Supporting The Next Generation: Dust Control Provided to University

Project Overview

A leading Australian university laboratory needed to conduct soil testing as part of its curriculum, but hazardous dust and fumes were posing a health risk.

Challenge

The univerisity need to assess the students conducting soil tests, but there were multiple challenges at play:

• They needed to contain hazardous dust and fumes that could pose health risks to students and staff.
• They needed to prevent disruption to other classes, ensuring the wider campus environment remained safe and functional.
• They needed to maintain compliance with Work Health & Safety (WHS) standards, particularly around airborne contaminants.

The university required a robust, temporary solution that would protect both people and facilities without delaying important academic work.

Solution

After liaising closely with the laboratory team, RVT Group’s technical consultants designed a tailored hazard control system. The solution combined:

• A DUSTEX® Enclosure, which created two fully contained temporary work stations for controlled testing.
• Two DUSTEX® Raptor Pro units, generating negative pressure into each work zone, to capture, contain, and filter contaminants directly at the source.

As the soil testing and materials were essential to the university project, they could not be 'eliminated' or 'substituted'. 'Isolation' and 'Engineering Controls' are the next steps on the Hierarchy of Controls. This approach ensured that the students could safely progress with their soil testing assessments, whilst also wearing their 'Personal Protective Equipment'.

The Results

The outcome was a safe, compliant, and controlled environment that:

• Protected the health of students, staff, and visitors (especially their lungs).
• Allowed soil testing to be completed without disruption to the broader teaching schedule.
• Gave the university confidence that WHS obligations were being met with industry-leading engineering controls.