Quote Originally Posted by waredu View Post
With TVs and monitors, it's not lead dust in the glass floating around. The lead (and phosphorus) is actually part of the glass. The phosphor glows when excited in a vacuum. The glass has a vacuum in it. If the glass is broken, an implosion, rather than an explosion, of glass occurs. If the glass breaks there are several hazards. For adults, breathing a little lead dust isn't actually that harmful. It will mess up your brain a bit, but it's on par with getting drunk. It will also mess up your lungs, about on par with smoking. For children though, breathing lead dust leads to all kinds of developmental problems. This is why they outlawed lead in paint - kids were eating it (they eat the darndest things sometimes) and old paint flakes off and gets inhaled. Really messes with kids. The next hazard is glass shards. No matter how well I clean up broken glass (and luckily I've never broken a CRT) I always manage to step on a piece with a bare foot. Avoid this by not breaking the glass in the first place.

The dust on the outside of the glass isn't lead. But, I wouldn't breathe it either. It's gross and smells bad. If something smells or tastes bad, there's a reason for it - it's not good to smell or eat. Nature's way of protecting us.

Use common sense. Wear eye protection. Wear gloves. Wear a dust mask or respirator. Those are in order of importance.

As for which electronics are "extremely dangerous" - either all of them or none of them. It depends on how you look at it. Any electronic device that is plugged in is extremely dangerous to someone poking around with a screwdriver. Any electronic device is completely safe when all applicable safety precautions are taken. Common sense only goes so far though. If you don't know that a CRT tube holds an electric charge even days after it's been unplugged - you're liable to get a shock (just ask Hoss). The cure for ignorance is reading though. Before I broke down my first monitor, I watched several youtube clips and read several posts at this forum (and others). Same with my first microwave. Learned there's a nasty bit of ceramic made with beryllium oxide - far worse than leaded glass. I learned how to discharge a capacitor (and a CRT). I learned to discharge a CRT more than once - thanks Hoss! If you don't know how to do something, make Google and YouTube your friend. Ignorance can be cured - stupidity can't.
waredu, thanks for the reply! Yes I definitely watch a ton of videos on breaking stuff down and read on different sites about breaking stuff down. Im aware of the electric charge, the dust that comes up when the glass is broke, and even the ceramic that comes from magnatrons in microwaves. Some times I catch my workers not wearing the protective gear (eye glasses, gloves, nor dust masks. I just want to make sure they arent going to fall over and die one day.

I guess my main concern is the chemicals that are in electronics. I read that some toners can be toxic, and the fire retardant that is contained within some electronics also.

I was reading another thread that talks about hazardous chemical that are in e-waste. It sites a lot of chemical but, it doesnt talk about exactly what electronics they come from and what can be done to be safe. Here is that thread:



http://www.scrapmetalforum.com/showt...hazards+ewaste

Any replies would be great

thanks