[LTL_FTC]

Currently worried about this. My employer asked me to help the production team with some assembly of the product which involved a good amount of soldering. Turns out it’s leaded solder and the owner doesn’t believe in venting the solder smoke to the exterior of the building. The tiny fans used are a joke. I’m in software and won’t be doing this regularly but it’s still incredibly worrisome as I don’t see employees washing their hands after handling it so it could be everywhere.

[teraflop]

As I understand it, the "solder smoke" produced during hand-soldering does not actually contain metallic solder itself, except maybe in trace amounts. It primarily consists of vaporized organic compounds from the rosin flux core of the solder wire.

It's still not good to inhale (chronic exposure can cause asthma and other respiratory issues) but it's not really an issue of leaded vs. lead-free.

And for what it's worth, I've always anecdotally heard that solder paste is what you really want to be worried about, rather than solder wire, because it's much easier for small amounts to get smeared onto objects/surfaces and contaminate them.

[AnimalMuppet]

If you're in the US, you might consider dropping a word to OSHA.