Controlling Airborne Contaminants in the Workplace

Regardless of the shape, size or industry of a business, it is the employer’s responsibility to ensure that exposure is reduced to levels as low as is reasonably practicable in order to protect their employees. In many cases, LEV is the solution.

Due to many related illnesses and diseases being related to exposure to airborne contaminants in the workplace, there is a legal requirement for employers to take the necessary steps to protect their employees. These include:

The Health and Safety at Work Act 1974 is the primary piece of legislation that outlines a framework for managing workplace health and safety in the UK.

Within its guidelines it states that all workplaces must provide;

Adequate training of staff to ensure health and safety procedures are always understood and adhered to. Adequate welfare provisions for staff at work

A safe working environment that is properly maintained and where operations within it are conducted safely

Suitable provision of relevant information, instruction and supervision

Employers have a duty under the Control of Substances Hazardous to Health Regulations 2002 (COSHH) to control risks to employees’ health arising from work activities. Meaning that they need to ensure exposures to dust and other contaminants such as fumes and vapour are kept as far below the Workplace Exposure Limits (WELs) as reasonably practicable.

Local exhaust ventilation (LEV) is one of the most common methods used to control employees’ exposure to airborne contaminants such as vapour, dust and fumes in the workplace. Local Exhaust Ventilation (LEV) is an engineering control system used to reduce exposure to airborne contaminants in a workplace by capturing and extracting the contaminant at the source of the emission.

It is the employer’s responsibility to ensure that exposure is reduced to levels as low as is reasonably practicable. In many cases, LEV is the solution.

At LEV Engineering, we specialise in providing cost-effective solutions for LEV, general ventilation and evaporative cooling applications.

We provide bespoke solutions for a variety of industries including welding, woodwork, engineering, masonry, paint spraying and metalwork.

Mobile Extractor – This portable solution makes welding (and other similar processes) at various locations possible, where a fixed, stationary LEV installation cannot operate.

Extraction Arms – Our extraction arms allow you to capture contaminants such as dust, fumes and spores at the source. These extraction arms are ideal for bench work that takes place in multiple areas within one location.

Fans – Fans are used for the extraction of welding fumes, oil mist, dust and vehicle exhaust contaminants and covers the demands of virtually any application.

Push-Pull System – If your facility struggles with large clouds of fumes building up over the metalworking area, our push-pull system will eliminate fumes lingering above the shop floor.

Want to discover our full range of dust and fume extraction solutions for your workplace? You can view them here.