Hazards in Ceramic. Lead poisoning from pottery glaze and paint NO form of lead or arsenic may be used in our materials without specific clearance and training from the instructor.
Lead is hazardous to breathe, to ingest (eat), and can be released from firing into the air. Finally, any container glazed with these materials may be toxic to eat or drink from because lead can leach into food or drink stored in the vessel. While new pottery sold today in the United States is generally assumed to be safe from lead, occasionally one still reads about cases of pottery that is accidentally sold with dangerous amounts of lead in the glaze. Lead has many very serious effects if ingested. Lead can be absorbed from glazes by acidic food or drink. In paint, lead carbonate was formerly used for white. The following hazardous materials may be used with care and precautions. The court did not find legal proof of negligence on the part of the chemical suppliers.
See:Alfred Franzblau, et.al. OUCH! I use a safety chain. Studio Safety. Much of the following information is specific to the clay studio at the Appalachian Center for Craft, but should still provide useful for any studio artist working in clay.
Technological University - Appalachian Center for Craft - Clay Studio Vince Pitelka, 2006 Safety in the Clay Studio Equipment Operation and Materials Handling Whenever you have questions or concerns about safety or toxicity in the clay studio, see me or the resident artist as soon as possible. If you ever have immediate concerns, contact me or the resident artist at once, and if neither of us is available, contact Craft Center security.
In the event of an emergency: use the phone behind the door in the clay room, or if that phone is inaccessible, use the phone in the alcove by the side entrance to the café. General Information Heavy Lifting - Save Your Back When moving bags of materials or mixed clay, lift from the legs and not from the spine, and don't attempt more than you are sure you can lift safely. Clean up and be Safer. Cleaning and Working with less clay dust. Good ways to clean up Daily wet mopping or hosing down to a floor drain is good.
An existing room can be modified in one area for potter's wheels by raising the floor 6 inches. This way the floor can slant toward floor drains. This part of the room is divided from the rest of the room by a cement block half wall. Students can hose down the wheel area at the end of every work session. Students can be instructed to use wet sponges to immediately spot clean any drips around the wheels and pick up all crumbs before they get walked on.
Some potters have a shop vac outdoors with a small pipe through the wall for the vacuum hose. Who is at risk? If cleaning makes any dust at all, it should be done at the end of the work day so the dust settle out of the air before the space is inhabited. never allow sandpaperIn the days before they knew about the hazards of clay dust, the workers who sanded the mold marks from greenware in pottery factories died within a few years from silicosis.