Is wood dust a hazardous chemical agent?

Yes. Wood dust can cause asthma and dermatitis, and hardwood dust is classified as a carcinogen. Sawmills and furniture makers need a chemical risk assessment and, usually, dust monitoring and extraction tests.

How often must dust extraction in a sawmill or joinery be tested?

Extraction that controls a hazardous chemical agent must be examined and tested at intervals not exceeding 24 months.

Do aluminium plants need heat stress surveys?

Where furnaces, casting and hot rolling expose workers to radiant heat, yes. The Physical Agents Regulations, 2024 require heat to be assessed where it may affect employees.

OCCUPATIONAL HYGIENE IN PIETERMARITZBURG

Pietermaritzburg combines aluminium rolling and extrusion, timber and sawmilling, food and beverage production and a large public sector, with industrial areas at Willowton, Mkondeni and Camperdown.

Qualitas carries out occupational hygiene surveys for these employers: noise surveys, wood and metal dust monitoring, chemical monitoring, LEV tests and heat stress surveys.

REACH OUT

Worker cutting steel with an angle grinder as sparks fly

WHERE WE WORK AROUND PIETERMARITZBURG

Pietermaritzburg

Willowton and Mkondeni

Camperdown and Cato Ridge

Howick

Mooi River

Richmond

Aluminium rolling, extrusion and fabrication: metal fume and dust, oil mist, noise and heat.

Timber, sawmills and furniture manufacturing in the Midlands: wood dust, noise and dust extraction systems.

Food, beverage and poultry processing: noise, cold rooms, ammonia and cleaning chemicals.

Manufacturing and engineering in Willowton and Mkondeni: welding fume, solvents and LEV.

Hospitals and provincial government buildings: biological agents, indoor air quality and asbestos inventories.

THE HAZARDS WE MEASURE HERE

Wood dust, which is a recognised carcinogen for hardwoods; aluminium and other metal fume; oil mist; noise from mills, saws and presses; heat near furnaces; and cleaning chemicals in food plants.

Interior of a large industrial warehouse with overhead cranes

INDUSTRIES WE SERVE

Foundry workers in protective gear pouring molten metal

WHY QUALITAS

Qualitas Occupational Consulting is a Department of Employment and Labour Approved Inspection Authority (AIA) and a SANAS-accredited (ISO/IEC 17020) inspection body for asbestos, lead, noise and hazardous chemical agents, and applies the same quality system to all its assessments.

Every assessment is led by Christo de Wet, an occupational hygienist registered with the Southern African Institute for Occupational Hygiene (SAIOH), with 15 years of experience.

We work nationwide, and Qualitas has also carried out assessments in Botswana and Kazakhstan. Travel is quoted upfront.

You receive a professional, audit-ready report that stands up to inspection by the Department of Employment and Labour.