Under The COSHH? Take The 3-Minute UK Compliance Check

You've probably heard the phrase "under the COSH" before. And most of the time people use it, it probably has nothing to do with health and safety. It's more likely to mean being under pressure or in a difficult situation. But it's kind of fitting that if a substance comes under the COSHH Regulations, you are under pressure to deal with it, just like the saying.

And most UK businesses do need to comply with the COSHH Regulations, since nearly all workplaces deal with hazardous substances in one form or another.

In this guide, you can run your business through a quick compliance check and download free COSHH resources for your workplace.

COSHH in 3 Minutes

👆 Take the 3-minute UK COSHH compliance check to see how well your business complies, and find out how well you are controlling hazardous substances at work.

🆓 Download the UK COSHH compliance check (PDF format)

What is COSHH compliance?

In health and safety, COSHH stands for the Control of Substances Hazardous to Health Regulations. It literally means you must control hazardous substances to protect people's health. These regulations require you, by law, to control substances that are hazardous to health within your workplace.

The COSHH regulations are not new. The history of COSHH goes back over 30 years. The latest (2002) version of the regulations is already over 20 years old. And the first version of COSHH was introduced way back in 1988.

Find out more about the introduction and development of COSHH in a brief history of the COSHH regulations.

This free 3-minute UK COSHH compliance check will help you apply the COSHH regulations to your business for the hazardous substances you use, produce, and release at work.

🆓 Download the UK COSHH compliance check (PDF format)

When should I use the COSHH compliance check?

To comply with COSHH, every hazardous substance in your workplace should be identified.

COSHH applies to a variety of substances that can be found and used at work, such as cleaning products, paints, inks, and chemicals.

It applies to any substance that could be harmful to those handling it. And that doesn't always mean the substance would burn or corrode skin in immediate contact. Or that it would poison someone instantly. A harmful substance might irritate the skin, cause breathing problems, or make your eyes sting.

And it doesn't just apply to substances you purchase either. You might also create hazardous substances in your work processes, such as mixtures, fumes, and dust.

To keep track of the hazardous substances used, produced, and released in your workplace, you can create a COSHH register.

🆓 Use the Free COSHH Register Template to create yours.

The COSHH regulations apply to:

• Any substance or mixture that is dangerous for supply - listed in the CLP regulations and which an indication of danger specified for the substance is very toxic, toxic, harmful, corrosive or irritant;
• Any substance which has been given a Workplace Exposure Limit (WEL);
• Any biological agents used at work;
• Any dust other than one with a WEL at a concentration in the air above 10 mg/m3 averaged over 8 hours, or any such respirable dust above 4 mg/m3 over 8 hours;
• Any other substance that creates a risk to health because of its properties and the way it is used or is present in the workplace.

Find out more about the types of substances COSHH applies to in what substances does COSHH cover?

You can identify substances that fall under the COSHH regulations, usually when you purchase them. Check the safety information on labels and the information provided by suppliers (usually on a safety data sheet, hazard data sheet or other similar product information sheet). The information provided and the symbols displayed will tell you what hazards are involved.

But remember we said that you might also create COSHH substances at work? You should also consider what substances fall under the COSHH regulations that you didn't purchase but that you produce as a result of your work processes.

To identify substances produced during work activities, look for processes that could emit dust, fumes, vapours, mist or gas.

And we've kept this COSHH compliance check short, because it's not a one-time event. You'll want to run the compliance check whenever things change.

Nearly every workplace will contain substances that can be hazardous to health. And you should check your compliance with COSHH whenever a new substance is introduced to your work processes, or the way you use it changes.

How to use the COSHH compliance check

So now we have an idea of what substances are covered under the COSHH regulations (essentially any potentially hazardous substances); what do the COSHH regulations require us to do about them?

After all, most businesses will use hazardous substances in one form or another. Even an office environment will use cleaning chemicals, for example.

Under the COSHH regulations, employers are required to control substances that are hazardous to health through prevention or reduction of exposure.

You can use a [COSHH inventory or register]https://www.haspod.com/blog/coshh/benefits-coshh-inventory) to list the substances you have identified. Keeping a COSHH inventory will help you keep track of the substances in your workplace and the actions you take to control them.

🆓 Use the Free COSHH Register Template to create yours.

But just knowing what substances are harmful isn't enough. The regulations are called the Control of Substances Hazardous to Health Regulations. So must control them.

Luckily, the regulations set out what you need to do. First, you will assess the risk, and then you will decide how best to control it. And that's the next step in the COSHH compliance check.

The COSHH regulations require a COSHH assessment to be carried out before any activities take place that use, involve, or expose employees to substances that are hazardous to health.

🆓 Use the Free COSHH Assessment Template to create yours.

Find out more about why COSHH assessments are needed in the purpose of COSHH assessments and why every business needs them.

By completing a COSHH risk assessment, you will be able to decide which COSHH control measures are needed to prevent or control the exposure of employees to substances hazardous to health.

Your controls shouldn't just be PPE. You should prevent exposure where possible and use collective control measures before relying on PPE.

Examples:

• Extraction
• Containment
• Cleaning systems
• PPE
• RPE

Get more information in 7 types of COSHH control measures and how they reduce risk.

And putting controls in place isn't the only thing you need to do. You'll also need to provide instruction and training to your workers, so that they know what the hazards are, what the risks are, and what they need to do to stay safe.

🆓 Get the Free COSHH Toolbox Talk to raise awareness with your team.

You might also need to follow up with health surveillance if there is still a residual risk of work-related illness after putting controls in place.

COSHH assessments are a legal requirement. If you need help creating yours, we have COSHH assessment templates available for common substances to help you get started.