Forum for safety considerations

So my story goes, everything is peachy until someone gets hurt. People already get sensitized to ABS plastic and talk about it like it's just news. This horrifies me - having been once before sensitized to a similar material, it meant having a permanent reaction/sensitivity and took years of management to get it to a point where future reactions were manageable.

I want Reprap to consider adding a parent category called "safety' to reflect their matching concerns for human safety. We should all very seriously consider and review safety in general. Currently, [reprap.org] is the only mention to safety I could find and seems to marginalize it.

'Immediate' safety is important even to the experienced, for example getting electrically shocked, burnt, or physically punctured. It is also important for an increasing number of young adopters (children) who could hurt themselves on plastic parts. But my larger concern and push is for analysis, research, and documentation of the long-term safety of exposure to common RepRap polymers. In particular - thermolysis of FDM polymers, breathing of uncured light cure polymers, and direct contact with supposedly "fully cured" light cure polymers. In addition, there needs to be more conversation about the disposal of such materials used and their impact on the environment. I believe these issues are a humanitarian concern, and while I appreciate that it is a hobby, it has grown to point where most people who use the parts assume they are safe and may be hurt due to being naive, or even hurting others unknowingly.

As we were first to popularize 3D printing, I believe there is a growing set of issues in multiple aspects of safety. So we need to be just as forward thinking and be first to be responsible and start the conversation. Otherwise, we might soon find that some distant politician decides our fate for us! First and foremost, anyone can contribute anecdotal reports of mistakes they made in safety that others can learn from. For example, "I developed a strong red rash after contact with a photo-cured polymer 3D ring. This can also include successes such as "I extruded Nylon and didn't get sick in any way."

Proposed categories

• Electrical Safety
• Physical Safety
• Fire Safety
• Thermolysis of polymers (long term exposure)
• Breathing of photopolymers (long term exposure)
• Breathing of photopolymers (long term exposure)
• Environment Safety & Disposal
• Successes
• Lessons
• Questions

I will populate the long-term exposure forums and have already begun a meta-review. I would publish it in an academic journal, but I'm not a card carrying epidemiologist or chemist, just a PhD bioengineer. However, I have had many peer-reviewed publications and appreciate reliable sources, such as medical review journals and organic chemistry reports, MSDS sheets, and so fourth.

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Measure once, Cut twice, Print 3 times.

Additional info.

There is an incredible push lately towards new materials like UV and blue light cured polymers and new polymer materials being used lately (Polycarbonate, PVA, and others). While personal experience is one measure of safety - and yes people rarely complain - I fear for our combined ignorance and Dearth of information about polymer safety. For example, people think that a cured polymer is safe to handle with bare hands. While it is true, 99.99% of the polymer is crosslinked in a cured matrix, there is always (read: always) some monomer accessible. People who I've spoken with in cell culture know this very well; they photopattern all kinds of 'safe' polymers and find that it affects cell stability, growth, and results.

As with any material that isn't overly dangerous (i.e. toxic), sensitivity and health problems are directly correlated with exposure (amount of polymer) and time. So if you live in a small house and have your 3D printing photopolymer machine next to you, I would be very concerned for your long-term health safety. I would guess the danger is at least on the order of the FEMA formaledhyde trailers incident and possibly worse than having asbestos and lead in your home.

I say these things to scare the reader, while I do know in practice exposure to a polymer once in a while is not a huge cause of concern, such as fear of death or paralysis; however, what measure do we have of the impact? Where is the conversation today? I searched the forum for "polymer safety" and "themolysis" for "all time." and found no hit. In short, I think the upcoming polymer safety issue conversation should be started today.

Lastly, there is the growing concern of printing dangerous materials, like guns or knives. I would actually call them "Shanks" since we are so far from a practical fully-printed weapon. Never the less, it is another growing concern, especially for the public, who may think of 3D printers as awesomely capable of printing very refined items today.

I agree with the OP on most counts, especially regarding the widely accepted "standard" safety regimes, which a both almost absent as topics within this community and more often than not discounted by naive youth and "interested" vendors. (ex: the embarrassingly sloppy and slanted "Plastic printing is safe" instructable...) Granted, the last issue isn't one I'm all that concerned with, except to combat the sensationalism that the infotainment commisars of the consumer economy apply to get everyone inline with their "vision". If a gun shop could use 3D printers to profit, I guarantee they would.

+1 for a new forum. Seems too many here are quite ignorant about the science behind this stuff.