WHO DOES IT APPLY TO?

Absolutely everybody, from your employees to visitors to your premises/site/facilities/farm/quarry.... for every chemical or substance or by product that they may come into contact with no matter how often - you may be told by many "experts" that rarely handled substances do not need assessment, rarely handled materials have in many ways a higher risk than routinely handled ones! All products in use and all by products of your processes have to be assessed with the exception of food stuffs, pharmaceuticals or health and beauty products.

WHY DO WE ASSESS?

The assessment is to ensure that the assessed persons cannot inadvertently cause them self harm by the incorrect use of chemicals or substances or by contact with them. Many common substances or chemicals can be hazardous to health if swallowed or breathed in in significant quantities. We all may like a drink of alcohol but a COSHH assessment will show that it can cause serious long term damage to internal organs, damage the eyes, dry out and damage the skin,; that it should not be inhaled or ingested and that there are extensive PPE equipment requirements, also that it is a fire hazard, and staff must be made aware of such risks when handling the substance. The assessment is used in training staff to handle the substances. It will identify which PPE that is required, and special handling or storage requirements. Once trained the staff are safer, once trained the " I didn't know" or "I wasn't told" excuses are no longer valid.

WHAT SHOULD BE ASSESSED?

Every single chemical or substance that you use in your place of work or occurs as a by product of your work needs to be assessed, this includes all cleaning products - an acid/bleach reaction can be potentially fatal!

PREPARING FOR AN ASSESSMENT

An inventory should be made of every single substance in use or to which employees may be exposed, along with the areas in which they are used and the staff who would come into contact with that product. The Safety Data Sheets (SDS) or Material Safety Data Sheets (MSDS) for each product is then obtained from the supplier. (Every supplier is obliged by law to provide upon request current SDS/MSDS sheets for any product they supply).

CARRYING OUT ASSESSMENTS

Assessments can be carried out by your own competent person or by an external consultant. Each SDS/MSDS is examined and the relevant information taken from this to provide a summary sheet and training record sheets for the staff. Although there are comprehensive guidelines for preparing the SDS/MSDS sheets the actual presentation of information varies considerably between suppliers and care must be taken to ensure that all of the relevant information is obtained

USING THE RESULTS

The main substance summary is used to ensure that the relevant storage precautions are taken - e.g. out of direct sunlight, separate from acids/alkalis etc. - and that any Ventilation requirements are met to prevent exposure limits being exceeded.

The training records are used to teach the staff about the risks involved in using the products, safety precautions they should use - e.g. PPE, and any special usage precautions - e.g. do not mix product with bleach. The staff members then sign to say they have been told of the risks and of the precautions they have to take in using the product - and that they understood them!

Another benefit to carrying out the assessment can be the removal of products that cause risks to safer products with lesser health hazards, requiring less protective equipment or with reduce handling requirements. This can be a major change, water based from solvent based for example, or a minor change in supplier to use a product that does not require safety gloves for example.

Specialist Assessments

When carrying out special risk assessments for young workers or pregnant women, the COSHH assessment will help identify products that these people should not be exposed to on health reasons such as; mutagens, carcinogens etc. Due to a lack of understanding of the risks from a "commonly used" product pregnant women may be regularly handling products that could cause harm to their un born child.

For more information on COSHH Assessment