Foundries generate intense dust during mould making, shakeout, fettling and shot blasting. Exposures range from silica sand to metal oxides and carbonaceous smoke. The priority is robust source capture, disciplined housekeeping and effective respiratory protection aligned to COSHH and HSE WELs.

Map processes to dust risks

• Green sand and core making: silica and resin decomposition products.
• Shakeout and knockout: high-energy release of fine RCS.
• Fettling and grinding: metal oxides (iron, manganese, nickel) and abrasive dust.
• Shot blast: respiring fines and rebound leakage.

Capture at source first

• Install LEV with hoods as close as practical to emission points. Use partial enclosures on shakeout and side-draft or downdraft at fettling benches.
• Set and verify capture velocity; check under-load airflow and hood placement weekly. Smoke tests quickly reveal cross-drafts and bypass.
• Use wet methods where appropriate (e.g., mist at conveyors), avoiding water where it compromises product or creates slip risks.

Air control and housekeeping

• Keep fettling booths under negative pressure to prevent escape to walkways.
• Avoid brooms and compressed air. For heavy-duty clean-up in shakeout bays, equipment such as the MAXVAC Supra Vacuums helps remove settled fines without re-suspension.
• Some sites deploy mobile industrial vacuums like the MAXVAC MV1000 or the MAXVAC MV1200 to clean around mould lines and blast cabinets between shifts.
• Choose high-efficiency filtration; H14 is appropriate for respirable and carcinogenic dusts such as RCS and certain metal compounds.

Respiratory protection and welfare

• Fit-test tight-fitting RPE (e.g., FFP3). Where heat, beards or high exposures make this unreliable, consider airfed masks to maintain protection.
• Provide clean changing facilities and laundering to prevent take-home contamination.

Monitoring and compliance

• Under COSHH, control RCS to the WEL of 0.1 mg/m³ and manage other metal WELs per HSE EH40.
• Use real-time PM meters to tune LEV performance, then confirm with occupational hygiene sampling where needed.

Practical takeaways

• Put hoods close, enclose where you can, and verify capture with smoke tests.
• Maintain negative pressure in dusty booths; check airflow under load.
• Clean only with industrial vacuums; schedule frequent, short cleans.
• Select H14 filtration for fine and hazardous particulates.
• Use RPE that workers can reliably wear for a full shift.

With consistent source capture, planned cleaning and appropriate RPE, foundries can materially lower exposures while maintaining throughput and quality.