WHAT WE DO...AND WHOM WE SERVE:
Ballard Brass & Aluminum
CONSULTING, RESERACH, AND SERVICE LEARNING
When neighbors complained about the loud noise coming from the Seattle-based Ballard Brass & Aluminum foundry, owner Steve Morel turned to the industrial hygienists at the Field Research and Consultation Group (Field Group) for help.
Workers pour molten metal into sand molds.
Ballard Brass produces parts of diesel engines, cooling systems for boats, loudspeakers for stadiums, and wheel hubs for sprint racing cars, among other things. These items are made in molds formed of sand hardened with a chemical binder. The binder allows the sand to retain the fine details of the piece to be cast.
The work the 18 production employees do in this small foundry would be familiar to a foundry worker from five hundred years ago—many of the steps in the casting process are still done by hand. A worker packs sand into the molds and rams it down with a hand-held pneumatic tamper. Two men lift a crucible full of molten metal and pour it into the molds. Another worker breaks the mold casings apart with a sledgehammer.
NOISE LEVELS
When Gerry Croteau, a certified industrial hygienist with the Field Group, assessed community noise levels during foundry operations, he observed the obvious: noise levels in the neighborhood were considerably lower when the foundry doors were closed. However, the seemingly simple solution to Ballard Brass’s neighborhood noise problem—shut the doors—wasn’t acceptable for the foundry workers.
The workers needed the doors to remain open to release heat and remove the unpleasant odors released when the molds were broken down. Worker exposures to an irritating component in the binder were especially a concern to Croteau. When workers become sensitized to irritating gases, they can develop asthma. A severe sensitivity means the worker would no longer be able to work in that environment.
Workers at Ballard Brass.
Ballard Brass faced a conundrum, needing to be both a good neighbor and a good employer. Croteau proposed that the company use a technique called dilution ventilation to exhaust building air to a roof-top stack 20 feet above roof level, and developed a conceptual design and cost estimate for Ballard Brass.
The installed system pulls air from an exhaust hood located over a hopper where sand is removed from the mold castings. The vapors, previously released from the building at ground level, are now diluted with building air and are exhausted at a high velocity into the atmosphere, where they are further diluted. This solution, which cost approximately $15,000 to implement, has provided a noticeable improvement in both the work and community environments. With the doors closed, community noise and odor levels are substantially lower. Inside, workers can breathe more easily.
THE FIELD GROUP
The Field Group, a service component of our depart-ment since 1956, provides a no-cost consultation service on workplace health and safety issues to Washington businesses such as Ballard Brass, labor groups, and governmental agencies. The Field Group’s funding comes in part from employers and workers in the state through their contributions to the Medical Aid and Accident Funds.
The Field Group responds to individual company and worker requests for workplace assessments. It also works with specific industries on longer-term research projects such as studies of exposures to solvents and noise in auto body repair shops, wood dust in sawmills, cobalt and cadmium in saw filing shops, pesticides in tree fruit orchards, and musculo-skeletal injuries in apple packing warehouses.
The benefits the Field Group provides, however, extend beyond business and industry. The relationships built with businesses that consult with the Field Group can also lead to research and internship opportunities for graduate students.
Data the Field Group collects during service projects can spark the interest of faculty and students and may help in writing federal research grants. Grants are reviewed more favorably when some preliminary data has been collected and a partnership at a data collection site is already established.
The foundry has already helped Croteau with data collection for a dust exposure project in Vietnam. When he needed comparison data for two different air-sampling methods (personal, collected near a worker’s mouth, and area, collected from static locations in the work site), he called on his past working relationships at Ballard Brass and gained permission to collect air samples there.
Other university departments and schools also benefit from the working relationships formed by the Field Group. For example, Janice Camp, director of the Field Group, recently took a group of first-year medical residents on a tour of Ballard Brass to show them real workplace challenges.
“The Field Group bridges the gap between science and the field,” said Croteau. “As industrial hygienists, it’s important that we never lose sight that we’re serving the workers. The aim of industrial hygienists is to reduce worker exposure to workplace hazards. The Field Group is working on how best to help employers find and fix occupational hazards.”
FURTHER READING
Croteau G, Guffey S, Flanagan ME, and Seixas N. The effect of local exhaust ventilation controls on dust exposures during masonry activities. AIHAJ 2002; 63:458-467.
Field Research and Consultation Group.
http://depts.washington.edu/frcg/.