Impact, penetration, harmful dust, smoke, fumes, heat and injurious light radiation are all potential hazards associated with welding. Welding “smoke” is a mixture of very fine particles (fumes) and gases. Depending upon what is being welded, many of the substances in the smoke can be extremely toxic.

Best welding safety practices and equipment are universally applicable. Welding exposes everyone to similar hazards, whether you're responsible for safety at a large, welding-intensive manufacturing company, a billion-dollar engineering-construction firm or a small independent fabricator. Here are 12 tips for improving welding safety in your company, including advice that also improves productivity.

Welding arcs give off radiation over a broad range of wavelengths - from 200 nm (nanometres) to 1,400 nm (or 0.2 to 1.4 µm, micometres). This includes ultraviolet (UV) radiation (200 to 400 nm), visible light (400 to 700 nm), and infrared (IR) radiation (700 to 1,400 nm).