Environmental · Best Practice · Pre-Construction

Dust Management Plan

A plan for controlling dust emissions from construction activities.

Last reviewed: 29 March 2026 — This guide reflects UK law as of this date. CEMP / Planning Condition remains current with no amendments enacted as of 29 March 2026. Next scheduled review: 29 March 2027.

Legal basis	CEMP / Planning Condition + Institute of Air Quality Management (IAQM) Guidance on the Assessment of Dust from Demolition and Construction
Status	Best Practice
Prepared by	Principal Contractor
IAQM risk matrix	Demolition > earthworks > construction > trackout — each activity is assessed separately for dust emission magnitude and receptor sensitivity
Silica dust WEL	Workplace exposure limit for respirable crystalline silica is 0.1 mg/m³ (8-hour TWA) — silica dust is a Group 1 carcinogen

1. Dust Management — Protecting Air Quality and Neighbours

Construction dust is both a health hazard and a nuisance. Respirable crystalline silica dust, generated by cutting, grinding, and drilling concrete, brick, stone, and morite, is a Group 1 carcinogen that causes silicosis and lung cancer. Coarser construction dust, while less hazardous to health, causes significant nuisance to neighbours through soiling of surfaces, vehicles, and laundry, reduced visibility, and degradation of local air quality. The local authority can take enforcement action under statutory nuisance provisions if dust from a construction site is causing a nuisance to neighbouring properties.

The Institute of Air Quality Management (IAQM) guidance on the assessment of dust from demolition and construction provides the framework for assessing and managing dust risks from construction sites. The IAQM approach is risk-based: the site is assessed for four separate dust-generating activities (demolition, earthworks, construction, and trackout), and for each activity the dust emission magnitude and the sensitivity of the surrounding area are combined in a risk matrix to determine the overall dust risk. The risk level then determines the appropriate level of mitigation that must be applied.

A dust management plan sets out the measures that will be implemented to control dust emissions from the site and protect both workers and neighbours. The plan must be site-specific, based on the IAQM risk assessment, and must address all four categories of dust-generating activity. On most larger construction sites, the dust management plan will be a requirement of a planning condition or will form part of the Construction Environmental Management Plan (CEMP). The plan must be a living document that is reviewed and updated as construction activities change throughout the programme.

Wheel wash is not optional

Wheel wash is mandatory for most larger construction sites — a vehicle leaving site with mud on its tyres pollutes public roads and creates dust when it dries. Trackout (the transport of dust and mud from the site onto the public highway by vehicles) is one of the four IAQM dust risk categories and is often the most visible source of dust nuisance from construction sites. An effective wheel wash system, combined with road sweeping of the site access road, is essential to prevent trackout.

2. Key Components

The following table sets out the key components that a dust management plan must address. Each element contributes to a comprehensive, risk-based approach to controlling dust emissions from the construction site.

Component	What it covers
Site description	Site location, boundaries, surrounding land uses, proximity to sensitive receptors (residential properties, schools, hospitals, ecological sites), prevailing wind direction, and the nature and scale of the proposed construction works. The description must provide sufficient context for the dust risk assessment.
IAQM risk assessment	Assessment of the dust risk from each of the four IAQM categories: demolition, earthworks, construction, and trackout. For each category, the dust emission magnitude (small, medium, or large) and the sensitivity of the surrounding area (low, medium, or high) are determined and combined in the IAQM risk matrix to give an overall risk level (low, medium, or high) that determines the required level of mitigation.
Dust-generating activities	Identification and description of all activities that will generate dust, including demolition, excavation, soil stripping, stockpiling, concrete cutting, block cutting, brickwork, dry sweeping, vehicle movements on unpaved surfaces, and materials handling. Each activity must be assessed for its dust emission potential and the period during which it will occur.
Control measures	Specific dust control measures for each activity and each IAQM risk level. Measures include damping down with water sprays, covering stockpiles with sheeting, enclosing dust-generating activities, using dust suppression on cutting and grinding equipment, minimising drop heights during materials handling, imposing speed limits on unpaved haul roads, and maintaining hard surfaced access roads in a clean condition.
Silica dust controls	Specific controls for activities that generate respirable crystalline silica dust, including cutting, grinding, and drilling concrete, brick, stone, and mortar. Controls must comply with the workplace exposure limit (WEL) of 0.1 mg/m³ (8-hour TWA) and include water suppression or on-tool extraction, RPE with an assigned protection factor appropriate to the task, health surveillance for exposed workers, and COSHH assessments for each silica-generating activity.
Monitoring	Dust monitoring programme, including the type of monitoring (visual inspections, real-time particulate monitors, dust deposition gauges), monitoring locations, frequency, trigger levels, and action levels. Real-time monitors at the site boundary can provide early warning of elevated dust levels, allowing corrective action to be taken before dust reaches sensitive receptors.
Complaints procedure	Documented procedure for receiving, recording, investigating, and responding to dust complaints from neighbours and the public. The procedure must include a dedicated contact number, a commitment to respond to complaints promptly, and a process for investigating the cause and implementing additional mitigation measures where necessary.
Review	Process for reviewing and updating the dust management plan as construction activities change. The plan must be a living document that is reviewed at least monthly and updated whenever new dust-generating activities commence, the site layout changes, or monitoring or complaints indicate that existing controls are not adequate.

3. Common Mistakes

No wheel wash or inadequate trackout controls

Trackout is one of the most visible and complained-about sources of dust from construction sites. Vehicles leaving site with mud and debris on their tyres deposit material on the public highway, which dries and is re-suspended as dust by passing traffic. This can affect air quality and amenity over a significant area beyond the immediate site vicinity. A wheel wash system (or tyre wash for smaller sites) is a basic requirement on most construction sites, combined with regular road sweeping of the site access road and the public highway in the immediate vicinity of the site entrance. Sites that rely solely on manual hosing of wheels, or that have no trackout controls at all, will inevitably generate complaints and may face enforcement action.

Occasional watering only during dry weather

Dust suppression by water spray must be proactive and continuous during dust-generating activities, not reactive and occasional. Spraying water on a dusty stockpile or haul road once or twice a day is not effective — the surface dries within minutes in warm or windy conditions and dust generation resumes immediately. Effective dust suppression requires regular and frequent application of water (or dust suppressant) to all active dust sources throughout the working day, with increased frequency during dry, warm, or windy conditions. Automated spray systems and bowser runs on a scheduled programme are far more effective than relying on operatives to spray water when they remember or when dust becomes visible.

4. Frequently Asked Questions

What is the IAQM guidance and how does it apply to construction sites?▾

The Institute of Air Quality Management (IAQM) publishes guidance on the assessment of dust from demolition and construction, which is the industry-standard framework for assessing and managing dust risks from construction sites in the UK. The guidance provides a step-by-step methodology for assessing the dust risk from four categories of activity: demolition, earthworks, construction, and trackout. For each category, the assessor determines the dust emission magnitude (based on the scale and nature of the activity) and the sensitivity of the surrounding area (based on the proximity, number, and type of receptors and the baseline air quality). These two factors are combined in a risk matrix to give an overall risk level of low, medium, or high for each category. The risk level then determines the level of mitigation that must be applied, with prescribed measures for each risk level. The IAQM guidance is widely referenced in planning conditions and is accepted by local authorities and the Environment Agency as the appropriate framework for dust risk assessment on construction and demolition sites. Compliance with the IAQM guidance demonstrates a proportionate, risk-based approach to dust management.

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