Dust in industrial environments is far more than a nuisance. Depending on the material, airborne dust can pose serious respiratory health risks to workers, create explosive atmospheres under certain concentration thresholds (ATEX zones), contaminate sensitive products or components, and damage precision machinery by infiltrating bearings, electronics, and sealed systems. The Health and Safety Executive consistently identifies poor dust control as a factor in enforcement actions across manufacturing, food production, and construction sectors.
The regulatory framework for industrial dust control comes from multiple sources. COSHH (Control of Substances Hazardous to Health) regulations require employers to assess and control exposure to hazardous substances, including dusts, with elimination and substitution preferred before engineering controls. The Workplace (Health, Safety and Welfare) Regulations 1992 require that workplaces are kept clean and that dust is prevented from accumulating. For explosive dusts — including flour, sugar, metal powders, and many organic materials — the DSEAR (Dangerous Substances and Explosive Atmospheres Regulations) impose additional requirements including ATEX zone designation and management.
Physical partition systems are the most cost-effective engineering control for dust containment in most industrial settings. A properly sealed PVC curtain partition around a grinding, cutting, sanding, or blending operation will capture the vast majority of generated dust within the process enclosure, where it can be removed by local exhaust ventilation (LEV) or dust extraction equipment. This dramatically reduces both the worker exposure outside the enclosure and the wider facility contamination. The key requirements for an effective dust partition are a good seal at the edges (floor, ceiling, and side walls), panels with no through-holes or gaps, and an access arrangement that doesn't create a large opening during entry and exit — which is where overlapping PVC strip arrangements in the door opening are particularly effective.
For facilities with ATEX-designated zones, partition systems must not be a source of ignition. This means anti-static PVC panels are essential — standard PVC can develop a static charge that, in the presence of an explosive dust concentration, could provide a spark sufficient to initiate an explosion. Mercia Industrial supplies anti-static PVC curtain systems that dissipate static charge safely, and we can advise on the appropriate specification for your ATEX zone classification. All of our dust containment installations include a commissioning inspection to verify that seals, panels, and access arrangements meet the requirements of your dust risk assessment.