The easiest and most efficient way to reduce risk and prevent potential dust explosions from fine wood dust is by using an ATEX certified industrial vacuum cleaner for general housekeeping. Dust can accumulate on top of and inside machinery, as well as on ductwork, pipework, walls, and near electrical equipment.

While it is important to have extraction systems in place to capture as much dust as possible from the source, airborne dust can still escape and spillages may occur. General housekeeping is therefore essential to prevent dust from spreading and to keep workers safe.

A mobile ATEX industrial vacuum cleaner, such as an electric KEVA model (suitable for use in Dust Zone 22) or an air powered KAV model (suitable for use in Gas Zone 1 and Dust Zone 21 & 22), can effectively clean the entire factory when paired with the appropriate tooling. By using our carbon fibre high-reach toolkit attached to any Kerstar vacuum model, wood dust can be safely collected from on top of machinery, deep within crevices and corners, on ductwork and pipework, as well as underneath machinery and from floor spillages.

It is widely recognised that all wood waste is potentially explosive unless a dust explosion test proves otherwise. Wood waste typically poses a dust explosion risk when the mean particle size is less than 200 microns, and when as little as 10% of the mixture consists of dust particles smaller than 80 microns.*

As well as being an explosion risk, wood dust can also cause serious health problems. The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) website states that exposure to wood dust ‘can cause asthma, which carpenters and joiners are four times more likely to get compared with other UK workers. Hardwood dust can cause cancer, particularly of the nose. Settled dust contains the fine particles that are most likely to damage the lungs.’

*Source - HSE.

In Great Britain, Control of Substances Hazardous to Health (COSHH) Regulations 2002 require employers to protect workers from the hazards of wood dust.

The HSE advises cleaning up using a vacuum cleaner with suitable filters and to never sweep up dust or use compressed air to disperse it.

Find out more on the HSE website.

Wood waste is commonly produced by:

  • Fine cutting (e.g. sanding) – which produces a dust of very fine particle size and is usually assumed to be explosive
  • Sawing and machining hardwoods – often producing wood waste containing considerably more dust than that from softwood which should be assumed to be explosive
  • The processing of MDF, chipboard and similar boards by machining and sawing – which can be expected to produce waste containing much fine dust and should be assumed to be explosive
  • Machining and sawing softwoods – producing chips, shavings and coarse dust with only a small amount of fine dust which does not normally create an explosion risk. Provided the fine dust is not allowed to separate and accumulate within confined spaces, profiling and moulding components on routers, spindle moulders, etc
Contact Kerstar now to find out which industrial vacuum cleaner we recommend for your woodworking workshop.