looking at doing an arsenic site clean up wondering what arsenic might do to heavy equipment will it effect steel, rubber, bronze, chrome, electrical. if so how would it effect them any advice welcome i dont want to send my machines into a death trap. THANKS
What kind of arsenic is it? Treated wood (CCA) is nasty stuff to work with as far as rusting tools, that could be partly the copper also. If the arsenic is from lead alloys it wouldn't be an issue for rusting.
Arsenic has been attributed to be the 'Kings of Poisons' and its high level toxicity makes it a potent wood preservative against insects, bacteria and fungi. For the same reason it is also used in insecticides, poison, weed killers, etc. arsenic is extremely toxic. Produced as a byproduct of industrial production such as copper smelting, it can cause both acute and long-term health effects. Acute (short-term) arsenic poisoning may cause nausea, vomiting, diarrhea, weakness, loss of appetite, shaking, cough and headache. Chronic (long-term) exposure may lead to a variety of symptoms including skin pigmentation, numbness, cardiovascular disease, diabetes, and vascular disease. Arsenic is also known to cause a variety of cancers including skin cancer (non-melanoma type), kidney, bladder, lung, prostate and liver cancer. Arsenic clean-up levels in soils, which are measured in ppm (parts-per-million), vary according to the type of contaminated property. The strictest clean-up standard (State of Washington) is known as "Method A." The Method A clean-up level for arsenic is: Residential: 20 ppm Industrial: 200 ppm drinking water standards for arsenic are set at 10 parts per billion (ppb). If your arsenic level is more than 10 ppb, stop using your water for drinking and food preparation i wouldn't worry about the machinery nearly as much as my health. have been in the remediation business a long time i can tell you arsenic is nasty stuff . use proper PPE and lots of common sense. are you going to stabilize it first or is it low enough levels that it can be hauled to a non-haz landfill?
Not a job to be undertaken unless you have a lot of experience in this type of stuff. One small miscalculation and you could loose your shirt. Depending on the arsenic levels you may have to have supplied air in your machines . I have quite a few friends who work for a major player here in Canada that deals with remediation and hazardous materials removal , it is not nearly as easy as one might think . Good luck
Are you the GC on this job or just the excavation contractor? I ask because if your are the GC I would advise you to get a consulting company in there to do over site, health and safety plans as well as site safety and a whole slew of other thing that they should be doing. You also might need to set up a truck washing station with runoff containment , air monitoring, etc. You also need to make sure you have a competent crew of field technicians, operators and drivers. Is there a remediation plan written up yet? How contaminated is the site, yardage would help too Sal