Occupational Hygiene Services

COSHH Regulations

The Control of Substances Hazardous to Health Regulations 2002 require employers to:

  • assess the risks to health from chemicals and decide what controls are needed;
  • use those controls and make sure workers use them;
  • make sure the controls are working properly;
  • inform workers about the risks to their health;
  • train workers.

To comply with COSHH you need to follow these eight steps:

  1. Assess the risks
  2. Decide what precautions are needed
  3. Prevent or adequately control exposure
  4. Ensure that control measures are used and maintained
  5. Monitor the exposure
  6. Carry out appropriate health surveillance
  7. Prepare plans and procedures to deal with accidents, incidents and emergencies
  8. Ensure employees are properly informed, trained and supervised

The Environmental Protection Act 1990

The Environmental Protection Act 1990 introduced the concept of integrated pollution control in order to prevent pollution from emissions to air, land or water from scheduled processes. Authorisation to operate the relevant processes must be obtained from the enforcing authority which, for the more heavily polluting industries, is HM Inspectorate of Pollution. Control of pollution to air from the less heavily polluting processes is through the local authority.

Regulations also place a 'duty of care' on all those involved in the management of waste, be it collecting, disposing or treating Controlled Waste which is subject to licensing.

LOCAL EXHAUST VENTILATION (LEV) TESTING

In order to comply with Regulation 7 of the Control of Substances Hazardous to Health regulations, LEV plant should be thoroughly examined and tested on a regular basis.

COSHH Regulation 9(2) states :
'Where engineering controls are provided to meet the requirements of regulation 7, the employer shall ensure that thorough examination and testing of those controls is carried out -

a) in the case of local exhaust ventilation plant, at least once every 14 months, of for local exhaust ventilation plant used in conjunction with a process specified in Column 1 of Schedule 4, at not more than the interval specified in the corresponding entry in Column 2 of that Schedule;...'

AIRLINE TESTING

The Control of Substances Hazardous to Health Regulations states the following:
'The quality of the air supplied to a breathing apparatus should be tested at least once every three months, and more frequently when the quality of the air supplied cannot be assured.'

This is reiterated in the HSE publication 'Divers' breathing air standard and the frequency of tests' that :
'A competent person should test the quality of the air supplied for breathing apparatus at least once every three months, and more frequently when the quality of the air supplied cannot be assured'