Why you need to manage dust and air quality
Dust can be a significant issue at construction sites, refuse sites, mines and quarries. Excessive dust can create health problems and can cause environmental degradation, including air and water pollution. It causes visibility problems and can damage or discolour nearby property. As well as impacting local communities, it can affect your workforce and create unsafe working conditions. Many countries have guidelines and laws requiring operators to control dust emissions, observe maximum level limits and take mitigating action should excessive dust be identified. This covers a range of measures, including barriers, traffic control, watering sprays, compacting soil and stabilisation.
Weather conditions can have a significant impact on dust concentrations, reducing dust when it is wet and increasing it in high wind. Monitoring dust levels continuously enables you to see when conditions require you to take mitigating action, optimising your activity and reducing costs. Tracking dust levels upwind and downwind of your site will help you determine if it is your actions that are creating the dust, or something unrelated that cannot be controlled.
Health and Safety
The term ‘air quality control’ covers a range of pollutants, depending on the facility being monitored. A key issue at large mines and industrial sites are high concentrations of nitrous oxides, volatile organic compounds, sulphur dioxide, hydrocarbons and other pollutants which can be a threat to the health of your workforce and nearby communities. Many countries have national ambient air quality standards to adhere to, and continuous monitoring is necessary to ensure that levels are not breached.