Climbing centres can be a popular indoor alternative for avid climbers and enthusiasts, however, it’s important to prioritise stay safe whilst working out and ensure that air quality isn’t compromised.
Within climbing centres, chalk is heavily used to help with grip for climbers and keep hands dry – however dust from chalk can contribute to poor indoor air quality in indoor climbing gyms.
When dust created from chalk is fine, inhalation of the dust can be harmful and have effects on the respiratory system, making the indoor air in gyms more harmful. Introducing dust reduction systems can help to reduce dust and improve overall air quality.
Chalk dust that’s used within gyms is mainly made up of magnesium carbonate – which is a magnesium salt (mgCO3). Different brands of chalk dust manufacturers may use different ingredients within their chalk formula to help keep hands drier, which can often include limestone, drying agents and essential oils.
Limestone is most commonly found in construction materials, such as, bricks, cement, concrete and plasters. Limestone also contains silica – a natural substance found it rocks, clay and sand. It forms a major part of construction materials. Dust from silica often goes unnoticed due to being a fine dust, however, can get into lungs and cause harm. Within workplaces Silica dust has a Workplace Exposure Limit (WEL) of 0.1mg/m3 based on an 8-hour time-weighted average. The exposure to silica dust should be reduced as much as possible due to harmful effects.
Within climbing gyms – the effects and amounts of dust created are likely to be higher during busy times, which can be expected particularly in winter months, cold weather may make indoor climbing gyms more favourable to users. When exercising, breathing rate increases which also increases inhalation of airborne dust particles. Other pollutants also exist within the indoor environment and contribute to worsening air quality including, fungi, bacteria, viruses, pollen, and mould – all of which can cause irritation.
Harms of chalk dust to health:
Due to the size, chalk dust can be harmful to health when inhaled. Known as respirable dust, chalk dust can be responsible for travelling into the respiratory system and causing effect. It can particularly worsen symptoms of asthma for some and can have long term affects such as COPD (Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease) and breathing issues.
More serious results of exposure to fine dust can often take a long time to develop and appear – even years. However, some short term and instant effects of working out in a dust filled environment can also be unpleasant. The most common effects of airborne dust and poor air quality can be headache, sluggishness, nasal congestion, and sore throats.
Indoor Dust Reduction:
Implementing systems that reduce fine dust can be an essential way to keep the air dust free and keep harmful airborne dust particles at bay. Fixed indoor systems can act as a long-term solution to improve the indoor air and work towards creating a safer and healthier environment with improved air quality.
Indoor poor air quality is considered to have more PM than outdoor air pollution, due to lack of natural ventilation indoors.
STATICAIR SYSTEMS:
StaticAir systems provide a range of applications suited to indoor and outdoor environments. Powered with electro-static technology, the systems provide an eco-friendly and low maintenance solution to reducing fine dust and particulate.
StaticAir systems work by attracting and capturing fine particulate matter in the environment, using an electrostatic wire, a high positive voltage is applied. The charge from the electrostatic wires ionizes the fine particulate matter which then attracts to a grounded frame on the system, effectively removing dust, pollen, mould, bacteria, and viruses from the air.
By being low maintenance and silent, StaticAir systems are a sustainable solution to dust management and clearing the air of potentially harmful particulate whilst having minimal disturbance in indoor environments.
Why are dust reduction systems important?
Particulate matter is a mix of solid and liquid particles suspended into the air. Common examples include mould, dust, pollen, and smoke. Some PM can be dangerous and due to its miniscule size, can be inhaled.
PM can be categorised into the following sizes, including PM0.1 (smallest), PM1, PM2.5 and PM10 (largest). Although all are extremely small, PM10 is the largest of them. PM10 stands for particulate matter with an aerodynamic diameter smaller than 10 µm and PM0,1 is smaller than 0.1µm. All PM under 10 µm is respirable dust which can have effects on the respiratory system and cause more serious health issues including asthma and COPD (Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease).
Finer particles (PM2.5) are considered to pose the greatest risk to human health by travelling deep into the lungs and potentially the blood stream. Larger particles (PM10) are considered less of a health concern, however, can be irritating to eyes, nose, and throat.
The most suitable systems for climbing and bouldering centres are the PMX and Pamares.
Suited to indoor environments, with a dust reduction of up to 50% they reduce the effects of chalk dust and improve indoor air quality.
staticair pmx
The PMX is designed to hang from the ceiling and uses static to remove dust and particulate from the air. This system is developed for use in sports facilities, making it a great solution for climbing centres, however, can also be used in agriculture and industrial settings too.
features & benefits
- Reduces all sizes of (ultra-) fine dust PM0.1 to PM10
- Up to 50% fine dust reduction
- Simple control with LED indication
- Energy-efficient (18 watt)
- Silent
- No moving parts
- Easy to install and operate
- Low Maintenance
The PMX is proven most effective at reducing smaller particles within climbing gyms (smaller than PM1) removing the particles which are more harmful to the respiratory system.
staticair pamares
Pamares is a smaller version of the PMX, it has the option to attach to poles and comes equipped with a floor stand or can be ceiling mounted – ideal to fit within a climbing or bouldering centre.
features & benefits
- Reduces all sizes of (ultra-) fine dust PM0.1 to PM10
- Up to 30% fine dust reduction
- Simple control with LED indication
- Energy-efficient (18 watt)
- Silent
- No moving parts
- Easy to install and operate
- Low Maintenance
Improving indoor air quality in climbing facilities can support creating a healthier and safer environment for users. Not only benefitting, by removing fine particles of chalk dust, implementing systems can also generally improve indoor air quality and remove other particulate existing in the air to make a more comfortable and safer environment.
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