Final Resutls of University of Illinois Artist Welder Study
Written by Dr. Serap Erdal and Dr. Laurel Berman
Dec 13, 2006 at 03:14 PM
September 26, 2006
Dear Artists:
It has been a long time since you completed the UIC Artist Welder questionnaire, but we have not forgotten you. Since that time, Dr. Serap Erdal received the honor of a tenure track position, and Laurel Berman has become Dr. Laurel Berman (not to be confused with Dr. Laura Berman, who is in a different line of work!).
We apologize for the long delay in contacting you. However, we wanted to wait until the results of the questionnaires you completed were compiled and published. This took a long time, but our article, Occupational exposure environment, risk factors, and hazard awareness of metal sculptors and artist welders in the U.S., was eventually published in the Journal of Environmental Health Research, Vol. 5, Issue 1, 2006. You can access a copy of the article using the full link
Once you are in the website, select the “Archive” link to the left, and then scroll down to “Volume 5, Issue 1 – April 2006.” You will see the article as the third entry in the list.
Based on the statistical analysis of the questionnaire data, we found that a segment of the artist welder population may potentially be a high-risk population, due to longer work hours and a lack of proper ventilation and exposure control measures. The abstract of the study, which provides more information, is pasted immediately below.
Abstract
Although there have been significant efforts to understand the exposure conditions of industrial welders, artists who weld to create art objects have been overlooked in the past. In order to better understand work environment and occupational health and safety practices of artist welders/metal sculptors, we administered a questionnaire to two sample populations of artists. These populations came from a database of metal sculptors across the U.S., and from attendees of a regional sculptors’ workshop in the Southeastern U.S. A total of 93 national and 23 regional artists completed the questionnaire, with response rates of 81.6% and 79.5%, respectively. The questionnaire sought data on demographics; exposure attributes (type of welding process, base metals, electrodes/wires used); risk factors (exposure time, frequency and duration of welding); work environment (location of workspace, use and type of ventilation in the workspace); and exposure control measures employed (type of personal protective equipment used) and awareness about health hazards associated with welding fume exposures. The most commonly employed welding process and base metal were Metal Inert Gas welding and mild steel, respectively. Although the artists’ work places varied, welding in studios, garages, shops, and outdoors was common. Respiratory protection was not consistently used, and was primarily limited to non-welding activities, such as cutting, grinding, and coating application. Our data for exposure time, exposure frequency, ventilation use and type, and PPE use and type indicate that a segment of the artist welder population may potentially be a high-risk population due to longer work hours and a lack of proper ventilation and exposure control measures. It is essential to target this artist population in order to provide occupational health and safety training programmes specifically tailored to their employment needs, to reduce their health risks and to increase health hazard awareness related to their work practices.
Your participation in this study was critical for the publication. We have also presented the results of this study at the American Industrial Hygiene Association Conference in Chicago in May of 2006. We were pleased to have a welder/sculptor in the audience (his wife is an industrial hygienist). Our colleague, Monona Rossol, who is an artist, chemist, and industrial hygienist, tells us that our study and the resulting publication is a “first” for the artist welder/metal sculptor community. Thank you all for making this happen.
Please feel free to contact us if you would have any questions. You can reach us through the contact information provided below. Again, we thank you all for participating in this study.
Sincerely,
Drs. Serap Erdal and Laurel Berman
Contact Information:
Dr. Serap Erdal UIC School of Public Health Environmental and Occupational Health Sciences Division 2121 West Taylor Street Chicago, Illinois 60612 312-996-5875
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