scrap metal related disease

The biggest concern that comes to mind is inhaling the various fumes that congregate in a scrap yard. Thinking of the numerous chemicals an individual can be exposed to because it is easier to unload hazardous materials at the dump or scrap yard than paying for proper disposal. Another example is galvanized metal produces cyanide gas when cut and this gas cannot be cleared from the lungs. If a scrap yard catches on fire, you do not want to be anywhere around it.

Originally Posted by JJinLV

Shredders yard can leave you more vulnerable to lung ailments because of fine metal particulates. If shredding circuit boards without adequate ventilation it's even worse due to silica particulates which will kill you in the long run. On the whole, injury is far more likely than illness.

There must be a reason I have never seen a sign in a scrap yard announcing how many days in a row without an accident. From personal experience, OSHA would just shake there head at the customers I have observed in scrap yards. Employee's know the consequences and minimize the risks. Many customers lack the experience to know what could go wrong and will walk right into an accident. I trust most employees, but will not turn my back on a customer. This comes from someone who is their own worst enemy when it comes to accidents.

I think that scrapping down computers is something that should be of concern, but quite easly taken care of.
Each computers been working, inside, beside people, for years, each ones got a bunch of fans recirculating that same air & passing it thru the power supply & over the boards.

When you open one from a 'smokers house' you know it in seconds, the same with a house that has pets ( i got one from a vet clinic once... You KNOW what it looked like inside !!! )

But all of those germs those people had, ever, in all those years.. theres a sample of every sort inside that computer. In theory if they are dead, you feel sick a bit & build up a immunity, im not counting on that happening.

So, rather than feel sick, i dump the power supplys into a bucket of soapy water.
After spraying the inside of the computer with a cheap antiseptic with some denatured alcohol in it.
I use a cheap but watered down to 50% kitchen cleaner spray, with added 10% alcohol & a few drops of dishwash liquid.
If i can see its dirty from the outside, it gets a prespray thru the grills & opened. Then sprayed again inside.
Power supplys get dunked.
I was dirverting my dishwashers hot waste water into a plastic drum & dunking it in that for a while when I had a lot to do.

But, it cleans the board immediately to, in most cases, brand new condition. In a couple of seconds
.
I dont know what it is about it, but that fine grey wispy stuff just gets wet and balls up into a grey goo that rinses off just like that, a dunk, a swish, a reverse swish, a side to side & pull it out & its clean.
Its too easy to do than to not do.

We don't have cockroaches or any other similiar insect in NZ, its too cold, they are not native or common.
There is a native version thats tiny & lives outside in the bush only, they wont go inside & i think 8 have only seen, & then killed, one twice in my life.
Have seen a bunch of them once in the native remote bush, and a fridge of bigger ones once at a scrapyard.
No hornets & only seen 2 wasp nests in my life. No ticks, leeches or such either, sandflys at dusk sometimes, mozzies almost never unless in the bush.
No rabies either, lol.