Jalopnik; California Wants to Ban Chrome Plating
Damn, so much for ppe. :realcrazy:
Maybe because they needed to talk on camera?
Listen to what they're saying over those tanks. It's the nickel and copper steps. They're using E-nickel (eletroplated) which is why there are sparks. E-nickel is less porous and so makes a better substrate for the chrome.
Those chemicals are far safer to work around unless you go swimming in it. The baths can be acidic or alkaline, but the steam is only steam. The 'bad stuff' are aqueous salts and can be easily and safely rinsed. Eye pro is the most important. Notice all the steam goes straight up? There's huge vent hoods over those tanks, otherwise that whole shop would be dripping with moisture. The shop I worked in would condense and collect that water as part of the waste stream, or recycled back into the baths.
The chrome tanks often have robot dunkers to keep people away from the chemicals - there's some B roll footage in there showing exactly that. The worker safety aspect isn't the biggest concern though, it's people splashing stuff around or causing spills. Automating the process prevents accidents. Spilling the copper or nickel baths isn't near as big of a concern.
Bans on chrome are based on the thinking that if there's dangerous chemicals around, then there will be spills and that no spill is acceptable. It's partly right, but the steps required to get a permit to operate shops like that include a ton of spill prevention and lots of measures for containment so that if there is a spill, it doesn't spread. The idea that risk for an accident must be zero is why it's taken 40 years to even get close to going back to the moon.
The greatest risks in a plating shop are typically found in the chemical storage area. Puncture a barrel with a forklift and it's a bad day. Or have a careless employee move stuff around and place dangerous chems together or in uncontained space, and accidents can happen. Even the best worker safety programs don't help when half the population is of below-average intelligence. Stupid to blame the boss when workers don't follow procedure and mock safety as over-bearing but then sue if you try to fire them.
