Let’s discuss what type of hazard could occur by wearing jewelry?
A jeweler who doesn’t know some basic industry safety tips and practices can leave customers fearful and always nervous. These safety risks include:
1. Make sure that your tools and equipment are ready for use
2. Make sure that your safety rules and requirements are followed
3. Ensure that babies and children are not allowed to work with tools and equipment.
4. Establish a written process for getting orders placed
5. Establish a written process for returning completed orders.
6. Ensure that
The main occupational risks of jewelers
Table of Contents
The manufacture of a jewel includes several stages ranging from the work of the lapidary who cuts the precious stones (diamonds or other gems, rubies, sapphires, emeralds, to that carried out in the workshops of the jeweler and the jeweler where takes place the melting of alloys (gold, silver, soldering by brazing, crimping, polishing, electrodepositions for gilding or silvering, pickling and cleaning of jewelry with acids or in ultrasonic baths.
Physical risks in jewelry stores
Meticulous work with constraining postures, repetitive gestures, visual constraints, the use of vibrating and cutting machines … expose jewelers to numerous injuries and traumas.
The risks of musculoskeletal and angioneurotic disorders
Precise, fast, and monotonous work on the workbench can generate musculoskeletal disorders due to repetitive cutting, polishing, crimping, stripping, … associated with a leaning position (kyphotic attitude) to ensure close vision and arms outstretched, elbows raised, leaning on the table: the frequent appearance of back pain and neck pain, tendinopathies of the upper limbs, and carpal tunnel syndromes follow.
In addition, the vibrations of the portable machines used intensively by the lapidary or the polisher lead to osteoarticular risks of the upper limbs which concern firstly the tendonitis of the elbow epicondylitis and epitrochleitis the wrists, then the tendinopathies of the shoulder.
Temporary vibratory anesthesia, which temporarily reduces the pain sensation, often leads to continuing work, aggravating the pathology.
The risks of vibration neuropathies are manifested by the loss of manual dexterity, decrease in touch of the fingers, intermittent or persistent tingling in the hands.
The risk of injury
Numerous sharp and sharp manual tools (needle files, shears, etc.) and machines are used for laminating, stretching, cutting, stamping, drilling, polishing, etc. which cause significant risk of injury, particularly to the hands and fingers by cuts or crushing with the possible inclusion of metal fragments and to the eyes by projection.
In particular the rolling mill with its moving parts, the electric drill for drilling stones, polishing with an electric lathe with brushes or felt or leather wheels rotating at high speed, stretching benches, stamping machines. are sources of danger.
Thermal risks in jewelry stores
Due to the processes used in umisoul.com jewelry, workshop premises are therefore particularly exposed to infrared radiant energy, high temperatures, and the risk of thermal burns:
– the casting of the metal into ingots in a crucible in refractory earth at a melting temperature for gold of 900 ° C, and for that of silver of 1000 ° C,
– production of alloys,
– brazing carried out by using the torch, the heat of which is obtained by town gas or butane and oxygen, often supplied using a foot pump,
– work with heat during pickling and electrolysis,
– vulcanization at 150 ° C of the rubber mold used to pour the waxes.
Monitoring of the melting, proximity to the molten metal, handling of the elements coming out of the furnace, contact with hot machines or tools, are sources of thermal risk.
Direct contact of the skin with hot surfaces or molten metals can of course first cause very serious skin burns, during transport of the molten metal or by sparks and drips.
But proximity to a radiant heat source can also lead to headaches, sweating, tachycardia, hypotension, and, together with high air temperatures, cause discomfort due to dehydration and circulatory disorders.
Above 25oC, discomfort is felt with, moreover, all the psychological consequences that this can have on the precision of gestures, vigilance, and therefore safety (reduction in reaction capacities, irritability, aggressiveness).
Exposures to infrared radiation from molten metal, which has a much higher transferable power density than convection, can increase the risk of cataracts and retinal and corneal damage, or burns or skin irritation.
Eye risks are greatly aggravated by direct rays when the worker stares at the IR source for a long time, remaining motionless in its axis, but indirect rays by reflection on reflective surfaces must also be taken into account.
Recommendations and tips for wearing jewelry without damaging our skin
When we wear jewelry we must always be careful that they do not damage our skin, especially if we are people with sensitive skin or suffer from an allergy.
If we suffer from an allergy, the main thing is to look at what materials the pieces we want to wear are made with. When buying a piece, we have to make sure that its materials are hypoallergenic, especially when in the descriptions it only says made of metal.
This metal may or may not be hypoallergenic and in addition, special care must be taken with the pieces that claim to be bathed in hypoallergenic metal because when the bath wears, the interior metal is exposed and if it is not anti-allergic it can cause an allergic reaction.
When it comes to putting the pieces on, you have to put them on and take them off easily, you don’t have to exert enormous force because we can damage ourselves. So, as with clothes and shoes, if a piece of jewelry is not your size, such as rings or bracelets, and it is too small, do not try to put it on forcing your body.
When we buy a bracelet, a watch, a ring or a necklace that is our size, in addition to being very unsightly, it is very harmful to health, because it cuts the blood risk and we can numb our finger or wrist and cause other more serious problems, such as strangulation of the finger or the appearance of blood clots.
When we are working in manual labor, carpentry tasks, plumbing, physical exercise, or even when we are doing housework or gardening, it is highly advisable to remove all jewelry. Jewelry can be damaged by the sweat from our skin, hitting them unintentionally, damaging them with toxic products and chemicals that we use, etc.
