A construction dust monitoring checklist for Irish sites

Dust is one of the most visible — and most complained-about — impacts of any construction or demolition project. On sensitive sites near homes, schools or hospitals, a robust dust monitoring programme is often a planning condition, and always good practice. Here’s how to get it right.

1. Assess the risk before you break ground

Not every site needs the same level of monitoring. A useful first step is a dust risk assessment that considers:

• The scale and duration of works
• Proximity and sensitivity of nearby receptors
• Soil type and the potential for dust generation
• Prevailing wind direction

This determines whether you need periodic deposited-dust gauges, continuous real-time particulate monitors, or both.

2. Choose the right monitoring method

• Frisbee / Bergerhoff gauges capture deposited dust over a period — simple, low cost, good for boundary trend data.
• Real-time PM10 / PM2.5 monitors give you live particulate readings and can trigger alerts the moment levels rise.

3. Set trigger and action levels

Real-time monitoring is only useful if someone acts on it. Define clear trigger-action levels in advance:

1. Alert level — investigate the cause.
2. Action level — deploy mitigation (damping down, sheeting, halting a specific activity).

4. Log the context

Every reading should be paired with weather data and a note of on-site activities. When a neighbour complains, being able to show that levels were within limits — and correlated with wind, not your works — is invaluable.

5. Report clearly and promptly

A monitoring programme that produces data nobody reads protects no one. Regular, readable summaries keep your site team, client and the local authority aligned.

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Our air quality team designs construction dust monitoring programmes matched to your site’s risk profile, with real-time alerting and trigger-action plans. Talk to us about your project.