Think your crew can handle the drilling and blasting needed for your new construction project? Maybe, but maybe not — if you're dealing with a lot of dust, you definitely need a specialized company to handle those duties. Dust control has become a huge part of all forms of demolition and construction because people now recognize what a literal and figurative mess dust can cause in people's lives. States are now requiring companies to control dust when they work on everything from landscaping to quarry blasting, and for good reason: Dust control both makes the entire job easier and keeps everyone around you a lot safer.
Easier Cleanup
If you're trying to blast open some ground so you can install supports for a new bridge, cleanup doesn't sound like that big an issue. You're likely in an area where you don't have too many houses and businesses at that spot, right? But your equipment and your staff, of course, need to be relatively clean after the day is done. By controlling dust at the blast site, you reduce what needs to be mopped up before everyone goes home. Plus, wind can blow a lot of dust over a wide area, potentially impacting other people.
Better Relations With the Neighbors
If you are drilling or blasting in an area where wind could carry the dust toward a residential or commercial complex, controlling the dust from the drilling and blasting shows the people in those complexes that your company takes their comfort seriously. Battling dust from drilling, construction, or anything else that disturbs the ground is one of the more distressing issues for people living or working near these sites just because the dust can be so persistent. If you don't properly control dust, you're going to end up with a lot more complaints, if not fines.
Preventing the Spread of Disease (Really)
Dust control has also become a major issue in areas like Arizona and the Central Valley of California where soil-resident fungi can cause the disease known as Valley Fever. Dust, both from haboobs (those giant wall-of-dust storms) and from construction can throw millions of spores into the air, potentially exposing people to the fungi. To cut down on the potential for infection, you have to have proper dust control any time you do any drilling or blasting.
Dust control doesn't just mean sweep up or hose down the soil occasionally. It is a multi-step process meant to send as little dust into the air as possible. You do need to have a specialist company handle this job.
For more information, reach out to a company like 3 - Rivers, Inc., Drilling & Blasting.
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