Safety Concerns in the Ceramics Studio

SILICA: looks like dust, but it is not dust. It is lighter than air, so it floats for a LONG TIME, and can be inhaled. It is basically powdered glass, and inhaling it will cause permanent lung damage, including cancer or silicosis. 

How does silica get into the air when working with clay? Let me count the ways:

1. Dried clay on hands. When you move your fingers, the dry clay breaks loose and gets into the air.

2. Touching or working on bone dry clay.

3. Clay crumbs or scraps that drop on the floor. They dry, get stepped on, and go into the air.

4. Dried clay on your tools.

5. Opening a clay bag. Usually, clay bags have clay residue along the opening that dries. If you open a clay bag without spraying it with water first, the dry clay will get into the air.

6. Brushing off clothing that got wet clay on it, and then dried. 

7. Washing a dirty table, but not drying it with a towel afterward. A thin film of silica dust will stay on the table, and when disturbed will go into the air.

How can you stay safe?

1. Rinse hands often if they get coated with dry clay when working. NEVER brush or clap  hands to get dry clay off.

2. Put finished pieces where they won’t be disturbed. 

3. Keep things wrapped in plastic, even when bringing them for firing.

4. Work only with wet or leather hard clay. 

5. If you don’t finish before your clay dries, you should start over or leave the piece as it is. If you must do something to bone dry clay, do it outside and brush it and yourself off before moving it back in.

6. Mop floor often, especially around where you work. Clay crumbs are hard to see when they fall onto a concrete floor. Assume they are there.

7. Use a bucket for rinsing hands and tools, if possible, to avoid clogging drains. Dump bucket outside.

8. Clean tools thoroughly and put them away.

9. Spray clay bag opening before disturbing the plastic to get clay out.

10. If clay gets on clothes or shoes, wipe with a damp, clean towel. Only brush off if you are outside and well away from open doorways.

11. Dry table with clean towel after wiping with wet sponge.

12. If you use a cloth to work on, shake crumbs off cloth outside, away from any open doorway, and rinse cloth regularly.