4º Congresso Internacional sobre Condições de Trabalho. , Porto: Rede de Investigação sobre Condições de Trabalho (RICOT)
The embedding of technology and the digitalization of processes and services within industry holds the promise for increased flexibility and productivity. Associated with the tendencies within industry 4.0 there are several enabling technologies, such has 3D printing and additive manufacturing technologies that are becoming very popular and used for industrial processes, although not without hazard. With the present paper the authors aim to explore the impacts industrial 3D printing on health and safety at work and design possible industrial intervention measures.
The technological process underneath 3D printing by itself encompasses hazardous exposure scenarios, for example: i) those that imply that thermoplastics are heated, nozzle extruded and then deposited onto a surface to build a part. Thus, by-product nanoparticles (< 1/10.000 of a millimetre) are emitted; ii) for low temperature polylactic acid (PLA) 20 billion of particles per minute can be released; iii) at higher temperatures acrylonitrile butadiene styrene (ABS) feedstock can release up to 200 billion nanoparticles.
The raw materials, can have multiple uses (e.g. raw material or support materials), origins (e.g. metallic, plastic) and forms (e.g. solid, powder). These materials encompass hazards related with: i) harmful chemicals, used mainly on support materials that are used to allow the creation of empty spaces on printed parts, such as phenyl phosphates, hazardous during use and disposal; ii) the use of metal powders, such as titanium and aluminium can spontaneously combust causing fires; iii) hot surfaces, high voltage, ultraviolet radiation, laser and moving parts are important hazards related with 3D printing machines.
Occupational health and safety measures must deal with: 1. technology that allows the contention of the hazardous agent emission without compromising the production process – for example by airtight chambers, ventilation and exhaustion chambers; 2. Compliance with ATEX directives, for metal powders use; 3. development of training and certification requirements for operating 3D industrial processes and to capacitate workers (materials, techniques, best practises); 4. Making available protective equipment’s that respond to the hazards.
There are many practical challenges related with occupational health and safety, for 3D printing technologies industrial incorporation and ownership. It’s known that hazardous materials are released during the fabrication processes, although the exposure scenarios are not well known or studied. More robust experiments and sophisticated control methods are needed to know and tackle the hazards for 3Dprinting use in industrial contexts – the size and distribution of particles (including nanoparticles), its concentration, its mass and the total volatile organic compound (COV). The study of Huang et al (2013) on societal impact develops these issues.
Since the product safety regulations depend currently on centralized manufacturing (safety testing and regular inspection in factories), 3D printing is expected to bring a dispersion of manufacturing, raising questions about safety issues. Some authors suggests that even if we move the regulation process from the products to the software of the manufacturing process in 3D-printing, concerns still remain due to the poor success of the information regulation on line as well as to the scarce ability to stop the distribution of files, particularly when combined with jurisdictional concerns.