The CSIR Air and Dust Laboratory specialises in the analysis of environmental air quality through, for example, the occupational hygiene filters of mine employees. The laboratory was the first of its kind to obtain South African National Accreditation System Accreditation of the NIOSH 5040 for diesel particulate matter (DPM) analysis and methods for the determination of hazardous substances (101) for the direct-on-filter analysis using X-ray diffraction (XRD), which is an international method.

Its offerings include:

• An analysis of airborne pollutant samples such as respirable crystalline silica dust (the cause of silicosis) by XRD, gravimetric weighing, particle size analysis and DPM method;
• Monitoring and analysis of industrial air pollutants such as stack sampling and size weighted respirable fractional, as well as the collection and analysis of fallout dust;
• Development of environmental air quality analytical laboratory methods; and
• Research in the field of human exposure to airborne pollutants.