Southdowns was appointed to provide occupational dust specialist services by the Balfour Beatty BeMO Alpine Morgan Sindall Vinci Joint Venture (BBMV JV) in 2014 to manage the contractor’s statutory requirements with respect to occupational exposure to airborne dust.
Southdowns designed and managed a monitoring programme over a 3-year period for workers within the C510 tunnels. Workplace exposure levels of total inhalable dust, respirable dust and respirable quartz (crystalline silica) dust, were surveyed and compared with the Health and Safety Executive’s statutory Workplace Exposure Limits (WELs). Non-statutory limits provided by the Trades Union Congress (TUC) were also considered.
Surveys were undertaken on a bi-weekly basis, monitoring a random selection of up to five workers over the duration of their shifts. Once works were nearing completion, weekly monitoring was also undertaken as a precautionary approach.
Weekly summary reports to the client detailed the dust concentrations recorded for each individual and identified whether individuals were likely to have been exposed to dust levels exceeding the limits during their shift. Reports were submitted to the client within a week of receipt of the laboratory analysis, to ensure that results were still relevant and additional mitigation could be implemented for activities that caused exceedances of the WELs.
Monitoring helped protect the employees health and ensured that the client met their statutory duties.