Is it safe to cut styrofoam?
A. We have discussed this question with CLEAPSS who have kindly provided the following advice re styrofoam, i.e. polystyrene foam, which is their current and most up to date information about the product as available to schools and colleges in the UK. Cutting polystyrene foam The WEL for phenylethene (styrene monomer) in workplace air is defined as 100 ppm when averaged over a working day or 250 ppm for short periods (of the order of 15 minutes). The test Tests were carried out in a room of 50 m3 volume. No windows were open and a ventilation rate of the order of about 2 changes per hour would be expected under these conditions. Over a period of 20 minutes, a total area of cut of 0.48 m2 was made using the cutter at the hottest setting that was possible without the wire breaking. Three measurements of the air concentration of phenylethene were made during this period; none was even close to the minimum detectable level of 10 ppm. A further measurement was made with the air being sample
