Work Right (HSE's campaign aimed at helping smaller businesses and workers) has an article on regular fluid quality checks when working with metal working fluid.
Water-mix metalworking fluid, or white water, stays in the machine and deteriorates over time. It becomes contaminated and bacteria may start to grow. Poor fluid quality also affects the performance of the machine and the quality of the parts.
To maintain safe and effective fluids, you need to regularly check and correct concentration, pH and bacteria levels.
The checks are simple to carry out, though you will need some basic equipment: dipslides (bacteria); incubator; refractometer (concentration); and pH paper test strips or electronic pH meter (acidity / alkalinity).
For details, see HSE COSHH MW5: Managing fluid quality
The UKLA has created the following which provide helpful advice Good Practice Guide for Safe Handling and Disposal of Metalworking Fluids and a practical series of videos with easy to follow demonstrations of the quick and simple tests that should be carried out.
Find out more about Work Right on their website.
