Emergency Vehicle Exhaust Fume: County Fire Service Case Study
The Client
A County Fire Service was having a new, purpose-built facility built and to ensure their community was safer and stronger. Their primary responsibility is to respond to emergencies, but their secondary duty is to educate people at home and at work to prevent fires and protect lives.
The Challenge
The county fire service was planning a new fire station to provide an effective, at-source LEV (local exhaust ventilation) system for their emergency vehicles bays. Auto Extract Systems were tasked with proposing and installing a comprehensive LEV (local exhaust ventilation) system in the new station to safely capture and remove emergency vehicle diesel exhaust fumes that are emitted into the workplace’s air. The LEV system was installed as part of a project to ensure the site meets stringent operational requirements to work strictly in accordance with ‘HSG258: Controlling Airborne Contaminants at Work: A Guide to Local Exhaust Ventilation (LEV)’ guidance.
The Solution
The first three points in the extraction system involved the installation of a 12-metre long straight rail aluminium extraction system. Each system was installed with a sliding crab trolley assembly, which slides along the entire length of the track as the vehicles travel within the building.
Each trolley was completed with a six-metre x 125mm, high-temperature and crush-resistant extraction exhaust hose and a constant tension balancer to keep the hose off the floor area. A 160mm, patented pneumatic ‘grabber’ nozzle was be fitted to the end of the hose; to capture 99.9% of exhaust fumes. Also, part of the ducting was fitted with louvre grilles near to the fan area at a high level to offer general workshop ventilation when the doors were shut.
The final extraction point was a 12-metre long vertical stack rail system, which enabled the service to drive through and connect the vehicle exhaust to an extraction rail to provide operator-free connection. The rail is suspended on a moving track, which moves horizontally using springs that are located the stack within the rail. An exhaust adapter was also supplied as loose equipment to be fitted to their nominated vehicle.
The Feedback
With four extraction systems successfully installed, the project’s design engineer praised the Auto Extract Systems team, commenting: “Everyone at Auto Extract Systems has done a brilliant job installing our extraction system and I’m looking forward to getting the new building in use.”
Auto Extract Systems continue to maintain the LEV system installed with annual LEV testing and maintenance services. LEV tests are a legal requirement and should be tested at least once in a 14-month period for compliance with HSE standards; they often form part of a company’s insurance requirements too. We also attend their site on a bi-annual basis to perform comprehensive LEV servicing, (find out more about LEV servicing) so it operates within its required benchmark performance and reduces hazardous substances exposure.
