finishingcom

The home page of the finishing industry®

This is one of a series. We welcome editorial content and non-commercial news from our readers, and will create a page like this each time we receive input.

Feel free to offer a new news or editorial item, or to append your own comments to an existing editorial.

Friday, Nov. 28, 1997.

Dirty Little Secrets

by Ted Mooney

I know a man who fell into a large nickel plating tank, and instantly got out and into the adjacent rinse tank. He did not suffer any serious burns, and credited jumping into the rinse tank with saving his life. I heard a couple of similar stories from fairly reliable sources as I was compiling the MFSA's "Safety Tips" booklet.

Clearly it is questionable to promote jumping into rinse tanks: one could be injured by automatic material handling equipment, or by sharp objects hiding beneath the liquid surface; and, in the panic, one could easily jump into a wrong tank, only compounding the problem.

Still, Aristotle's syllogism will not allow us the exception we would like to cozy up to. Inescapably, if jumping into a rinse tank can save a life, then failure to do so can cost a life.

But rinse waters are considered 'toxic material' today, no matter how clean they are. Nobody would dare suggest that people jump into a vat of toxic material. Nobody will even talk about it. Aristotle and Diogenes are dead and buried.

Dear Reader: please choose what you want to do--
 
I want to reply to or follow-up on this subject.
 
I want to start a new news item or editorial thread on a different subject.
 
I want to view the previous editorials and news items.

 

Back to finishing.com Home Page