Filters within quarry vehicles

Hi, You touch on a couple of issues here and I will hopefully provide some advice but also some things to think about. Exposure to excessive levels of any dust is not good but in the quarrying industry there are many sites across the UK that have dust with high levels of silica. This can lead to a condition known as silicosis and there is some excellent guidelines on controlling silica on the MPA website. For drilling operations you will probably require a HEPA filter on your plant, this stands for High Efficiency Particle Arrestor. There are many suppliers who provide these filters. The rate of change will depend on how busy you are and the quality of your dust extraction. It is possible to get systems that measure the pressure drop across the filter but I personally have not seen these on drill rigs but in control rooms on static plant. I suggest you get into a routine of regularly inspecting the filters (being careful not to get exposed to dust when you do this) and replace when they are obviously blocked or there is minimal air coming into the cab. It is good practice to also remove or cover cloth seats and regularly vacuum the cab of vehicles. I hope this helps. Colin Nottage www.safetyhorizon.com