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Posted By Patrick Teyhan
Esteemed Colleagues
I have been party to an E-Mail from a colleague informing others that to get Toner out of your clothes you should was it out with Cold Water!
Whilst I applaude my colleagues efforts to keep his colleagues clothes bright and clean but I believe he has missed the point completely.
Being an old hand at this I recall (seems like a lifetime ago now) that Photocopying Toner being linked as a possible carcinogen and that exposure to / contact with toner is a potential risk to health and associated activites should be Risk Assessed and prohibited.
Could anyone point me in the right direction as to where I might find information / Link to raise my colleagues awareness to the potential health hazards from the exposure of Photcopying Toner.
N.B he works in a different office location, I know that we no longer have the top up toner Photocopying machines in our location as I negotiated for their replacement with the more energy efficient Toner cartridge type machines.
Many thanks in anticipation
Regards
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Posted By Jane Blunt Toners are typically composed of iron oxide, an organic charging agent, an acrylic or polyester resin, carbon black and/or other pigments. During normal use they are not considered to be a significant hazard to health. Avoiding making the dust airborne is good practice, since the inhalation of dusts, whatever they are, is not to be recommended. I found this link mentioned that (rarely) some toners have contained carcinogenic materials: http://www.workershealth.com.au/facts011.htmlHowever, I have scrutinised many toner MSDSs and found no trace of the compounds they mention, so accept that you don't normally find carcinogenic materials in toners. I guess the instruction to wash in cold water is to avoid 'cooking' the resin so that it sticks to the clothing. Regards Jane
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Posted By Ron Reid
I don't know about the other ingredients mentioned but carbon black is certainly identified as a level 2B carcinogen. The correct procedure here would surely be a COSHH assessment (or replace the photocopier)
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Posted By Jane Blunt You can read the monograph from the IARC (which is where the '2B' classification comes from) about carbon black for yourself http://monographs.iarc.f...ographs/vol65/carbon.htmDon't forget that a little toner on your clothing is not quite the same as working in industries where there is tons of carbon black (e.g. the rubber industry). The complete list of classified substances is at http://monographs.iarc.fr/monoeval/crthall.htmland I am willing to bet that most of us voluntarily expose ourselves to something from the Group 1 list for enjoyment. All things in life are to be kept in moderation and in perspective perhaps ;o) Jane
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Posted By Karen Todd Patrick, Refer to LAC 90/2. You can see it at: http://www.hse.gov.uk/lau/lacs/90-2.htmHere is an extract: Toner 13 Toners are fine powders which have a faint plastic odour. Depending on the the size of the copier, they are typically composed of iron oxide or manetite, organic charging agent, acrylic or polyester resin, carbon black and/or inorganic pigments, amorphous silica, and salicyclic acid chromium (III) chelate. There are 8-hour TWA OESs for dust of 10 mg/m3 (total inhalable) and 5 mg/m3 (respirable), for iron oxide of 10 mg/m3 (total inhalable) and 5 mg/m3 (respirable), and for amorphous silica of 6 mg/m3 (total) and 3 mg/m3 (respirable). 14 Exposure to total inhalable dust during the use of photocopiers has been measured in the range 0.05-0.23 mg/m3, well below the OES for total inhalable dust. The toner component was found to be less than 20% of the total inhalable dust, and therefore exposure to the individual components was well below the respecive OESs. 15 During normal use, toner dusts are not considered to present a significant hazard to health. Regards, Karen
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Posted By John-Mark
In my experience, and I have a considerable amount of experience with photocopiers, toner usually brushes off clothing easily. If the toner is not of the powder variety, then perhaps it's time for a new copier!
John-Mark
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Posted By John-Mark
In my experience, and I have a considerable amount of experience with photocopiers, toner usually brushes off clothing easily. If the toner is not of the powder variety, then perhaps it's time for a new copier!
John-Mark
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