Fulton Hogan has collected some encouraging results from their dust monitors installed at the
Miners Rd and Pound Rd quarries on the outskirts of Christchurch.
The monitors measure dust particles in real time, minute by minute, and can trigger alerts
that give the site manager a chance to activate dust control measures, including water
misters, foggers and water trucks.
To date, other than on January 23rd, average hourly PM10 levels (particle matter levels) at
the Miners Rd site boundary have been well below Ministry for the Environment guidelines.
Fulton Hogan has been running a number of trials looking at how effective our dust
mitigation measures are, with a goal of “no dust beyond the boundary of the quarry.”
Fulton Hogan South Island General Manager Craig Stewart says the results are very
encouraging.
“The dust suppression measures we are using are proving very effective. The real time dust monitoring means if, for example, the winds increase, SMS/text alerts can be sent to the site managers and they can take immediate action. In future, real-time monitoring can be hard-wired into the quarry management system, automatically triggering dust suppression equipment.”
“This can be paired with environmental sensors for wind speed and direction, and the data
can be made instantly available to staff. This may mean we would cease operations when
the wind speed reaches certain levels.”
Mr Stewart says the company is putting a lot of effort into this kind of technology to create
‘sites of the future’.
“We want to be industry leading in minimising our impact on the environment and the community. We know that people expect quarry operators to ‘do the right thing’ and ‘be good neighbours in the community,’ and as a company we want to achieve these same goals. Technology that enables us to be really pro-active in this space is becoming more available and we are constantly looking at ways to improve what we do.”
