Dust
Air Quality Consultants has assessed the impacts of dust emissions for over 25 years.
Air Quality Consultants has been a major contributor to the industry standard guidance for the assessment of dusts, based on its considerable experience of assessing dust arising from construction sites, waste management facilities, mineral workings and industrial processes.
Airborne and deposited dust measurements are carried out both prior to and during operations. This is to help control exposure to airborne particulate matter, which can affect health, and nuisance dust.
Dust Management Plans are prepared when required.
Services
Modelling
Accurate quantification of dust emissions generally precludes the use of dispersion models, but such approaches have been used on larger schemes to determine where the maximum impacts might be expected
Monitoring
Monitored dust around demolition and construction activities using passive samplers and real-time monitors with alert systems. Contributed to the development of the glass-slide method for the measurement of nuisance dust.
Assessment
Assessed dust impacts arising from a wide range of schemes, from major construction sites to wood chip operations, and from sand and gravel quarries to waste sites. Assessments are generally risk based, taking into account the sensitivity of the area, the nature of the process and materials, and the design and mitigation measures proposed.
Management
Prepared dust management plans for construction works and waste management facilities.
Guidance
Air Quality Consultants has contributed to the preparation of guidance published by the Institute of Air Quality Management on: the assessment of dust from demolition and construction, air quality monitoring in the vicinity of demolition and construction sites and the assessment of mineral dust impacts for planning
Expert Witness
Acted as an expert witness related to a variety of mineral extraction processes and other developments, including; Long Moor opencast coal development in Leicestershire (on behalf of the planning authority), Sand and gravel quarry extension (on behalf of the University of Hertfordshire) and Thameslink 2000 development (on behalf of Guys and St Thomas’s Hospital).