Whilst nearly everyone is guilty of having a little bit of dust in their homes and workplaces, whether on top of picture rails, door frames, or shelves, did you know that continuous exposure to dust can have a detrimental long-term effect on your health?
Hazardous dust is generated across various industries and activities, including construction, mining, manufacturing, agriculture, woodworking, textiles, and more.
Processes like cutting, grinding, drilling, and handling of materials release fine particles, whether it's the gritty remnants of concrete cutting kicking up silica dust or wood cutting generating swirling clouds of sawdust.
Breathing in dust can immediately cause mild complaints such as a stuffy nose, eye irritation, respiratory discomfort, and headaches. However, fine dust particles can bypass the body's natural defence mechanisms and penetrate deep into the lungs, and through prolonged exposure, it can cause severe issues such as asthma attacks, lung cancer, COPD (Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease) or silicosis.
There’s no denying the impact of dust exposure, especially over a long period of time.
For the long-term health and safety of you and your employees, we at Dust Arrest have identified the three forms that dust can take in the workplace and how we can help you to easily remove it.
So, what are the three stages of dust?
Dust at the Source
Firstly, there is the dust that is created at the source. A stringent strategy based on the standard hierarchy of controls is the cornerstone of effective dust control.
By implementing targeted methods to capture dust right where it's generated, industries can significantly reduce the dispersion of harmful particles into the air.
We have a few fantastic options available for you to capture this type of dust; an effective solution for on-tool removal of dust is a Tool Shroud, which can be easily and securely connected to an M-Class or H-Class small tool vacuum – such as the MAXVAC Dura DV35-MBA – to remove dust as it’s generated. These are a smart choice if you’re regularly working with power tools.
Another choice we offer are Benchvac Extraction Tables. Designed for manufacturing plants, repair centres, and construction sites, they’re able to capture dust from the source in instances where on-tool dust removal isn’t a possibility.
Alongside this, we also offer Weld Fume Extractors, available as large units but also very compact desktop options. Not only suitable for harmful fumes generated during the welding process, these multi-use units also have flexible arms to direct the suction and capture any dust at the source.
Airborne Dust
Dust not captured at the source becomes airborne.
Where we always recommend trying to capture dust at the source, if your method of dust collection hasn’t been 100% efficient or it isn’t possible to directly capture dust as it’s generated, dust will escape into the air and there is a high likelihood that it could be breathed in.
For this, we would always recommend Dustblockers, which have been developed for total dust extraction and work to remove any unseen airborne dust that may have escaped into the air.
With high-quality HEPA-14 filtration, these units offer protection for you and your employees throughout the working day. They have been designed to run up to 24 hours a day, so they are able to continually be cleaning the air to significantly reduce the likelihood of any adverse health issues occurring from breathing in even the smallest particles of dust.
Settled Dust
Finally, any dust that hasn’t been eradicated by the first two options will eventually settle on the ground or on other surfaces. This is the third stage of dust.
At this point, it’s vital to remove this dust as soon as possible; if it’s disturbed, it may become airborne (and breathable) again.
M-Class Vacuum Cleaners are a minimum requirement on most construction sites and workshops creating dust.
With advanced HEPA filters, our range of M-Class Vacuums are a great option for removing any settled dust that has collected on work surfaces. However, for cleaning settled dust from larger areas – such as in factories, large workshops and warehouses – the MAXVAC DV80-LBN-FB with additional floorbar attachment will make cleaning quick and efficient.
Get in Touch
We hope you’ve found this blog helpful. If you have any questions about anything we’ve mentioned in this blog or you would like advice on any of our products, please don’t hesitate to get in touch with our friendly team of experts.
You can do this by selecting the ‘Chat with Us’ button in the bottom right corner of your screen, giving us a call on 0800 980 0105, dropping us an email at sales@dustarrest.com, or accessing our contact form here.
