Access to real-time sampling and monitoring data from workplace dust exposure is a game changer for workers, employers and occupational hygienists alike. Practical dust sampling and monitoring from DustCanary’s new light-weight wearable devices help to mitigate the risks posed by dust across a range of work environments.
Compact with no sampling tubes or waist worn pumps avoiding catch hazards, real-time visual and audible alarms derived from an innovative optical particle counter, warn when a worker is being exposed to increased respirable dust including respirable crystalline silica (RCS). Instantaneous information on changing levels of exposure, particularly useful for varied work patterns and change in surroundings, initiates action for workers to minimise their own dust exposure.
Utilising advanced patented air sampling technology developed by the Defence Science and Technology Laboratory (DSTL) and the University of Hertfordshire, DustCanary’s Compact Personal Aerosol Monitor (CPAM) also allows inhalable dust to be monitored over an eight-hour shift in line with Health and Safety Executive requirements.
Weighing less than 150 grams and small enough to be worn on a lapel in the breathing zone of the worker, DustCanary wearables are convenient to wear on a daily basis and therefore can provide continuous protection. Live data can be used to trend exposure over time and to understand hotspots including changes to exposure levels due to local exhaust ventilation (LEV) performance, change in dust creating process or in dust control processes.
Will Averdieck, founder and managing director of DustCanary, enthuses: ‘Our wearables are really valuable tools for providing protection to workers from dust exposure while also providing protection to employers through valuable incites and records of minimised exposure.'