Metallurgy Industry
Chemical first aid for metal surface treatment, plating and finishing
The metallurgy industry covers a wide range of disciplines — metal recycling, foundries, the manufacture of raw metal products, and the production of components and intermediates for the automotive, aeronautic, packaging, and construction industries. Throughout all of these activities, chemical surface treatment processes are central to the work — and they bring workers into regular, direct contact with some of the most hazardous corrosive substances in industrial use.
Surface treatment processes modify metals to resist corrosion, improve physical characteristics, or prepare surfaces for subsequent coating, painting, or bonding. Chemical baths are typically open tanks, the work is often labour-intensive and manual, and the physical risks — dosing concentrated chemicals into tanks, dipping components, hook failures that drop items into baths, condensate dripping from overhead pipes, and the cleaning and emptying of tanks — are foreseeable events at every plating and surface treatment facility.
Anodising uses sulphuric acid-based electrolytes as the primary process chemistry, with special applications using sulphuric/oxalic acid, sulphuric/salicylic acid, chromic acid, or phosphoric acid solutions. Anodising is primarily applied to aluminium and creates concentrated acid exposure risk throughout the tank operation process.
Phosphating treats metal surfaces with hot phosphoric acid solution to create a passivation layer for corrosion protection. The elevated temperature of the phosphoric acid bath increases the severity of any splash injury compared to room-temperature acid exposure.
Electropolishing removes a fine layer of metal via an electrolytic process, using electrolytes that may include sulphuric acid, citric acid, chromic acid, phosphoric acid, and other organic compounds to achieve the desired surface quality.
Pickling removes oxides and brightens metal surfaces prior to further surface treatment. It commonly uses hydrochloric acid or sulphuric acid. For certain metals — particularly stainless steel and titanium — fluoride ions are required and hydrofluoric acid is used. This is the most serious chemical hazard in the metallurgy sector. HF at working concentrations can cause initially painless burns while fluoride ions diffuse into tissue and disrupt calcium metabolism, creating systemic toxicity that can be fatal from exposures that initially appear minor. Any metallurgy site that uses HF in pickling must have a specific HF response protocol in place, separate from its general chemical first aid provision.
Diphoterine® provides broad-spectrum active decontamination across all the surface treatment chemicals in this sector — sulphuric acid, nitric acid, hydrochloric acid, phosphoric acid, sodium hydroxide, and the full range of organic acids and alkalis used in plating and finishing — in a single portable format. Because chemical baths are typically away from fixed emergency shower provision, and because maintenance operations involve the highest risk scenarios, Diphoterine® wall-mounted stations and DAP units positioned at tank-side provide the fastest possible response at the point of greatest risk.
For hydrofluoric acid exposures in pickling operations, Hexafluorine® is the dedicated Prevor decontaminant, used alongside calcium gluconate gel as part of a specific HF first aid protocol. Used in combination with Trivorex®, Polycaptor® and Le Vert® / Le Vert HF®, DipHex can provide comprehensive chemical first aid and spill management coverage across the complete metallurgy hazard profile.
Chemicals of note in this industry:
Sulphuric Acid, Nitric Acid, Hydrochloric Acid, Phosphoric Acid, Chromic Acid, Sodium Hydroxide, Hydrofluoric Acid (pickling — requires Hexafluorine®).
COSHH and compliance
Metallurgy COSHH risk assessments must address the specific chemicals in each surface treatment process, the open-tank working environment, and the particular HF risk where fluoride-based pickling is used. Diphoterine® systems conform with EN15154 Parts 3 and 4 — the European Standards for Emergency Eye and Skin Decontamination Equipment.
Contact DipHex on 01622 851000 or at enquiries@diphex.com to discuss provision for your metal surface treatment or plating facility.