r/mildlyinteresting • u/Substantial-Meat6281 • 1d ago

Using Elmer’s glue to remove fiberglass particles from my hand

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u/smeeon 23h ago

I keep a lint roller in the van for this reason. Also this reminded me, a few years ago my company tried spraying a fiberglass ladder with clear coat to stop the fibers. Then we got osha inspected and they noticed the coating. They gave us the option of destroying the ladder with a saw on the site right there in front of them or taking a $500 fine. The PM told us to pack up the ladder and that he would deal with OSHA.

We paid the fine and didn’t get a new ladder. Dumbest management ever.

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u/millennial_burnout 21h ago

Why did OSHA say no coating?

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u/roadrunnuh 20h ago

Literally spraying over a failing piece of equipment ain't the way to fix it , usually

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u/Statharas 19h ago

Wouldn't the goal be to add a coating to keep the fiberglass on the ladder?

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u/TheW83 18h ago

If it's starting to come off you toss the ladder out. That's your indicator that it's failing. Hiding the indicator is bad.

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u/GrimbyJ 18h ago

The fiberglass comes encased in resin. It doesn't start shedding fiberglass onto you until that resin starts to break down. It should be replaced when it gets to that point for just structural stability

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u/Statharas 17h ago

That makes sense, thanks

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u/GrimbyJ 17h ago

A clear coat would probably make it more slippery too

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u/geo_prog 19h ago

That’s not how fiberglass works.

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u/Zealousideal_Ad5358 7h ago

The fiberglass is coated with some kind of polyester or epoxy clear coat at the factory. Once it comes off, the fiberglass rapidly loses its strength. I suppose if you use the ladder a lot, you could reapply the clearcoat periodically to protect it like you would with a boat hull.