Dust Controlled Successfully During a Flooring Refurbishment Project at Croydon University Hospital

Project Overview

Croydon University Hospital is the main Croydon Health Services hospital site, based just north of Croydon town centre. It has a 24 hour Accident & Emergency Department, Maternity Unit, Neonatal Unit, Intensive care and high dependency units, as well as various operating theatres. The hospital has more than 500 beds and annually provides services for:

• 27,000 elective (planned) in-patients
• 350,000 out-patients
• 41,000 people who are admitted for emergency hospital care
• 20,000 people who attend the Accident and Emergency department

Due to general wear and tear, the flooring at the hospital had reached the end of its useable life span, so a project was planned to replace the flooring throughout the hospital.

Challenge

The contractor, Regan Flooring Ltd, was tasked with replacing the vinyl flooring in corridors and lift lobbies at various locations throughout the hospital, all of which were close to areas of the hospital in use by patients and hospital staff.

As work started, the process of removing the existing vinyl floor and screed was creating an excessive amount of dust, and it was at risk of overwhelming the dust control solution that was initially in place to contain the work area and prevent dust migration. The decision was made to stop work until an adequate solution was installed. This solution needed to be substantial, but at the same time easily removable for daily set up/dismantle, and it needed to be able to accommodate emergency access/egress.

The contractor, along with Gleeds who run the facilities for Croydon University Hospital, called upon RVT to provide an alternative solution that would meet the dust control requirements, and ensure that the work area would an pass an Infection Prevention and Control (IPC) inspection. RVT performed a site survey, with the needs and safety of patients prioritised when recommending a compliant solution. It was imperative that dust did not migrate outside of the work area and into live areas of the hospital

Solution

The RVT Group supplied a DUSTEX® Aire Guardian Rigid Containment Unit which is the perfect solution for containing temporary construction and renovation projects in sensitive environments, such as hospitals. This solution created a 3 sided containment unit (8ft x 2ft), that was sealed against a wall and the ceiling. This lightweight polycarbonate unit is easy to install and can be taken apart and moved around site as work progresses. Once installed, it provided a temporary hoarding solution complete with a door to accommodate a standard width hospital bed for emergency access/egress. It also had keypad entry to prevent unauthorised access.

The DUSTEX^® Aire Guardian has an exhaust vent, and during this project it was used with the DUSTEX^® Raptor, which is a portable dust extraction unit. When working together, these solutions contained the work area, and created a negative pressure airlock, which ensured that work could take place with the confidence that there would be zero dust migration outside of the work area. Clean air was able to flow into the room, but contaminated air could not escape unless it was extracted via the DUSTEX^® Raptor. Furthermore, the unit could easily be wiped clean and did not leave any marks on the hospital walls when uninstalled.