Dust Suppression with Cordless Mobile Vacuum Cleaner

Building sites inevitably produce dust. This can be from cement dust, cutting wood, demolition, and general dust generated by the workers on site. Dust is a very serious hazard, not only to plant and equipment, impairing its efficiency and longevity, but more importantly to operatives on site. Dust can cause chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, which covers many lung conditions that will cause breathing difficulties.

Once dust is recognised as a hazard and its risk assessed, control measures are put in place to control and restrict airborne dust particles. The main control measure is damping down and sweeping up the dust and disposing of it in a suitable receptacle. This method generally catches around 90% of the dust leaving the remaining 10% to get airborne and settle elsewhere to be continually swept around the site.

At the London Business School, Wates Construction has introduced a cordless mobile vacuum cleaner to tackle dust. This is backpack mounted, made by Nuaire and is light and easy to use. The device eliminates the need for sweeping and damping down, reducing water use and need for manual handling of water receptacles. Most importantly, capturing all the dust in this mobile vacuum cleaner drastically reduces the chance of future breathing difficulties for operatives.