Supporting the Energy-from-Waste Sector

Whilst ID fans are great for managing gases and maintaining combustion efficiency, they are not a suitable solution for controlling welding fumes. Welding fume requires a Local Exhaust Ventilation (LEV) system, with general ventilation as support. LEV is the best solution for welding fume as it captures and extracts the fumes at source, preventing the hazardous contaminants spreading through other work areas.

RVT Group uses flexible PVC ducting that is run strategically through the work areas, which can be secured at high level to prevent trip hazards occurring. We ensure our solutions and ducting do not disrupt workspaces, and work with you to ensure confined spaces and small walkways are considered when putting together your solution. Our ducting is tough, flexible, and durable, and as an extra safety measure is joined with quick release couplers, meaning where ducting does pass through a manway access, the hose can be quickly uncoupled if needed. Depending on the work processes, there are varying sizes of hose available from 50 – 300mmØ.

Using a portable welding fume extraction system is a great solution in ensuring a safe, efficient working environment if carrying out small welds for a short period of time. However, if carrying out large scale shutdowns or turnarounds, or even maintenance works, a larger fume extraction system will be more suitable, as it can offer a larger filtration unit including HEPA filtration, (capturing at least 99.97% of particle measuring 0.3 microns), and has the ability to effectively and efficiently extract the welding fumes with a bigger capture hood. It is also important to bear in mind that the filters within a portable welding fume extraction unit will block very quickly, if used to capture grinding dust following the weld.

Exposure to Plasma cutting fumes comes with several health hazards, including arc eye, hearing damage from pro longed exposure, and serious respiratory issues such as metal fume fever.
The most effective way to control this hazard is to utilise an effective LEV solution, designed to capture and control the fumes at source. The use of magnetic capture hoods or articulated arm is really important to ensure the fumes are controlled locally. It is also important to consider the operative physically carrying out the task, and they will likely require the use of RPE to ensure they are fully protected.

Entry to a confined space must be carried out in accordance with a ‘permit to work’ which formalises the precautions needed. This is important due to the risks that come with confined space working, including:

• A lack of oxygen.
• Fire and explosion risk.
• Exposure to poisonous gas, fume or vapour.
• Hot conditions leading to a dangerous increase in body temperature.

RVT Group can provide an array of solutions to help you during confined space working including access equipment such as tripods, winches and harnesses, personal and environmental monitoring equipment to monitor toxic gas such as Hydrogen Sulphide (H2S) and Carbon Monoxide (CO) and a range of fan capabilities for ventilation.

Exposure to Hexavalent Chromium (Cr(VI)) during welding is a significant health risk, particularly when welding stainless steels or chromium-containing alloys using TIG, MIG, or stick (SMAW) welding. Welding heat converts chromium in the metal into toxic welding fumes containing Cr(VI) that can be inhaled.

The main risks include:
1. Cancer Risk
2. Respiratory Damage
3. Skin & Eye Damage
4. Nasal & Sinus Damage
5. Kidney & Liver Damager

As specialists within our field, we appreciate the importance of minimising downtime when carrying out any maintenance/engineering works during an outage.  Carrying out activities such as burning, cutting, welding & gritblasting can create excessive amount of airborne hazards if not effectively controlled, which can lead to workers having to evacuate the work area.

Our focus is to provide an effective localised extraction solution, capturing and controlling the hazards at source, preventing the contaminants building up, thus ensuring a safe working environment is maintained, allowing contractors to maxmimise productivity.

Not on its own. Respiratory Protective Equipment (RPE) is only one layer of protection. Its effectiveness depends on correct type, fit, and maintenance, and even then, it doesn’t eliminate the hazard at the source.  COSHH regulations in the UK require that exposure is controlled at source and RPE is considered a last line of defence, not the primary control.