What Are CoSHH responsibilities?
Estimated reading time: 4 minutes
We touched upon what CoSHH is in last month’s article: What is CoSHH, this month we will take a deeper dive into the Regulations and try to summarise what the exact responsibilities are under the CoSHH regulations.
Table of contents
What are the Requirements under CoSHH?
1. Risk Assessment
At their very core the Regulations require that no-one is exposed to any substance that could cause a hazard to their health. If there is a possibility that a person might be exposed then a CoSHH risk assessment needs to be carried out and measures put in place to mitigate the risk of exposure. This is either by total prevention of the exposure or control of the exposure.
2. Control Measures
Where control measures are used there is a requirement to ensure that they are used properly and all the time when handling the material. There is a duty on the person using the control measure to report any defects with it and to keep it safely stored. On top of this, any control measure used, be it engineering or something like personal protective equipment, has to be inspected regularly and maintained appropriately to ensure that it is always in working order. When carrying out inspections and maintenance the activity should be clearly documented and records kept.
3. Health monitoring and exposure monitoring
In order to ensure that any control measures are adequate, exposure monitoring should be carried out at suitable intervals and the results of the monitoring documented and records kept. If the monitoring shows higher than acceptable levels of exposure then measures are to be put in place to reduce the exposure to acceptable levels. For very specific substances which are detailed in the Regulations in addition to exposure monitoring, medical surveillance is also required. For this the person being exposed to the substance must have regular medical checks specific to the material.
4. Information and Training
It is a legal requirement under CoSHH that anyone who is potentially being exposed to a hazardous chemical is given the appropriate information on the hazards of the material, exposure level limits, any significant findings in the CoSHH assessment, all precautions and control measures and results from any exposure monitoring and health surveillance. The person handling the chemical also needs to be trained in the safe handling of the material, the use of any control measures and how to report any issues. All instruction, information and training needs should be documented and records kept.
5. Emergency response
Things can go wrong and as part of the CoSHH Regulations there should be suitable provisions in place to deal with accidents, incidents and emergencies. This includes the provision of suitable first aid cover at the premises, carrying out suitable training and emergency exercises. Suitable information needs to be readily available to give to any attending emergency services.
Training
Hazardous chemicals, be they in large quantities on a chemical site, or small quantities in a cleaning business, can pose serious risks to people’s health. Understanding the Regulations that cover the use of these chemicals is vitally important. At Chris Garland Training we have an accredited level 2 e-learning course which presents the principles of Control of Substances Hazardous to Health. For this or any other health and safety training requirements, why not contact us and we will be happy to help you in any way we can.
