Apart from the obvious but rare toxicity of beryllium, there are risks attached to ingestion of a lot of more common metals and their compounds.
Alumin(i)um: Jury still out on the Altzheimers link.
Cadmium: Used on lots of old plated electrical stuff, now known to be very hazardous.
Lead: Insidious, deadly poison and still plentiful in old domestic paintwork.
Mercury: Still around in old garden pest control products lying in outbuildings, and used in many old electrical devices.
Copper, nickel and other heavy metals: Again, long term health risks, and found practically everywhere. I once worked on a site where old small-arms ammo had been burned after WWII in crude fires. An area of perhaps 4 acres was up to 2 ft deep in spent cases, ball, coke shards, wooden ammo-box hinges and dirt. Uneconomic to clear because of the few live rounds lying buried in wait, it was as dead a doorpost except for some wierd copper/lead tolerant plants.
And an electrician, by nature of his/her work, is being exposed daily to metals more than most other building trades.
Alan
