You won’t have failed to notice that engineered stone has received some adverse press over the last few years, due to the high silica content. However, it remains a popular choice with both fabricators and consumers. With the correct products, solutions and measures in place to ensure adequate protection for your employees, you can continue to fabricate engineered stone in a safe environment. Something commonly overlooked is that natural stone too contains varying levels of silica, depending on the material. So, the measures you use to fabricate engineered stone safely, should also be applied to all materials you are working with. However, even with putting all of these measures in place, you still fabricate any type of worktop material at your own risk.
Dampen the dust with wet working
One of the simplest ways to reduce dust levels, is to work wet. Using water traps silica dust particles and helps prevent them from moving around your workshop. This makes working wet a safer method of fabricating, when used alongside other dust control measures. Reliable ways of working wet would be by using products such as Alpha tools, supplied with all-weather, extra-long hoses. Using this fabrication process is a much safer option, and yes, it’s likely to be wet and cold, so keep yourself warm and dry with a set of waterproof clothing!
Capture dust with iWater Wall
One of the most efficient methods of reducing silica dust levels around the workshop is to have an air filtration system. For example, our iWater Suction Wall.
The iWater Suction Wall is a very effective method of capturing and containing silica dust, to prevent it from polluting the workshop. With an air filtration efficiency of 98.3%, this Dal Prete product tackles the rising levels of silica dust which is produced whilst fabricating engineered stone. This maximises the safety of fabricators and minimises the intake of potentially dangerous substances. The dust-capturing solution is super intuitive to set up and maintain, which reduces the chances of human error while in use. Also, the surroundings of the iWater Suction Wall remain clean and dry, due to the entire water system being held inside the cabin chamber.
Ensuring your water supply is high quality and clarified is key in reducing the risk of silicosis and safeguarding the health of operators. Dal Prete Water Treatment systems are a great way of supplying your workshop with high quality water.
Filter what you breathe with Optrel Swiss Air
Ensuring each fabricator in your workshop has adequate individual protection is super important. Personal protective equipment like the Optrel Swiss Air mask delivers a constant flow of pure air to the lungs, through a mini blower system. This protects the respiratory tract against silica-contaminated air.
Fully TH3 certified, and with an APF of 40, this mask is the perfect fit for fabricators working with any type of stone. It’s ultra lightweight, and you can hardly tell it’s on! To find out more – just watch our informational video here!
Measure dust levels with Trolex
Monitoring the levels of silica dust in your workshop makes it easy to find the right dust-control products and solutions to suit your environment, whilst fabricating engineered stone. Stonegate are suppliers of Trolex, the leaders in real time silica monitoring for workers at risk from respirable crystalline silica. We offer two options of Trolex dust monitoring to ensure you have a solution that best suits your needs. The Air XS Silica Monitor is the first product in the world guaranteed to detect and identify respirable crystalline silica in real time, and is designed to function in challenging industrial environments and work with complex dust mixtures. The XD1+ is a small and lightweight personal dust monitor, which is simple to use, has just one button, and only weighs 170g. Having undergone over 20,000 hours of testing, the Trolex products are both practical and effective dust monitoring solutions for any fabrication workshop.
If you want to see any of these products and solutions in action, come and watch live demonstrations in our very own fully functional fabrication workshop, the Innovation Hub. Get in touch on 01482 620400, or email [email protected] to book your face-to-face day at Stonegate House.
