CoSHH - Is My Business Compliant

Is your workplace compliant with CoSHH Regulations? CoSHH law requires that employers are responsible for protecting the health of its workers by controlling substances that are hazardous to health.

As an employer it is your duty to follow certain procedures to ensure that your workers are not exposed to hazardous substances or at least their exposure to such substances is controlled.

A substance hazardous to health includes chemicals, fumes, dusts and gases. Also, if the packaging reflects any of the hazard symbols then they are also classed as being hazardous to health.

Certain measures should already be in place which will ensure that you are CoSHH compliant:

Primarily, you should have already determined which hazardous substances are present in the workplace and the health risks associated with them.

Secondly, you should have performed a CoSHH risk assessment on each substance to decide what the necessary precautions are to prevent harm to health. You should have a library of safety data sheets (preferably computerised) which will guide you in your risk assessment. Safety data sheets describe all the hazards associated with a substance and give information regarding the handling, storage and emergency action in case of an accident.

Thirdly, control measures should be in place if the CoSHH risk assessment has identified that certain substances are hazardous to health. This could mean that you have had to change some of your working procedures in order to prevent a hazardous substance being generated.

The fourth point is that you should be making sure that control measures are being used. This will guarantee that you are following the law effectively.

Fifthly, you should be monitoring your control measures and making sure that they are in good working order. Any defects in the system should be detected and rectified.

You should also be providing information, instruction and training for your employees and others if they are impacted in any way by hazardous substances.

The seventh measure would be that you are providing monitoring and health surveillance where appropriate.

Lastly, there should be an emergency plan in position. Accidents and incidents may happen involving hazardous substances so a plan should be set up to account for such emergencies.

If you are self-employed and have employees then CoSHH regulations still apply to you. Even if you do not have any employees but take hazardous substances to other people's premises, then you must still be CoSHH compliant (except for the regulation regarding monitoring and heath surveillance).