Cordless backpack vacuum cleaner
The dust released during construction work often contains fine particulate matter. This is harmful for health, especially when it contains carcinogens. In collaboration with TNO, the tool development and manufacturing company Makita has introduced a cordless backpack vacuum cleaner. This allows construction workers to work dust free in places that are not easily reachable, on scaffolding for instance. With this vacuum cleaner, the amount of released dust decreases tremendously.
Setting and problem
Dust has an irritating effect on people’s lungs. Dust from construction sites often consists of fine particulate matter and might contain asbestos and other carcinogens. Thus, working dust free is important. Vacuum cleaners are often used to remove construction dust, but workers often do not use them in places that are hard to reach. Taking a vacuum cleaner with you an scaffolding, for instance, is a hassle due to all the cables and the heavy weight.
Solution
A solution to this problem is the cordless light weighted backpack vacuum cleaner from Makita, that can be used when drilling and grating at heights. The vacuum cleaner is very user-friendly. As it operates on batteries, hassle with cables is avoided. And it weighs only 4.3 kilograms.
Results
A façade renovation company in the Netherlands has tested the backpack vacuum cleaner. The reactions are positive. Siegersma, one of the employees, says: “The first reactions came quickly from the scaffolding: it works beautifully, is very flexible, weighs little and can be taken off quickly if you want to put the machine down for a moment. And it sucks very good as well.”
The backpack vacuum cleaner removes more dust than dust adapters that have to be placed on a drilling or grating machine. The vacuum cleaner has a TNO-certificate for dust free working. This entails that correct use of the device ensures that the current Dutch long-term occupational exposure limits for particulate matter are not exceeded and that the Dutch labour inspectorate qualifies such use as adequate exposure management.
