Dust emission

Busting the dust
Dust is an air pollutant that occurs in many parts of the working world, depending on the nature and composition of the work materials, the way in which equipment is designed and operated, work intensity and room and ventilation factors.

The Ordinance on Hazardous Substances (“Gefahrstoffverordnung”) stipulates that employers must determine the concentration of any hazardous substances that cannot be completely ruled out at the workplace. As a result, dust levels have to be measured. Dust-measurement methods focus on the biological impact of dust and look at the particle size, inhalability and particle deposits in the human respiratory tract.

Our facility deals with which dusts have to be measured and how the measuring works in practice. It comprises a permanently installed measuring device, known as a “dust-measurement rig”, which is encased and has a defined airflow and a measuring channel.

Facility resources

• Dust-measurement rig with a 12m² booth and measuring channel, achievable volume flow of up to 6000m³/h
• Dust-measuring devices and sampling pumps: Gravicon VC 25, Respicon TM-3F, Gillian PP1 Ex, Gillian PP5 Ex, SG 10
• Sampling heads for measuring inhalable dusts and pulmonary dust deposits
• Dust-emitting machinery and materials from the woodworking shop

Topics covered

• Measurements of dust-particle distribution during work on various types of wood and wooden materials
• How dust composition affects the human lungs
• Determination of the dust-emission rate of hand-held woodworking machinery
• Work with and without mobile dust extractors
• Comparative analysis of dust-sampling systems
• Determination of mean values per shift/short-term mean values