DUST & FUME EXTRACTION


operator workflows and the compliance standards you must meet.


It should work as a collaborative process between yourself and your chosen supplier, starting with you articulating your expectations, and culminating in a sizable document detailing everything a dust extraction partner should be considering when implementing a new system.


FEED AS A FOUNDATIONAL PROJECT ROADMAP When done properly, a FEED study will act as the blueprint for an LEV project, taking you from initial risk assessments through to the timelines for full system implementation.


It will establish a structured foundation by assessing regulatory compliance and identifying the hazards that necessitate its implementation and evaluating any existing LEV provision to determine performance gaps. As part of the study, an engineer will develop detailed design proposals and tender specifications, setting out system scope, performance criteria, and configuration, while defining control measures and benchmarking their effectiveness in reducing exposure. A good system design will maximise effective dust control by considering four main areas. The first is source and contaminant cloud size, understanding the location, amount, and rate of dust generation, essential for proper hood design. The design should also set out both work process and operator requirements, looking at how


production tasks are performed, how employees interact with areas that generate dust, and how easy it is to operate the extraction system itself. The wider FEED study will also address health and safety considerations in line with EH40/2005 Workplace Exposure Limits, DSEAR, and ATEX requirements, and evaluate environmental impacts including energy consumption, emissions, and waste generation. Altogether, these steps ensure an LEV system is effective and efficient in capturing and removing dust at source, helping to keep your operational team and production line safe from harmful dust particles.


By making sure your system is designed properly from the outset, you’ll then get the benefits of accurate cost estimates, smoother project timelines, better performance, and stronger compliance. This protects you from overspending and keeps things on track so that you can get your full production line back running sooner.


And importantly, you are left without the headaches caused by bad design and execution.


FEED IN ACTION


Here at APS, we often use a FEED study to guide our clients, and have recently applied the FEED approach when working with a waste management firm which needed to control the emission of hazardous contaminants in its workplace. Our initial site assessments identified


significant deficiencies in the existing extraction system, which contributed to operator exposure above safety limits.


Through the FEED study, our engineers evaluated the process environment, regulatory obligations, and technical constraints, devising a proposed LEV redesign aimed at maximising employee safety and protecting waste processing equipment.


The FEED study gave the waste management firm a clear and practical plan for moving forward, with the eventual turnkey project resulting in a fully compliant, energy-efficient LEV system that is straightforward to maintain and built to support safe working conditions and reliable performance for the long term. For organisations investing in bettering their LEV’s and dust control process, the message is straightforward: start with a FEED study. The structured design process takes out guesswork and makes sure your system is designed correctly from the beginning, not adjusted reactively once problems emerge. It brings clarity to complex projects, providing a defined design framework, realistic cost estimates, and a clear understanding of performance expectations.


Ultimately, choosing FEED is about reducing risk and gaining confidence in your system performance and long-term safety compliance, delivering peace of mind as well as technical assurance.


APS UK apsukltd.co.uk INDUSTRIAL COMPLIANCE |SPRING/SUMMER 2026 15


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