Workplace safety and OSHA
Soldering Safety
Flux fume, lead, burns and the habits that keep a soldering bench safe
Awareness · 1 hour · Certificate does not expire
Soldering looks harmless: a small iron, a thin wire and a wisp of smoke. But the smoke from rosin flux is a recognized cause of occupational asthma, tin-lead solder puts lead on your hands every shift, and solder pots and wave machines hold kilograms of metal hot enough to cause deep burns. This course teaches the hazards and the controls that work.
You will learn what solder fume is made of, why colophony (rosin) fume is a respiratory sensitizer, the symptoms to report, and how to position, check and maintain fume extraction. You will learn how lead from tin-lead solder reaches the body, the action level and permissible exposure limit in the OSHA lead standard, 29 CFR 1910.1025, the hygiene rules that stop lead reaching your mouth, the status of lead rulemaking including the stricter Cal/OSHA limits in force since 2025, and what changes with lead-free alloys. The final module covers iron safety, solder pots and wave soldering, why moisture and molten solder must never meet, the difference between ESD grounding and electrical safety grounding, eye protection and housekeeping. Scenarios come from defense, medical device and industrial electronics assembly.
The course pairs with the PlanetISO ESD Awareness course for static control and J-STD-001 Essentials: Soldered Electrical and Electronic Assemblies for workmanship requirements.
What this course does not cover. It is general awareness training. Your employer must still assess the hazards of your actual work and select PPE, determine whether anyone's lead exposure reaches the action level, provide hazard communication training on the solders and fluxes at your site, and give you hands-on instruction on your extraction equipment, solder pots and wave machines. This course does not make anyone OSHA certified, and OSHA does not approve training providers. State-plan states may have additional or stricter requirements, and employers outside the US follow their own regulations.
The course closes with a 10-question examination drawn from a bank of 20. On passing you receive a PlanetISO Certificate of Completion for the online instruction, with lifetime access to the course. The certificate does not expire.
What people learn
- Explain what solder fume consists of and why rosin (colophony) flux fume can cause occupational asthma.
- Position, check and report faults in fume extraction equipment.
- Describe how lead from tin-lead solder reaches the body and apply the hygiene rules that prevent it.
- State the action level and PEL in 29 CFR 1910.1025 and the current status of lead rulemaking, including stricter state limits.
- Compare tin-lead and lead-free solder hazards.
- Use irons, solder pots and wave equipment without burns, and distinguish ESD grounding from electrical safety grounding.