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What are your COSHH responsibilities, and why do you need to know about them?
Studies show that about 1.7 million workers in the UK suffered from work-related health issues and occupational diseases in 2020-21. In addition, exposure to hazardous substances caused almost 12,000 lung disease deaths last year. To avoid such complications, organisations need strict implementation of COSHH regulations.
Hazardous substances are not limited to only toxic substances. So whether you are an employer or employee, you need to know your rights, responsibilities, and duties concerning COSHH. In this article, we talk about the different types of hazardous substances and your COSHH responsibilities.
Workers may be exposed to hazardous substances by
A substance may have one or more of the following inherently risky characteristics. If so, it’s a hazardous substance. You can identify such substances by the following characteristics.
In addition, they may have the ability to acquire any of the mentioned attributes when exposed to air or water. Hazardous materials can have severe negative impacts on the environment or people. Also, they might be irritants or radioactive.
COSHH regulates different health-hazardous substances. Such as –
In addition, germs causing diseases like leptospirosis or legionnaire’s disease are under the scope of COSHH. However, COSHH does not cover lead, asbestos, and radioactive compounds.
You can also check the packaging for hazard symbols to know if it contains hazardous substances.
COSHH helps avoid or minimise workers’ exposure to dangerous substances and related risks. Carrying COSHH responsibilities in the workplace is essential. Here’s why –
Not to mention, you can provide and maintain better health and safety standards with COSHH.
You must be familiar with your COSHH responsibilities regardless of the type of business you own or work for.
Chemical manufacturers are under COSHH. And labs working with hazardous substances must be aware of their COSHH responsibilities.
COSHH applies to materials, including
You may think only industrial businesses that work with highly hazardous substances are under the scope of COSHH. However, hair stylists use bleaches, hairsprays, and shampoos. Also, beauticians employ nail polish removers, solvents, and other substances. These chemicals might trigger skin allergies and asthma. Therefore, any profession that requires chemical use is under the scope of COSHH.
Bakers and cooks deal with flour and dust-like particles. Also, they use gas-fired equipment emissions that emit oil mists, irritants, smoke, and carbon monoxide. Therefore, COSHH applies to them.
Your work may require you to work with damp hands for extended periods or repeatedly throughout the day. Damp hands might irritate your skin and cause dermatitis. So, excessive exposure to water can be harmful too.
You are subject to COSHH even if you are self-employed. Every aspect of COSHH responsibilities applies if you have employees. And they also apply if you don’t have workers, but transport hazardous materials to other people’s properties. The law will not apply to people dealing with monitoring and health surveillance.
Both employers and employees are subject to COSHH responsibilities. You must conduct COSHH assessments as an employer for any hazardous materials used in your company. Employers must give workers the required information.
In addition, they have to establish the required controls and processes. Similarly, employees must abide by COSHH. For example, they will appropriately use any safety precautions for their protection.
The primary COSHH responsibility in the workplace rests with the employer. You should put mechanisms and checks in place. The law requires COSHH assessments.
Firstly, prohibit any work that could expose workers to harmful substances. Secondly, you must conduct a thorough assessment to identify the risk to your staff’s health. Finally, ensure necessary precautions to comply with the regulations. After assessing the hazardous substances, you must implement control to safeguard workers from exposure.
If you are an employee, you should carry out your COSHH responsibilities. However, as an employee, you don’t need to do an assessment or management of exposure to hazardous substances. Rather, you need to comprehend the risks and consider safety precautions.
Use control measures, items, or facilities that are in line with COSHH regulations. However, your employer is in charge of ensuring COSHH in the workplace. Therefore, you are required to abide by the COSHH precautions that the employer has put in place.
The reporting of events is a part of your COSHH responsibilities. You regularly use the substances, equipment, and control measures. Therefore, you will identify malfunctions and possibly new problems. A designated person should be in charge of monitoring and maintaining COSHH control measures. You must report any occurrences and narrow escapes to the designated person under COSHH. In addition, beware of unforeseen exposures and report that too.
The employer must perform routine equipment inspections and maintenance. However, it’s always conceivable that their evaluations may overlook something. Therefore, an employee should disclose any defects they find right away.
There are eight general principles listed in the Health and Safety Executive (HSE). They are standards of good control practice. In addition, these principles summarise an excellent approach to controlling hazardous substances.
Don’t consider methods to remove the exposure from the workplace at first. Instead, try to minimise the emission of toxic elements from the source. Figure out the worst sources and manage them. In addition, make an assessment. So, you can create modifications to minimise emissions, release, and spread.
The optimal time to accomplish the task would be
Also, identify the exposed work groups. It would help if you created simplistic control measures from the beginning. If the measures are hard-to-follow, they are unlikely to make an impact. You must avoid complicated working procedures or difficult-to-repair gear.
When creating control measures, consider the following exposure routes.
In addition, perform a risk assessment on the potential entry points into the body. For instance, inhalation is the entry route for those exposed to crystalline silica.
Clean all potentially contaminated surfaces regularly. Determine cleaning frequency by asking yourself the following questions.
Finally, provide clean, laundered or disposable work attire. In addition, if skin contact is unavoidable, provide suitable and accessible facilities for washing and changing.
You have to place strict controls on exposure. However, if the exposure is minimum, a simple and inexpensive routine may be sufficient. For instance, Workplace Exposure Limits (WELs) and other exposure guidelines serve as exposure standards for some substances. In fact, different variables will determine the below-the-standard limit.
Some controls are more practical and acceptable. For example, people could prefer to wear air-fed Respiratory Protective Equipment (RPE) rather than filtering devices. All in all, any control method should restrict exposure to a level that minimises health risks.
Look for the most reliable and efficient control measures. Then, create a collection of integrated control methods. Methods should be dependable and efficient enough to control exposure adequately. The participating person or group must have the ideal combination of knowledge, abilities, and experience.
Control solutions depend on the following things.
Use Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) like respirators, work clothes, or gloves. In addition, PPEs need to be suitable and sufficient. Adding them will enrich the level of protection.
PPEs are crucial to the overall control strategy. Therefore, you must set up a program to organise and manage PPE. A PPE program requires employees to operate according to established guidelines.
You shouldn’t stop at the development of practical control measures. You must implement and manage them. So, educate everyone who needs to know about the use and upkeep of the control measures. Finally, achieve efficient and long-lasting exposure control.
Your specific checks depend on the following questions.
After months of monitoring, you can be sure that controls are trustworthy and efficient. After that, you should emphasise double-checking the crucial components of the standards. An expert with skill, process understanding, and specific tests should evaluate it.
Ensure the workers know how to apply control measures appropriately. Also, identify when they are failing.
Explain the following points to the workers.
Firstly, follow procedures that are appropriate and convenient. Secondly, make sure they are easy to follow. Finally, ensure their capability of minimising exposure. For example, control measures may be well-designed and tested but can be misapplied. In that case, workers need to be retrained.
Look for “new” hazards when developing control mechanisms. Then, try to minimise them.
New dangers can be created by modifying
A sound control system reduces health risks as much as possible. It lowers maintenance requirements. Moreover, it is also mostly error-proof. As a result, it doesn’t pose additional dangers.
The following are aspects of COSHH policies.
By following these ten golden guidelines, you can protect yourself and your workers.
Don’t use it if the label is gone (or if there is no label). Instead, you should inform your manager. And an assigned person should remove the product.
A COSHH risk assessment focuses on the dangers and risks posed by substances in the workplace. Learn more about Risk Assessment in our COSHH (Control of Substances Hazardous to Health) Training Course.
Identify the hazardous compounds present in your workplace. In addition, consider the health concerns that these substances pose to estimate the risks.
Your control systems should be functional and efficient. So, consider how a substance may be absorbed. Ingested? Inhaled? Or absorbed via the skin?
If you identify hazards, take steps to protect the health of others.
Your COSHH responsibilities are to prevent exposure to hazardous substances. If prevention is not possible, limit the exposure. In addition, alter the procedure or activity if it’s possible. You can replace a substance with a more secure option. For example, you may use it in a less hazardous form, such as pellets rather than powder. Also, you can limit employee exposure at the source, such as at the local exhaust ventilation. Finally, offer PPEs as the last resort.
You must set an Occupational Exposure Standard (OES). To comply with an OES for substances, you should reduce exposure. Use Maximum Exposure Limits (MELs).
There are substances with the potential to have the worst health impacts. Health impacts can be cancer and occupational asthma. When you cannot determine an OES for such substances, set MELs for them. In addition, restrict exposure to substances with MELs as much as possible. In any event, keep the exposure below the MEL.
Your workers also have COSHH responsibilities. They should be responsible when utilising the controls. In addition, they must report flaws. Also, keep an eye on how often exposures happen.
Suppose, the control mechanism failed. Now, your assessment indicates that there are significant health hazards. In addition, the concentration of hazardous substances in the air is high. How will you handle it?
The answer is – you must prepare your response to a hazardous substance emergency in advance. COSHH responsibilities of your employees require appropriate and sufficient information, instruction, and training. Advanced emergency planning must include the following things.
Specific controls work better than others. Here are seven important COSHH control measures in order of importance.
Altering a process to stop chemical use may be necessary for the exclusion. While it sounds like a lot of work, the benefit is that COSHH responsibilities will no longer be applicable because there are no dangerous materials.
In this case, you are minimising the risk rather than eradicating it. Change it to a less dangerous option. For example, make the substance safer by changing its form. With thousands of products readily available, a review of several vendors frequently yields lower-risk substitutes.
The way you work can reveal COSHH issues if you review it properly. For instance, it might be a routine procedure for workers to sweep up when their shift is over. Doing this might lead to settled dust re-entering the atmosphere. Switch to moist cloths or dampen the surfaces before sweeping or cleaning up. It will help reduce dust and make everyone’s workplace safer and healthier.
Technical controls entail the development of exposure control systems and work tools, ideally at the source. Therefore, it can prevent or significantly reduce exposure to a safe level. Use technical controls to enclose the process and keep the hazardous substance inside the enclosure. These restrictions could consist of the following things.
As an employer, you are responsible for regularly monitoring, checking, and supervising the COSHH control measures. In addition, put regulations that limit exposure to a safe amount. These monitoring mechanisms could consist of the following things.
Along with technical controls, you need to enforce monitoring mechanisms.
Employers are required under the COSHH regulations to recognise and control substance-related risks and hazards in the workplace. Additional COSHH-related laws and regulations are as follows.
Registration, Evaluation, Authorisation, and Restriction of Chemicals, or REACH is a regulation of the European Union. It went into effect on June 1st, 2007. A risk assessment by both COSHH and REACH is essential. Through REACH, chemical makers and importers can communicate with the rest of the supply chain about hazards and safety.
While COSHH focuses on controlling hazardous substances, Reporting of Injuries, Diseases, and Dangerous Occurrences Regulations 2013 (RIDDOR) offers legislation for reporting events. Both collaborate to ensure the health and safety of everyone accessing the workplace. Safety is a must for customers, clients, and other visitors.
The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) constantly monitors businesses for COSHH responsibilities. In addition, HSE is responsible for enforcing the COSHH Regulations. Heavy fines and legal action may follow noncompliance with the rules.
Employees or others may get sick or hurt if businesses don’t appropriately regulate hazardous substances. Sickness can vary from minor eye discomfort to fatal conditions like chronic lung disease.
Not following COSHH can cause businesses to lose productivity and credibility. In addition, the business will be subjected to enforcement action. For example, the action can be a prosecution under the COSHH Regulations or civil claims from employees.
Also, employees may not strictly abide by the safety controls. For example, they do not abide by proper PPE rules. Or, they disobey safety training and instructions. Such employees are also subjected to disciplinary action by their employer, including possible dismissal.
The employee will face legal action and fines for noncompliance and big violations. In addition, for violations of COSHH and other health and safety laws, people may face prison terms of up to two years in the Crown Courts and up to six months in the magistrates’ courts.
Also, you may deal with the stigma of a criminal record. It can limit your ability to enter certain professions or travel overseas. Laws allow for the prosecution of employers and employees, sometimes concurrently, for violations of the COSHH Regulations.
Some businesses do not handle health and safety issues. For them, the Sentencing Council issued new sentencing guidelines, making stiffer penalties and fines available to the courts in 2016. As a result, the average health and safety fine increased to £150,000 in 2018/2019. In addition, £54.5 million in fines were levied.
A 46-year-old school cook experienced lung issues from handling flour in the kitchen. The room had limited ventilation and was relatively small. Her regular duties included using a big mixer to make dough. However, no regulations took in place to protect her from flour dust. In addition, she could hardly walk because her respiratory problems had gotten worse.
The cook got in touch with her union. The union supported her claim for compensation because she didn’t get the right working conditions. The council acknowledged that her employer had not made sufficient effort to address the issue.
Finally, the cook developed acute asthma. Due to her deteriorating health, she retired early. The courts eventually granted her £200,000 in damages. However, the money won’t make her healthy again. Now, she has relocated outside of town and seldom leaves her home. All in all, she has a pretty constrained way of living.
COSHH regulates the following substances or elements-
Excluding its use in medicinal and cosmetic products, COSHH regulates the use of the following substances –
Yes, employers must tell employees about the risks, dangers, and preventative measures. In addition, employers must provide training on how to use the controls. For instance, every employer with five or more workers must document key results. Simultaneously, the document must be available for safety representatives and inspectors to review this record.
The supplier must send you a data-sheet if the substance is hazardous for supply. If the product is safe to use, the supplier should provide safety guidelines with the package. Inform HSE of suppliers who refuse to give safety data.
Some substances are formed in specific processes, such as wood dust that results from cutting wood. If a chemical becomes harmful in a process during work, establish a specific set of rules for this specific condition. In addition, ascertain whether working with the substances has any adverse health impacts. The safety data sheet might not be available. However, you must follow the established guidelines to maintain safety.
In a health surveillance record, record the following information.
Employers must comply with their COSHH responsibilities if they want to manage substances that could potentially harm their workers. Even if you work for yourself or are an employee, you still have COSHH responsibilities. By adhering to COSHH laws, you can prevent or minimise your employees’ exposure to hazardous substances.
You can identify some substances in general as dangerous. However, everyday items like paint, bleach, or dust made of natural materials may also be hazardous.
At first, you must determine who and how they are exposed. Then, evaluate the situation by questioning.
After that, you must work on controlling the risk and mitigating the damage. In addition, make the COSHH assessment mandatory. To further enhance your knowledge, take our COSHH (Control of Substances Hazardous to Health) Training Course.
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