Does Your Crew Know Dust Containment? And Should They?

As a contractor, you know that dust containment is a critical part of your healthcare construction jobs. But your job also means that you can’t be everywhere at once, which may mean leaving important containment tasks up to your crew.

With something so important, that could have a significant impact on the health of hospital patients, and the health of your career as a contractor, you will want to be sure your crew knows what they are doing.

What Your Crew Needs to Know

Different members of your crew will need different levels of expertise in the area of dust containment. Following are a few guidelines for what kind of baseline knowledge you should expect from your crew in general.

What Dust Containment Is

If you’re working in the healthcare setting, your crew should know what dust containment is. This does not necessarily mean that every person you hire needs to be able to recite ICRA guidelines or should be tracking ACH, but it does mean that if you ask one of them what dust containment is, they should be able to explain it to you at a superficial level.

Why Dust Containment is Important

It will be much easier for your crew to remember what dust containment is if they also know why it is important. When you are talking to your crew about containment, be sure to emphasize the real risks that patients face with the dust produced in construction and renovation projects. Lives and health are truly at stake.

Which Projects Require Dust Containment

Not every project you undertake is going to require containment measures and your crew will know that. The longer you work with a team, the better able to distinguish between projects that have containment requirements and those that do not. Still, there can be some situations where these needs might not be as evident, such as a repair project for a water fountain, or an above-ceiling maintenance project.

How to Use Dust Containment Tools

Workers that will need to implement containment protocol should be trained in the tools necessary to achieve a properly contained job site. Some tools are simple to use, such as portable containment carts, but when it comes to tasks like setting up a negative air machine and ventilation system, further instruction may be required.

Advanced Dust Containment Training

Of course, some members of your crew will need or want to learn more about containment requirements. In this case, there are more expensive training options for you and your crew.

Formal training in ICRA protocol can be quite effective in emphasizing the importance of infection control and dust containment at a job site.

Some organizations offer hands-on training for construction professionals in ICRA protocol, including:

• ECRI Institute
• Carpenters International Training Fund
• Construction Infection Control Institute

Your crew is an integral part of the work you do. They should be able to rely on you to train them or at least to ensure that they have the requisite knowledge to do a good safe job.