White Lead
(See also pp. [131] and [132])
In the manufacture of white lead processes which create dust are specially dangerous, namely, emptying the corrosion chambers, drying and grinding, transport of the material in the form of powder, and packing. The following measures are called for: emptying the chambers should only be done by men wearing respirators or equipped with breathing helmets after preliminary damping of the corrosions by means of a spray. Use of a vacuum cleaning apparatus suggests itself. Drying should be done as far as possible in stoves charged mechanically, the temperature in which can be watched from the outside; grinding must be done in closed and ventilated mills; transport of the dried material should be effected by mechanical means or vacuum apparatus, and packing should be done in mechanical packing machines. Further, cleanliness and strict discipline are essential. Alternation of employment is advisable. The question of substitutes for white lead is referred to on p. [293].
Manufacture of red lead calls for precisely similar preventive measures. Charging and emptying the oxidising furnaces should be done under efficient exhaust ventilation. Conveyance, sifting, and grinding of the cooled material requires to be done in the same way as has been described for white lead.
In the production of chrome colours (lead chromates) besides the danger from lead the injurious action of chrome has to be borne in mind.
Regulations for white lead factories have been made in Germany, Belgium, and Great Britain. We give below the German Imperial Regulations dated May 26, 1903.
Regulations for Manufacture of Lead Colours and Lead Products
(1) The following regulations apply to all premises in which lead colours or other chemical lead products (white lead, chromate of lead, masicot, litharge, minium, peroxide of lead, Cassel yellow, English yellow, Naples yellow, lead iodide, lead acetate, &c., are manufactured), or in which mixtures of lead are prepared as the principal or as a subsidiary business. They shall not apply to lead smelting works, even though processes named in paragraph (1) are carried on.
Neither shall they apply to workplaces in which manufactured colours are intimately mixed or ground in oil or varnish in connection with another industry.