Dust Control in Manufacturing

Manufacturing dust is harmful to your workers, your business reputation, and your revenue. Dust control in manufacturing is about saving lives and livelihoods. Exposure to manufacturing dust leads to different lung diseases. Often there is no cure for these lung diseases, and it can kill your workers.

Failure to control dust on your manufacturing site has repercussions with the law. Are you struggling to meet the new legislation for hazardous dust management on your manufacturing site? Global Road Technology is a world leader in providing manufacturing site dust control solutions. We prevent manufacturing dust exposure to your workers. We keep your business reputation intact. We make sure there are savings for your business. In addressing your site-specific challenges related to dust we focus on the following areas:

• Side roads 
• Stockpiles 
• Hardstands
• Transportation
• Conveyor belts and transfer points 

Issues with dust in different types of manufacturing units

There are different dust issues in various types of manufacturing units. Dust is a broad term as its parent source dependent. Differences in dust are based on chemistry and particle size. So, a manufacturing site producing manufactured stone is bound to have high respirable silica content because of the parent source of quartz. In a cement manufacturing plant, the packaging and material handling generates dust which consists of silica. Depending on the type of cement and the proportions of silica in the raw materials it can also result in health hazards to workers exposed to the silica dust.

In a brick manufacturing plant, the additives to the brick mix often contain silica dust and the challenge is with continuous exposure to these different types of silica. Your workers bear the brunt of inhaling harmful dust which can result in respiratory health complications. The stockpiles of materials used for the different mix designs for bricks generate harmful dust if not dealt with at its source. If inhaled, this dust can result in serious health hazards to workers and communities within the vicinity of manufacturing plants.

The transfer of material from one section of the plant to the other section is often done using conveyor belts. At transfer points and along the material bed dust is often liberated which can affect the quality of material but most importantly pose a health hazard to your workers. Manufacturing plants with unbound granular materials as their yard stands and side road wearing course liberate harmful dust. This creates challenges with visibility, production, and workplace health and safety. 

Best practices to minimize dust in manufacturing

The best practices to minimize dust in manufacturing depend on the type of manufacturing activities. However, it is standard for areas liberating hazardous dust to follow the hierarchy of controls which at best seeks to eliminate dust. Some of the best practices include:

• Use surfactants 
• Use superactivated water 
• Use dust extraction systems 
• Clean hidden areas regularly
• Design a dust-free workplace
• Use highly refined synthetic fluids 
• Understand the properties of your materials 
• Maintain ventilation equipment and service regularly

GRT’s solutions & products for dust control in manufacturing 

The source of dust may vary from side roads, stockpiles, hardstands, transportation, conveyor belts, loading, and unloading. We will evaluate each of the given sources of dust looking at the different operations and mention with GRT products applied using dust suppression units can be used from our GRT Marketplace. 

Side roads: Vehicular movements to and from the manufacturing plant generate dust which must be dealt with to avoid collisions, increased downtime, the risk to workers and communities close to the manufacturing plant. 

Products: GRT: Wet-Loc, GRT: Enviro-Binder

Hardstands: Day-to-day operations of forklifts, trucks, and tracked machinery at the manufacturing plant require a hard-wearing surface. It is important to have a non-slip finish that is safe to be driven on once penetrated and a product with no cure time required.  

Products: GRT: Wet-Loc, GRT: Enviro-Binder

Transportation: In transporting your material from different sites it is important to bind the surface of exposed materials to prevent dust generated from the transported raw materials or products. 

Products: GRT ACTIVATE

Conveyor belts: Managing dust on conveyors is either by covering, wetting, or filtering. GRT offers wetting technology to keep the moisture optimum and increase the weight of each dust particle to settle on the material bed and stop it from being airborne. 

Products: GRT ACTIVATE

Case studies  

1. Grain flow (as required seasonally)

Grainflow (Cargill) is and wheat trading and logistics company that runs multiple sites across South Australia and Victoria. GRT provided GRT: Wet-Loc and undertook the application works for several years to provide dust control during the harvest and dispatch season at their sites.

2. Precast Concrete and Pipe Yards

One of GRT’s major ongoing dust control customers is Humes, a member of the multi-national Holcim Group. This is a company committed to WHS for its staff who can be exposed to harmful dust such as silica in their daily operations. GRT provides for several pipe yards all around Australia and 2 major locations for Humes in Melbourne and Victoria more broadly. These sites are managed with our GRT: Wet-Loc product – designed specifically for heavy traffic industrial and logistics yards. The performance of GRT: Wet-Loc is such that it has become a single, once-per-year application delivering safer workplaces.

Conclusions 

Dust control in manufacturing sites needs you to understand dust as a workplace hazard but most importantly as a severe health hazard.  It must be dealt with at its source. GRT offers dust control solutions for manufacturing sites that give your workers motivation to do work in a safe environment, your business a reputation for health and safety, and increase your manufacturing site’s productivity. Speak to Daniel Grundy for more information.