Especially in commercial environments, tidiness and cleanliness are essential for health and safety, and for compliance with employment legislation, insurance conditions, quality codes, and other regulations. It also impacts employee morale, productivity and how the company is perceived by prospective customers.
With many different operations taking place and machines constantly running, it soon becomes difficult to track where dirt and waste are building up, or what equipment is becoming run down because of it.
As well as damage to equipment, dust endangers your principal asset – workers. A host of diseases are caused by dust (http://www.who.int/occupational_health/publications/airdust/en/).
Prevention is cheaper than cure
When you maintain a dust-free workshop you gain healthy air to breathe at the same time. Often a simple air filtration device like a panel filter can make a big difference https://www.dustspares.co.uk/filters/panel-filters/Card-Case-Pleated.html, These filters consist of a folded paper-material that offers minimal resistance to the airflow in your HVAC or system, so adding virtually no running costs. In fact, they are often used to extend the lifespan of other filters to reduce your overall costs.
A panel filter is a cheap way to provide dust protection where it is most needed such as above heating and cooling coils and fans, or to protect sensitive or expensive equipment.
Maintenance strategies
Being able to operate a machine does not mean you know how to properly maintain it. Unless your staff have specific maintenance training it’s usually sensible to call in a millwright. The same applies to air filtration – unless you fully understand how to regulate airflows through ducts and vents and how to clean them it is sensible to schedule calls from a ventilation engineer.
Having a maintenance plan isn’t only to remind you to clean the many areas of your plant, but also to enable you to budget for it. You should schedule all your in-house cleanups as well as periodic machine and HVAC servicing.
Everyday housekeeping
Never overlook just how varied and complex cleaning duties can be, and the value of proper training. Dusting without a dust extraction or suppression strategy can simply spread dust through the air instead of removing it. Wiping grit off expensive merchandise with a rag can scour the surface finish. Water sprays may provide solutions to these problems but knowing when and where their use is acceptable requires foresight and instruction.
