland Mercury, or your Facebook feed, DEQ testing around Bullseye Glass last fall has documented considerable levels of Arsenic and Cadmium in the air and mossy plants in their neighborhood. This neighborhood includes two schools. There is deep concern in our community about these findings. Since we are also in the colored glass making business, it’s natural that you’ll want to know about Uroboros too. We feel it is important to inform you about our business practices and be completely transparent. Making art glass is a passion of ours, but we place a higher value on the health and safety of our environment, employees, customers, and neighbors. Here are the facts:
* We haven’t used Arsenic at Uroboros in over 20 years. None of our products contain Arsenic.
* We do use Cadmium for many of our Yellow, Orange and Red colors, but we don’t use it in the raw chemical form. We obtain it from a smelted glassified material, so there is no dust release during handling or charging. We use this source precisely because it decreases the release of Cadmium when handling or melting it.
* In 2009, DEQ placed two air quality monitors for 13 weeks on the Harriett Tubman school grounds about 3 blocks and across the freeway from us, as part of a state-wide testing project, and discovered Cadmium in their samples. Average reading for the two monitors over this period was 6.5 ng/M3. DEQ staff contacted all companies in our neighborhood to try to determine the source. Although we melted Cadmium containing colors on some of the days they had positive readings, there were many days in which Cadmium was detected on the school grounds during which we did not melt any Cadmium containing colors at all. We learned later that the DEQ was unable to identify a source of the Cadium at the school.
* We at Uroboros strive to minimize the environmental impact of our glass production activities in many areas. In fact, we were qualified as a 'Green Company' by the City of Portland Bureau of Planning and Sustainability in 2011, and earned Portland's Sustainability at Work Silver Certification in 2012.
* We urge all users of colored glass to pay attention to safety, whether it from risks of cuts, particles in the eye, or exposure to dusts. Work in a well ventilated area and use dust masks when handling glass powders of any color, since most of the colorants are hazardous if ingested. You can read more about material safety for our glass products <http://uroboros.us12.list-manage.com/track/click?u=5f04bc90637fd430526c17f5b&id=12de1cba0b&e=afc4f91e89> here.
If you have any questions or concerns, please feel free to email us at <mailto:sales at uroboros.com> sales at uroboros.com, with ‘Safety Concerns’ as the subject line. We will answer you as best we can.
Best Regards,
Eric Lovell
President
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Copyright © 2016 Uroboros Glass, All rights reserved.
You are receiving this email because you opted in at our website.
Our mailing address is:
Uroboros Glass
2139 N Kerby Ave
Portland, OR 97227
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