Bad For Your Health: Laser Printers?
Sunday, March 7th, 2010It’s almost as though the more technology we have, the more health risks there are. For example, laser printers have been looked at closely to see if they could be causing any health risks. It has been said that spending time around a laser printer while working is almost just as bad as breathing second-hand smoke from a frequent smoker. The difference is that you can both see and smell second hand cigarette smoke to avoid it. Unless laser toner emissions are concentrated into a small area, they tend to be invisible and odorless. Even if you know where they are, they can still be hard to detect.
As always, there are different opinions on either sides of the issue. HP has even been doing its own testing ever since they were accused of being the worst of the polluting printer companies. According to what they said, the ventilation ducts at particles in them that were like toner, but they couldn’t confirm that it was toner. They also cannot identify the source of the particles in the printing system. However, different parts of the printer could be emitting them, not just toner and rollers.
Hewlett Packard is most likely the spotlighted company because their printers are the most popular. Out of a study of 42 printers from one building, 34 were HP. What’s scary is that 13 of those were labeled “high emission”, and they can vary within the same printer model. Hewlett Packard maintains that their machines are well within the standard indoor occupational laser toner exposure limits. The debate rages on, and who knows what the conclusion will be.
Whether you believe in the dangers of air-born pollutants from laser printers or not, there is another potential hazard; a flammable one. The average person doesn’t understand how laser toner is transfered to the paper. Therefore, they most likely don’t realize that the particles are electrostatically charged. If enough tiny particles of toner get inside of a normal vacuum cleaner, there is the chance, however small, that it could ignite and cause a fire.
There are specially made vacuum cleaners for the purpose of picking up electrostatically charged particles; sometimes called “Electrostatic Discharge-safe” vacuums. HEPA filters are also installed in them. Although conventional vacuums may have a filter built into them, it probably is not efficient enough to trap the minute toner particles. As a result, the toner is dispersed back into the air or may even clog the motor over time.
Of course, each side has its own tidbits of truth. There are dangerous particles in the indoor environments we call businesses and home offices. Whether these particles come only from laser toner, or if it’s generated by several different machines at the same time, is very hard to determine. All we know is that being vigilant in replacing and maintaining filters and ensuring proper ventilation will achieve the best results until manufacturers of office equipment develop new and healthier alternative technologies.
The “mission” is a custom mission I made specifically for this type of thing. The wind speed is about the maximum you can have and not have it instantly blow off the ground although it will get away from you if you don’t keep control inputs coming even while you are sitting there. You will notice my right boot is just about buried most of the time and there is nearly always some form of left cyclic. The brakes are also pushed thru the floor (I have them right toe brake) as well. The turbulence is the maximum the simulation will allow. It is bad enough that I have to click most of the switches I want to activate/deactivate while the sim’ is paused at the beginning so I can have my hands and feet ready to go the instant I un-pause it. For example I turned off the ap’s, turned on some lights and the wiper so it looked kewl. I would wreck it if I tried that un-paused. The landing looks like a total fluke and is in fact about 50% fluke. Not the timing of the landing but the fact that I did not blow out any of the tires or break the landing gear or one of many other things that can happen in those conditions.
