You can count the studies of the emissions on your fingers and have fingers left over.  So now is the time to collect them.  Here's 2 that I use I use.  

"Ultrafine particle emissions from desktop 3D printers,"  Brent Stephens,  Parham Azimi, Zeineb El Orcha, Tiffanie Ramos, Atmospheric Environment 79 (2013) 334-339;  

 "3D printers shown to emit potentially harmful nanosized particles,"  Technology/Engineering, July 24, 2013

The second study breaks down the different fine particles from sterolithography, laser sintering, powder-bed ink-jet printing, robocasting, and fused deposition modeling (plastic filimament). 

But my building planning recommendations all say that the units should be in local exhaust enclosures. The reason is, students should not be the lab rats to determine how toxic the nanoparticles and some of the other odd ball things that come off of some of these are.  If you are looking for proof that there should be local exhaust or some standard that is violated, you will have to wait until there is a body count some years from now. 

So the precautionary principle should be used here.  Vent 'em.

Monona Rossol, M.S., M.F.A., Industrial Hygienist

President:  Arts, Crafts & Theater Safety, Inc.

Safety Officer: Local USA829, IATSE

181 Thompson St., #23

New York, NY 10012     212-777-0062

actsnyc**At_Symbol_Here**cs.com   www.artscraftstheatersafety.org

 

-----Original Message-----
From: Stuart, Ralph <Ralph.Stuart**At_Symbol_Here**KEENE.EDU>
To: DCHAS-L <DCHAS-L**At_Symbol_Here**MED.CORNELL.EDU>
Sent: Thu, Apr 14, 2016 2:23 pm
Subject: [DCHAS-L] Safety Concerns/Policy --3D Printers

DCHAS members may have information to supply to this inquiry from a sister e-mail list. This is a big question on many campuses (tip: look in your libraries for maker spaces) and it would be good to help collect this information into something useful to the EHS community as a whole.

- Ralph

> Begin forwarded message:
>
> From: "Gladle, Michael" <Michael.Gladle**At_Symbol_Here**UDEL.EDU>
> Subject: [SAFETY2] Safety Concerns/Policy --3D Printers
> Date: April 14, 2016 at 8:33:03 AM EDT
>
> Good Morning Everyone,
>
> We are seeing more and more 3D printers on campus and trying to address safety concerns. I would be interested in receiving feedback on how you are addressing 3D printers for those institutions having them. Please respond to the following questions and send to me directly or via listserv. I would be more than willing to share the results with everyone.
>
> Do you have a policy in place regarding use and type of feed stock(s) allowed?
>
> Are the printers ventilated via local exhaust, exhaust air filtered and introduced back into the space or just general room ventilation?
>
> Have you conducted any air monitoring for vapors/fumes/particles for the various feedstocks e.g. ABS, PLA, etc.?
>
> Would you be willing to share any of the monitoring results?
>
> Thank you in advance for your response. Please call me if you would like to talk off-line, my contact information follows.
>
> Best,
>
> Mike
>
> Michael A. Gladle, MPH, CIH
> Director
> University of Delaware
> Department of Environmental Health and Safety
> 222 South Chapel St., Room 132
> Newark, DE 19716
> O# 302-831-1435
> C# 302-690-2751
>
> ---
> This e-mail is from the SAFETY2**At_Symbol_Here**asu.edu list.
> Archives of list discussions can be found at https://urldefense.proofpoint.com/v2/url?u=http-3A__lists.asu.edu_archives_safety2.html&d=CwIFAg&c=lb62iw4YL4RFalcE2hQUQealT9-RXrryqt9KZX2qu2s&r=meWM1Buqv4IQ27AlK1OJRjcQl09S1Zta6YXKalY_Io0&m=wO5ROsrF9F9lUf4Yr7Fe5zCEGqcA9xQPfVlWjvCJanc&s=UH11U2zvtu7MCWJeMyVxZBcBSE8C3TFomSTQM2WfBHw&e=