Who should monitor dust and what is required

• Any person who conducts an activity in such a way as to give rise to dust in quantities and concentrations that may exceed the dust fall standard must implement a dust fall monitoring programme, which includes a network of dust monitoring points.

Dust and what causes it

• Dust and particulate matter (PM) are broad, largely interchangeable terms used to describe the particles found in the atmosphere, including soil, dirt, soot, smoke, pollen, ash, aerosols and liquid droplets. The most distinguishing characteristics of PM are the particle size and the chemical composition.

• Dust from a factory, plant, haulage road, construction site, or mine, rises into the air owing to thermal action, wind velocity or by other means and, depending on the particulate size and wind velocity, begins to fall out once the immediate effects begin to dissipate.

• Generally, larger particles are deposited in proximity to the source of the dust and this dust-type is referred to as depositional dust.