Hello Could you help me find the best way to control dust from sanding and grinding of car paint. Its a small operation that use water based spray paints, so no real exposure to isocyanate. They do not have a spray booth or a spray room as they undertake small touch up jobs. They have the large shutters open while they are working but the dust just does not go outside and has settled in the building, in the offices and the reception area. The dust dispersal is the main problem and is causing a real issues

Randolph - Leadbelly has given you the best starter. May I also suggest that you thoroughly read EH40 and what it says about dust and being a CoSHH substance. It appears that, in the short-term, you may need to provide suitable RPE - but that can only be temporary. Also, I've never yet seen any genuine compliance from "having the doors open" - you've identified why already. And I bet they don't when it's cold, wet, blowing a gale. And if it does, by some miracle actually work, how well protected are those nearby outside? Lastly, there are a range of tool "add-ons" that will extract the dust into a directly attached or a remote HEPA bag. You will still need RPE &/or containment when emptying or changing the bags. Frank Hallett

Randolf, Just because they use water based paints doesn't mean that is what they are grinding off. Also, water based paints and body filler dust are not really lung friendly anyway. In addition to all the HSE web pages (which are very worthwhile reading) I would also suggest you do a google search for dust extraction units for tools as suggested by Frank and also for spray booths which are not as expensive as you might think. About 4 years ago I looked into setting up spray booths in some of our depots for spraying access platforms so we are talking 30'x12'and it was less than £10k. including the extraction unit and installation. I imagine a suitable unit for automotive use would be less than half that. A small price to pay really for protecting the health of the workers.

Hello All I would just like to thank all the people above who have responded to my question. I fully appreciate it.