During basement works on a highrise site, tunnelling work for sewage pipes was scheduled to be completed using a diesel tunnel boring machine. This created the risk of diesel exhaust fume exposure to the machine operators in the enclosed tunnel space, as well as those onsite.
The team at McNab approached RVT Group with a requirement for a temporary system for controlling and extracting the diesel fumes that would be produced during the operation of the pipe boring machine. The goal was to reduce the risk of fume exposure to those working in the work area, as well as to the wider public.
ChallengeExposure to diesel particulate fumes can be extremely damaging to the health of workers on site. This is due to the very high risk of carbon monoxide poisoning.
The tunnelling machine was also operating in a concrete pit, and the site safety office was concerned about the potential build-up of fumes inside the work area. Therefore the fumes needed to be captured at the source and extracted up and out of the work zone.
SolutionA RAVEX Exhaust Fume Extraction Kit was installed onsite alongside the boring machine. The kit had enough stainless-steel piping to allow for the machine to move during the boring process.
The extraction kit removed the diesel fumes at the source and out of the site into the atmosphere. This unit features a heavy-duty steel centrifugal fan; this means that the airflow does not pass over the motor, making it safe for use with hot and potentially flammable fumes. The centrifugal fan is very efficient, and the fumes were extracted around 10m up from the site level into an area where no one could be affected by the fumes.
