COSHH in practice: managing hazardous substances without the paperwork mountain
If your business uses chemicals, cleaning products, solvents, dusts or fumes, you fall under COSHH. The Control of Substances Hazardous to Health Regulations sit behind a lot of everyday manufacturing, and they are one of the areas the HSE looks at closely.
COSHH has a reputation for generating paper. Done badly, it becomes a drawer full of assessments nobody reads. Done well, it is a straightforward way to keep people safe from the substances they work with. Here is how to keep it on the useful side.
Know what you actually have
The first step is a proper inventory of the substances in your building. That includes the obvious chemicals, but also the dusts, fumes and by-products a process creates. Welding fume and wood dust are hazardous even though nobody bought them in a bottle.
You cannot assess what you have not listed, so this stage is worth doing carefully. It often turns up substances that were never on anyone’s radar.
Safety data sheets are the start, not the answer
Every hazardous product should come with a safety data sheet from the supplier. These are useful, but they describe the substance, not your use of it. A solvent used in a well-ventilated booth is a different risk from the same solvent used in a cramped corner.
A COSHH assessment takes the data sheet and applies it to how you actually work. That is the part that keeps people safe, and it is the part templates cannot do for you.
Control the exposure
The point of COSHH is to reduce exposure. The best option is always to remove a hazardous substance or swap it for a safer one where you can. Where you cannot, you control it, through ventilation, enclosure, safe systems of work, and protective equipment as a last line rather than a first.
Equipment like extraction only works if it is maintained, so keep it checked. A booth that has stopped pulling air is giving people false confidence.
Tell people and check on them
Your team needs to know what they are working with and how to stay safe. That means clear information, training that fits the job, and, for some substances, health surveillance to catch problems early.
None of this needs to be heavy. It needs to be real. A short conversation on the floor that people understand beats a long document that they do not.
Keep it living
Like any assessment, a COSHH assessment goes stale. A new product, a new process or a new supplier should prompt a fresh look. Keep the inventory current and the rest tends to follow.
If COSHH feels like a paperwork mountain, our free self-assessment checklists will help you see what matters. Or book a stress-free chat and we will help you cut it down to size.