Wood dust can cause serious health problems such as asthma; according to the Health and Safety Executive (HSE), carpenters and joiners are four times more likely to develop asthma compared with other UK workers.
Woodworking businesses must comply with the Control of Substances Hazardous to Health (COSHH) Regulations 2002 which state that you have to protect your workers from the hazards of wood dust.
The long-term time-weighted average (TWA) Workplace Exposure Limit (WEL) for hardwood dust was reduced from 5mg/m³ to 3mg/m³ on 17th January 2020 and hardwood dust is classed as ‘Carc’ meaning it can cause cancer, particularly of the nose.
Health and Safety Executive (HSE) Inspectors are currently visiting woodworking businesses across Great Britain to ensure duty-holders know the risks associated with woodworking and have effective controls in place to keep workers safe and protect their respiratory health.
Inspectors will be tasked with ‘looking for evidence that employers have considered the control measures required to reduce workers’ exposure to wood dusts; workers understand that exposure to wood dusts can damage their long-term respiratory health; and that effective control measures are in place to protect workers from harm.’
Sweeping or using compressed air lines to clean up wood dust can cause it to become airborne where it may be inhaled. The HSE advise using a suitable industrial vacuum cleaner instead, which can help protect workers respiratory health.
Kerstar’s KV 10-50 Type H electric vacuum cleaner range is designed for hazardous dust. The HSE advises that industrial vacuum cleaners used for wood dust at least meet the Class M classification – Type H actually goes one step further, offering greater suction and higher filtration.
Each of the models in the KV 10-50 range is equipped with three stages of filtration on the negative pressure (suction) side of the motor. The first stage is a sealable disposable microfibre bag, the second is a high efficiency filter assembly using a filter medium that is specially designed as a pre-filter material for HEPA (High Efficiency Particulate Air) filters.
The third stage is an oversized HEPA cartridge filter housed in a sturdy replaceable module. Every Type H vacuum cleaner is individually DOP tested on calibrated test equipment to achieve a filtration efficiency of greater than 99.995%.
All Kerstar Type H vacuum cleaners are supplied with five disposable microfibre bags and a spare secondary high efficiency filter assembly.
Find out more about our KV Type H range of vacuums here.