Construction Dust Monitoring: Assessing the Sensitivity of Local Receptors

Receptors are separated into two groups—human and ecological. Human receptors include locations where people spend time and where property may be impacted by dust whereas ecological receptors are habitats sensitive to the effects of dust e.g. biological functions within flora and fauna. 

Three kinds of effects on dust receptors

The effects on local receptors are categorised as follows:

1. Dust soiling effects
2. PM10 health effects
3. Ecological effects

Within each of the above categories, the sensitivity is assessed using the tables in the IAQM guide (See page 19 in the IAQM guide at this link: https://iaqm.co.uk/text/guidance/construction-dust-2014.pdf. Each receive a classification of high, medium or low.

Dust soiling effect is a measurement of the potential loss of amenity, which is defined as the loss of desirability or usefulness due to dust deposition on places or buildings. The table used to assess this simply looks at the number of these receptors and distance they are from the site.

PM10 health effects considers the existing background level and also the number of people within a certain distance. Air quality data on background concentrations for PM10 can be taken from Defra’s (the UK Department for Environment, Food, and Rural Affairs) maps or models. This is then used in conjunction with the table.

For ecological effects, the sensitivity of the local habitat needs to be assessed—using box 8, page 18 of the IAQM guide. Once the sensitivity is known, then the applicable table can be used to categorise the effect based on distance from the site.    

Read Part 3 of the 3-part Construction Dust Monitoring Series to be published Thursday, 12 August.

Additional resources

• Webinar: Effects on Human Health, Ecological Impacts, and Outdoor Dust Monitoring, an environmental dust monitoring webinar presented by TSI experts.
• More about real-time construction site dust monitoring: https://www.envirotech-online.com/news/air-monitoring/6/tsi-gmbh/real-time-construction-site-dust-monitoring/53172

About the author

Myles Quigley is a product manager at TSI for environmental and exposure monitoring. Since joining the company in 2018, he has worked closely with both industry and government to understand the legislation and customer requirements that drive this space. Prior to joining TSI, he worked as a Global Product Manager in various industries such as building automation and renewable energy. Myles started his career as a graduate Building Services Engineer before making his move into product management fifteen years ago. During this time, he has worked with numerous universities and research institutes, including KTH Royal Institute of Technology, Stockholm and Dresden University of Technology, and many more.