I was reading a thread on glass blowing at another message board, where a poster cautioned that glass blowers traditionally and currently die early deaths due to the inherant dangers of glass blowing, specifically with regard to the chemicals used/created/released in the process.
After cursory research, I can see that the high temperatures involved can lead to serious burns, that unexpected ‘explosions’ are possible (which, combined with the sharpness of glass, can cause serious injuries), and that inhaling dust created during the process can be seriously damaging.
So obviously, it’s a very dangerous activity. But surely with the proper precautions, and experience, these hazards can be avoided?
I haven’t found much to support the idea that modern glass blowing is linked to a high mortality rate, or to an ‘early death’ rate.; however, I’m skeptical of my mad google skillz.
And so I turn to you. Does glass blowing lead to an early death?
The main ingredients of glass are silica and lead. Sucking in those isn’t going to be healthy. As for the funky chemicals used in coloured glass, they’re bound to be toxic.
As a trained glass blower (no really!) I think it’s pretty hard to pin down cause of death for professional glass blowers.
ALL of the glass blowers I know smoke (it’s not to say that there are none that don’t, but all the ones I’ve ever met do) - any sort of lung ailment would be hard to pin down to cigarette smoke, vs. inhaled dust.
Generally you try to select pigments and addatives that are less toxic than others, and when you’re sandblasting stuff you make sure to wear an appropriate mask and other safety equipment to avoid inhaling too much glass dust, which really isn’t very good for you.
I’ve never heard of a glass furnace exploding (or something equally dramatic) but I’m sure it happens sometimes - however, statistically I would assume at not a greater frequency than other workplace accidents.
Burns are very common - I’ve had many myself, both of the face, hands and lungs (a mouthful of really hot air stings going down).
So, yah, it certainly has it’s hazards as a profession, but no more than many other types of art - I actually HAVE heard of kilns exploding and causing injury and damage, for instance.
During my five years of earning an art degree I heard of the following deaths from various artistic causes (not all at my school, but I am reasonably sure all of them occured):
death from exposure to Cibachrome chemicals (photographer not using proper safety gear)
a death from someone passing out and going face-down into a tray of hypo solution (not clear if it was a matter of being overcome by fumes or exhaustion or some combinations of weirdness)
death by clumsy mixing of cyanoprinting chemicals (produced hydrogen cyanide)
death by being caught and dragged into a machine for mixing clay
death by raku - this form of pottery firing produces carbon monoxide and must either be done outside or with heavy industrial protective processes. Did not happen in this case
death from cadmium poisoning, cadmium being an oh-so-wonderful pigment that you do NOT want to introduce into your body through sloppy habits like eating with paint-covered hands.
The non fatal accidents included:
Neuroglogical problems from chemical exposure in both photography and printing.
skin/allergic reactions from exposure to dyes and paints
chemical pneumonia from inhaling fabric dyes
one mangled hand from an encounter with a table saw.
various burns from molten metal and glass
permanent lung damage from passing out inside an over-sized mold for a fiberglass sculpture during the lay-up process. They had to cut the guy out of the mold and apparently parts of it were stuck to him for several weeks while he was lying intensive care.
Those are just the ones I remember off the top of my head. So yeah, working in the arts can be hazardous to your health. Why should glass-blowing be an exception?
Well, blowing glass is going to require the Valsalva maneuver for extended periods, which can decrease the blood supply to the brain and can trigger cardiac arrythmias, weaken the intestinal walls and can lead to death. This is in the total absence of any toxins.
There’s a recent thread on this concerning straining to have a bowel movement. The thread contains the lyrical phrase “Ring of Elvis” describing the lividity of the posterior following death on the toilet. You could search for it using that.
No, they’re not. Most glass recipes don’t include lead at all. I’ve made quite a bit of glass in my optics career, and never handled lead salts at all.
Lead is a common ingredient in crystal, though, which is the kind of glass they blow at Steuben in Corning and at Waterford in Ireland. Whether that results in significant exsposure to glass workers I don’t know – I would suspect not. And if the glass blowers get exposed, I’d expect the technicians handling it to get even more exposure, not to mention the guys doing the diamond-wheel cutting. Do these fuys have elevated rates of death as well?
Hmmmm… To my personal knowledge traditional mouth-blown lead crystal is made in the US, the UK, Ireland, Sweden and Norway. Those are all countries where the health and safety authorities will take a keen and pressing interest in any industry where the workers are dropping dead at an early age due to toxic chemical exposure, not to mention lawyers and insurance companies. So while I’m certain there are particular hazards specific to the trade, just as there are for being a lumberjack, coal miner or rat exterminator, I’m a little sceptical that being a glassblower will automatically knock years off your life.
We’re totally on the same page, **slaphead **-- it sounded suspicious to me too, hence this thread. However, I’m still having trouble finding any evidence either way…
Thanks for the help so far, everyone.
I don’t think so. You don’t have to blow very hard, and there isn’t anything like the pressure in the thorax associated with Valsalva. During the Valsalva maneuver, you’re strongly compressing the lungs against a closed glottis and not allowing any air to escape. This is the antithesis of glassblowing, where airflow is required.
Well, this isn’t exactly wrong, but it’s not exactly right either. When you’re initially trying to get a bubble you are blowing against a pretty solid thing (ie - blob of glass) - depending on the size, you certainly can get the light headed, pressurized feeling associated with doing the Valsalva.
Certainly once you’ve started the amount of air pressure required is much, much less, but the initial burst can be fairly hard. Of course, if it’s too hard then you blow the end right out of what you’re making, so there you go.
It’s a finesse sort of thing, really.
That being said, I don’t imagine a lot of glass blowers burst things (other than the glass, that is.)
We all have different experiences, but I’ve never seen anyone but a rookie use lung power to start a bubble. You put a puff of air in the pipe and use a finger to cap the end and as the air inside the pipe heats up it expands a bubble. It’s much faster and easier than trying to blow a starting bubble.
Barring accidents, the only real danger is from silicosis and then only for studio blowers who make their own glass. Most studio guys I know don’t bother with batch and make glass from cullet. Even with batch, any chemicals released during the melt go up the flue. The blowers (gaffers) in commercial operations are highly skilled and their time is way too valuable to be wasted on the menial task of making batch. It’s the minimum wage guys out back shoveling silica sand that need to worry about silicosis, not the blowers.
Oh yeah, the metallic salts used for color. Meh. I’ve handled these compounds all my adult life and simple care is all that is needed. The compounds used to color glass are the exact same compounds used to color pottery glazes and you can walk into any school anywhere that has pottery classes and find bags or jars of them sitting around in the open.
cool, thanks for the info, everyone!
I’ll continue looking into silicosis and recent related stats, but aside from that, I think I’m satisfied that glass blowing, although dangerous, isn’t definitively the early killer as purported.
