05-15-2020, 10:35 AM
The job where I was welding inside a kiln I wore ear plugs and ear muffs since the grinding and hammering is just so loud inside a giant metal pipe. I could take the muffs off when I was just welding since that isn't nearly as loud as grinding is. We also had the kiln's fan on to remove the smoke and stainless steel fumes. On top of that I had a hardhat, safety glasses, my 3m half-face respirator and a welding shield... at least when we switch to fitting we can take off the welding shield so it's a bit lighter. The crews that do the refractory inside the kilns sometimes wear 3M full-face respirators that cover the whole face and are a bit like space helmet, but the hardhat isn't integrated. There are integrated welding shields/respirators but I wouldn't want to wear one at my job, they are expensive, bulky and hard to communicate in. I've gone through two auto-darkening welding shields in the last few years as well... they are more suited to shop work and lighter/cleaner work environments than I work in.