Hazardous dust and fumes can become airborne and travel quickly, so what's the solution when dealing with them on a larger scale or on multiple floors?

Many industrial, manufacturing and fabrication processes can create large amounts of wood, metal, plastic and other less common types of dust.

Due to the large amount of dust produced, it can be more difficult to avoid inadvertently inhaling it and sometimes it can spread across multiple floors, depending on the work taking place and working environment.

As dust can have long-term health impacts and create a potentially explosive atmosphere, it’s important to protect anyone within these environments.

What type of work might cause excessive dust and fume?

Depending on the type of industry and operations within them, the causes and amount of dust and fume produced can vary. Some examples include:

• Factory - Maintenance and repair work such as re-flooring, drainage upgrades, new mezzanines, new bunded areas and plinth relocations can all produce airborne hazards.
• Waste-to-energy plant - Boilers, fabric filters, furnaces and ash expellers are some of the key areas that might require welding repair work during plant shutdowns.
• Oil refinery - Maintenance welding is a standard rig activity and is quite varied. A maintenance welder may work on heavy equipment, large vessels designed to hold liquids and gases, valves, and high-pressure pipes.
• Film - Cutting, welding, painting or sanding of film set materials made from wood, metal, fibreglass and more.

Although large-scale dust and fumes are common across these specific industries, the following may also contribute to excess, hazardous dust and fumes:

• Raw Materials - Wood, stone, metals, concrete, chemicals and even sugar, flour and grain can create dust and fumes by being moved or processed.
• Industrial Processes - Grinding, cutting, welding and mixing are a few examples of activities that can create dust and/or fumes, especially if using the raw materials mentioned above.
• Combustion activity – Smelting, incineration and welding may also produce toxic fumes containing harmful substances.

It’s also important to remember that sensitive factories producing food or pharmaceuticals require additional care to ensure dust and fumes do not migrate and impact the production line.

Why are dust and fumes important to manage?

There are three main reasons to control dust and fumes:

Health: Workers exposed to dust and fume hazards on a regular basis can have chronic health issues as a result. Long-term exposure can result in serious conditions such as occupational asthma, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) or lung diseases like silicosis, asbestosis and even cancer.

Efficiency: In an industry setting, there is no time for delays, so capturing dust and avoiding migration is essential to avoid extended, costly shutdown periods.

Compliance: HSE has strict guidance when it comes to dust and fumes because of the health repercussions. Engineering controls can help ensure your team meets COSHH regulations.

As well as the above, if the dust created is also combustible, it creates an additional hazard because it has a risk of catching fire or explosion. Combustible dust can range from flour right through to fabrication metals - it’s always best to check whether the dust produced has the potential of becoming combustible in large quantities.

What’s the solution?

To successfully capture hazards at the source in an Industry setting, it’s best practice to use extraction units with multiple extraction points. This allows for the effortless collection of high levels of dust and fumes in different locations, at the same time.

Here’s an example of how it could be set-up, the diagram below shows an example of 3 of the extraction points in use. More extraction points can be made available if required.

RVT’s DUSTEX® range offers a variety of equipment suitable for multi-point, dust and fume extraction.

DUSTEX® D5

• High suction power ensures optimum extraction results for everything from masonry dust, wood dust, fibreglass dust, metal dust, (non-conductive) explosive dust and chips.
• Particularly long filter life due to the optimum ratio between air volume flow and filter surface, as well as very effective filter cleaning.
• Detachable/mobile dust collection container with large capacity ensures simple and quick disposal with minimal contact.

DUSTEX® Superfilta 40

• A high-flow filtration unit that efficiently extracts large volumes of welding, cutting and burning fumes and grinding, refractory, industrial processes and other types of dust and fumes.
• To maintain airflow and save on maintenance downtime, the filters are automatically cleaned using pulse-jet technology.
• It can be disassembled into smaller component parts and easily transported into the work area before reassembling.

DUSTEX® clearblast® 1000

• Efficient and effective local dust and fume control for a range of applications including welding fumes and grinding dust during repairs to boilers, furnaces, and ships.
• It has 4 x 102mm extractor ports, suitable for connecting 100mm diameter ducting. The ducting can be further split into any number of extraction points depending on site requirements.
• ATEX-rated, making it suitable for extracting flammable dust and fumes in potentially explosive environments.

DUSTEX® D1200

• Powerful extraction unit which can be used as a centralised vacuum system across multiple storeys with a range of tools, nozzles and flexi hose for hard-to-reach areas.
• Has 8 extraction points which can be further split for optimum dust and fume extraction. Ideal for welding fume and grinding dust during repairs to boilers, furnaces, shops and more.
• Benefits from automatic pulse jet cleaning is carried out on an as-required basis during operation and as part of the shut-down process

See a solution in action with our welding fumes controlled over multiple levels at a major oil refinery case study.

If you have concerns about dust or fumes on your project book a free survey with a technical consultant who will be able to advise how to protect your workforce.