Stay compliant and protect staff and pupils from breathing harmful wood dust : it is the fine dust that you cannot see that is the most harmful.

School Dust Extraction Systems

Protecting Australia's Students and Educators

EBCAM technical sales staff are in schools and TAFEs speaking to constantly and see examples of inadequate dust extraction due to badly designed duct layouts, under sized dust collectors in, (or servicing), school woodwork rooms.

From our experience, these inefficient dust extraction systems were installed many years ago, probably for the lowest tendered cost, and with expansion of machinery and tools in school woodwork rooms today, the dust collection solution no longer provides acceptable extraction. With more focus on incorporating up to date technology in the woodwork classes, school woodwork rooms are fitted with advanced tooling and machines including CNCs - a source of dust requiring specialist extraction that was not present years ago. 

21st Century Dust Collector for Schools - unique technology includes VFV - the safest dust collector available in Australia

Using only hand tools, school working rooms originally included no dust extraction

Inadequate filter for today's woodworking classrooms: filter sock area too small to cope with number of machines and no safety dust explosion relief

Protecting Young Lungs

School/College age students are still growing, and their lungs are not yet fully developed, so any exposure to any amount of dust, has a greater potential harm compared to an adult. For woodwork teachers or staff in TAFES, the continuous exposure to dust is as much of a health hazard as those working in industry, especially with more and more MDF type products being used. Ultimately IAQ (Indoor Air Quality) is the responsibility of the individual states and territories with funding available from the Federal Government. Alot of emphasis is on CO2 levels and improving mechanical air conditioning rather than relying on opening windows. Exposure to dust in schools should be addressed.

Why Schools need Dust Extraction Systems

Australia's Schools today

Over 90% of schools/TAFEs have poor, incorrectly sized and inefficient dust extraction systems. They were installed many years ago for the lowest tendered cost, and with expansion of wood processing machinery in schools today, now don’t provide acceptable extraction. In many cases, the ducting might be adequate, but the dust filter unit is too small, regularly blocks, and is badly designed for prolonged efficient sawdust extraction. Technology for dealing with dust has moved on in the last 50 years and our European supplier has industry leading features to keep you and your pupils safer.

Risks in Education Environments

MDF has been around since 1966 and is widely used in Australian school furniture and cabinetry with its smooth finish, affordability, and flexibility. There was resticted use originally due to the concerns about termite atacks rather than the formaldehyde VOCs but is is regularly used today in woodworking classrooms if an appropriate Grade eg E0 or E1 is chosen.  

Cutting and milling MDF produces a lot of dust and fine particles so LEV and PPE must be in place as with all other dust producing operations. Suitable extraction equipment specified by a competent  technical sales person is critical. Lessons are not only safer, but alot more enjoyable on a safe air environment and this affects learning outcomes as well as overall student well being, and better for the teaching staff.

Inadequate Dust Collector Systems

Not only do old under sized dust extraction filters block, causing a fire hazard with dust settling in the ducting, fail to adequately keep the learning spaces clear of dust, affecting finish to products and  harming student health, they have no explosion protection. Often placed internally in a plant room with a roof in some cases, in the unlikely event of an explosion occurring, these offer no protection for pupils and staff in the vicinity. 

Regulatory Requirements

School Dust Extraction Challenges

Budget and Procurement Constraints

 State and Private funded schools have many more demands on the funds available than are able to be met. This means school/Tafes often delay improvements to dust extraction for woodworking classrooms until they comletely fail, or, when they do get funding for capital expenditure, they, their builder or a consulting engineer put the project out to tender and the cheapest quote is accepted. A fully compliant effective 21st Century dust collector need not cost any more than one stuck with 1970's technology offering no additional features, however, due to the amount of money spent on the project process, consulting engineers etc, the total costs escalate sometimes 100% more than the cost of the  core funding required to install the dust solution: and the winners are often the HVAC companies and  engineers who are often not experts in dust extraction but have a wider knowledge of industrial scale air conditioning.  The process to apply for CAPEX is already lengthy but the additional stakeholders who become involved only lengthen the waiting time further, and even when a new dust extraction system is installed, many education institutions are reluctant to meet costs of professional maintenance: this varies by state.

Multi Purpose Workshop  Requirements

Smaller schools may try to operate various material technology subjects in the same room: for example metal working and woodworking which have totally different extraction and filtration requirements. These types of installations require the project specification to be completed by someone fully competent in both these dust/fume issues.

See the world's safest school Dust Collector system - for the same price as other less trustworthy ones! Our filters recommended for schools include our unique VFV™ (Vertical Flameless Venting).

These filters conform to ATEX Equipment Directive 2014/34/EU.

Constructed in 3mm & 4mm galvanised Scandinavian steel, they are certified to exceed AS4745:2004 Code of Practice for handling combustible dust and NFPA 68 Standard on Explosion Protection by Deflagration Venting.

 We have completed installations in many schools throughout Australasia and our SuperSafe Filter for schools is the safest in Australia (and indeed the world!)

If you’re a Technology teacher constantly exposed to sawdust or evenly more importantly, are using MDF in the classroom, talk to us about making your lessons not only safer for you and your students but also a lot more enjoyable!

If you are teaching metal work, take a look at our Down Draft Tables, Fume Arms and Mobile FumeCubes  or DustKARTS (Fume and Metal Dust filters).