The air quality in hydraulic cylinder manufacturer AH Garner’s 30,000ft² facility in Nottingham has significantly improved this year following the installation of sixteen Filtermist oil mist filters.
AH Garner specialises in the supply of hydraulic cylinders to Original Equipment Manufacturers in a range of industries including construction, agriculture, materials handling, powered access and waste processing. Over recent years the company has invested heavily in new machinery, primarily Hwacheon CNC lathes & Dah Lih machining centres, to go alongside existing equipment from manufacturers such as Doosan, Okuma and Yang.
The company’s Operations Director contacted Filtermist in February 2022 to arrange for an assessment of the air quality in its machine shop and within a week the go ahead had been given to place an order for 16 Filtermist units.
Filtermist’s Senior Area Sales Manager, Paul Battersby, elaborates, “I visited AH Garner to take some initial readings from 14 machine tools using a DustTrak direct reading aerosol monitor (DRAM). Tests were taken from the door where the operator stands during a machining cycle - no doors or shutters were open at the time of the test. The results showed that particulate levels from most of the machines were well above the 1mg/m³ benchmark which many companies use as a maximum workplace exposure limit (WEL).
“There has been no official WEL for oil mist since 2015 when 5mg/m³ was withdrawn following an outbreak of oil mist exposure related respiratory disease at a premises where the levels were below this limit. COSHH now requires employers to reduce the limit to ‘as low as reasonably practicable (ALARP)’ and in many cases 1mg per m³ is used as a benchmark.
“I reported the DustTrak results back to AH Garner and quoted for suitable LEV (local exhaust ventilation) extraction for all machine tools on site, as required by the HSE, and the company’s management raised an order for all of the recommended units immediately.”
Following receipt of the order, Filtermist arranged for a staged installation of the S400, S800, FX4002, FX5002 and FX6002 units which involved four units being installed every month between July and October. All units were installed with afterfilters and F Monitor 2 monitoring devices, and AH Garner will also benefit from a first service which is included with every unit installed for UK end-users, along with a free 5-year warranty on every Filtermist unit.
Marek Lewandowski, AH Garner’s Managing Director, commented, “We decided to order all of the units in one go rather than taking a phased approach as a clear demonstration to our workforce of our commitment to ensuring we take their health seriously. This was a big decision, but was definitely the right thing to do.
“Scheduling the installations starting with the machines with the highest particulate readings meant we could ensure disruption to production was minimised. The installations all went very smoothly and we are very happy with the results. There is a noticeable improvement in the quality of the air around the machine tools which is very encouraging.
“The inclusion of the F Monitor 2 devices means our machine operators can keep an eye on the status of the extraction units and if there are any issues they can report them to management immediately. This is a requirement in COSHH Regulations and the traffic light system used by the F Monitor makes it really easy for us to comply.”
Find out more about AH Garner by visiting https://ahgarner.co.uk/ or contact Filtermist by calling 01952 290500 or emailing sales@filtermist.com to discuss how the team can help ensure the air in your machine shop is clean and safe to breathe.