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Hazardous substances are used almost every day in every workplace, business, or organization. These include everything from office cleaning products to chemicals used in various chemical or manufacturing industries, or can be generated from processes such as combustible materials or welding fumes.
Exposure to such harmful materials or substances through inhalation, skin, mouth, or eye contact can result in both short and long-term diseases that may also become fatal after a certain time.
What is COSHH?
The Control of Substances Hazardous to Health or COSHH Regulations 2002 is the law that requires employers to control the substances that are hazardous to health.
Employers must either carry out or appoint a competent person to undertake a full workplace risk assessment, to identify adequate workplace control measures to mitigate the risks.
Employers can prevent or minimize workers’ exposure to hazardous substances by:
- Look for what the health risks are
- Decide how to prevent risk to health (COSHH risk assessment)
- Provide control measures to minimize the harm to health
- Make sure they are used
- Keep all preventive measures in good order
- Provide information, instruction & training to workers and others
- Provide monitoring & health surveillance in appropriate cases
- Plan for emergencies
Most businesses or workplaces use products that are a mixture of substances. These could cause harm to employees, contractors, customers, or anyone coming into contact with it. These substances are easily identifiable sometimes and so labeled as hazardous substances.
Employers must take into account such harmful materials and take action accordingly to prevent their workforce from any health risks.
The best way to evaluate such risks is by undertaking an adequate risk assessment also known as COSHH risk assessment.
This blog discusses the fundamentals of COSHH risk assessment and how to conduct one in the workplace.
Fundamental Steps of COSHH Risk Assessment
By law, COSHH requires employers to conduct a formal risk assessment for any exposure to hazardous substances that could occur in conjunction with their work.
The COSHH risk assessment process consists of the following steps:
Step 1: Identify the Hazard & Eradicate Exposure Where Possible
Starting with the first and the simplest step: identify the substances that are subject to the COSHH regulations and those that are not. Look for what COSHH covers such as purchased products like paints, process emissions such as dust, welding fumes, and biological materials like blood, and bacteria. And contaminants, for example, engine oils.
It is important to recognize such substances/materials and then take necessary actions to eradicate them from the workplace.
Step 2: Gather the Safety Data Sheet & Information on the Specific Task
The second step is to ensure that employers have gathered all the information they need to undertake a risk assessment.
Safety Data Sheet (SDS) is required for each hazardous product or substance used in an organization, business, or workplace.
SDS alone does not constitute a complaint COSHH risk assessment, they are merely the starting reference point.
Health and safety practitioners must understand the difference between the two.
Step 3: Assess the Risks & Recognize the Control Measures
When individuals carry out a risk assessment for the use of a hazardous substance, they must be familiar with the two types of risks. Many substances can cause short-term harm such as skin irritation, nausea, or burn, while such substances can also have chronic effects due to long and continuous exposure including breathing issues, cancer, or nerve damage.
Therefore, employers must take into account practical steps to assess the risk and implement control measures accordingly.
Step 4: Writing a COSHH Risk Assessment
The fourth step of the process involves writing a COSHH risk assessment which includes the following steps:
- Record all the details of hazardous substances employers have identified
- Identify the hazard associated with the use of the substance
- List the occupational exposure limits on the assessment if a substance poses an inhalation hazard
- Consider how the substance is being used and in what type of working environment
- Determine the risks of using the substance, considering all the possible routes of entry, such as inhalation, skin contact, or eye contact.
Step 5: Implementing Control Measures & Train the Employees
Once business owners, employers, or managers have assessed the hazardous risks present within their work environment, it is time to implement vital control measures to minimize the health hazards. These measures may vary depending on the nature of the task.
Employers must ensure every aspect of their work environment to ensure that the risk is completely eradicated from their workplace to ensure a safe working environment for their employers, clients, customers, or anyone.
Step 6: Ensure Ongoing COSHH Management & Review of Assessments
In the end, employers must ensure that their COSHH assessments must be reviewed periodically to identify the risks of hazardous substances. It is recommended that high-risk substances must be review annually, and medium-risk substances must be reviewed every 3 years. And low-risk substances be reviewed every 5 years to ensure employers are meeting their legal obligations, maintaining the health and safety of their staff, and reducing the likelihood of financial penalties.
Training for Employees
Moreover, along with undertaking risk assessments for hazardous substances, employers must also ensure that their staff is competent, equipped, and trained enough to carry out the work safely. The employer must analyze and take into consideration the training needs within their workplace. A COSHH risk assessment training course is ideal for both employers. And their staff to get familiarized with the substances hazardous to health, how to identify such substances at work and what are the necessary control measures to mitigate the risk.
Conclusion
Hazardous substances are used almost every day within the workplace or organization that may pose severe health issues to the people working with them. Being an employer, it is vital to understand the fundamentals of COSHH risk assessment. Moreover, educating their staff accordingly to work safely and competently in a hazardous situation.