Letter 9667

Metal Plating Production Plant Near Residential Area

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Hello,

A metal plating company are proposing to open a production plant behind my house (40 feet from my kitchen). Obviously I am concerned because they use Sodium Hydroxide powder, Alkaline Cleaner ?, Sodium cyanide-2, Hydrochloric Acid (strength 36T) and cyanide. Can anyone point me in the correct direction to find infomation on the environmental impact of such a development and if it is safe to build something of this nature so close to a group of residential houses. There are 30 houses surrounding the proposed site.

Tom Byrne
- Dublin, Ireland

I certainly can't blame you for not wanting a plating shop behind your house, Tom; I wouldn't want one behind mine. But neither would I want a convenience store, which might be more dangerous due to traffic and potential hold-ups & muggings. Are you looking for a realistic assessment of the dangers or are you opposed to it and looking for ammunition to fight it? Because I'm going to give you the former, and if you really wanted the later, you won't be happy with it.

The fact is, in the U.S.A., a good number of plating shops are located in the old urban "mixed use" areas that closely resemble Dublin. Virtually every medium size city has plating shops located near stores, houses, and apartment buildings. And in a career of over 30 years I have never heard of a neighbor injured by a plating operation; I'm not saying it has never happened and can't happen, but it's clearly an extreme rarity.

Good luck.

Ted Mooney, P.E.  finishing.com Brick, NJ

I'll second what Ted has said. We have the same situation in Auz and having worked in a small family owned plating shop for over 30 years have not had any problems. In the current era environmental considerations have a much greater influence over our industry and I can't see why Ireland would be any different from Australia.

Bob Lynch
plating company - Sydney, Australia

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