Control of Substances Hazardous to Health (COSHH) Regulations

1. Introduction
2. Exposure to hazardous substances
3. Definition of hazardous substances
4. What do the COSHH Regulations require?
5. Risk assessment
6. Control of exposure and control measures
7. Use and maintenance of control measures
8. Monitoring of exposure
9. Health surveillance
10. Information, instruction and training
11. Prohibitions on certain substances

1. Introduction

The COSHH Regulations provide the legal framework for controls on exposure to hazardous substances arising from work activities. The recent publication (April 2005) of the 5th edition of the Approved Code of Practice on the Regulations has introduced a number of significant changes, which are reflected in this Policy Statement.

2. Exposure to hazardous substances

The definition under COSHH of hazardous substances (“substances hazardous to health”) is very wide ranging and includes

(a) substances used directly in work activities (e.g. laboratory chemicals, pesticides, cleaning products, adhesives)

(b) substances generated by work activities (e.g. solder or welding fumes, dusts from woodworking machinery)

(c) naturally occurring substances that are present in the workplace (e.g. allergens associated with laboratory animals, pollen in glasshouses)

(d) biological agents that are associated with work (e.g. bacteria or other micro-organisms)

Lack of adequate control of exposure to such substances can (and does) result in injury or illness, ranging from skin or eye irritation to chronic, disabling, lung disease.

3. Definition of hazardous substances

The COSHH Regulations define the following as hazardous substances:

(a) Chemicals or mixtures of chemicals classified as dangerous to health [1] under the Chemicals (Hazard Information and Packaging for Supply) Regulations 2002 (the CHIP Regulations). These can generally be identified by the orange hazard warning label on the package and by information supplied on the Materials Safety Data Sheet (MSDS).

(b) Substances that have been assigned a Workplace Exposure Limit (WEL) [2]. These are listed in the HSE publication EH40, which is published annually.

(c) Any kind of dust, if its average concentration in air exceeds the levels specified in COSHH (i.e. >10mgm-3 of inhalable dust or 4mgm-3 of respirable dust, as time-weighted average exposures over an 8 hour period)

(d) Biological agents that are directly connected with work (e.g. those used in laboratories) or a work activity or process (e.g. Legionella bacteria from water cooling towers).

(e) Any other substance that is hazardous to health, but which does not fall into the above categories. This category includes asphyxiant gases, some pesticides, and products or by-products of chemical reactions.

4. What do the COSHH Regulations require?

(a) The Regulations set out a number of duties on employers. Heads of departments must comply with these duties in respect of work activities that are under their control. The following paragraphs indicate the actions required and more detailed guidance can be found in sections 5- 10.

(i) Assess the risks to workers (and others likely to be affected by the work) from hazardous substances present or generated in the workplace (section 5).

(ii) Prevent, or adequately control, the exposure to hazardous substances of workers and others likely to be affected by the work (section 6).

(iii) Ensure that any control measures identified, including engineering controls and personal protective equipment (PPE) are properly used and maintained. Ensure that defined working practices or standard operating procedures (SOPs), where identified as a control measure, are appropriate, workable and being followed (section 7).

(iv) Where necessary, arrange for monitoring of workplace exposures to hazardous substances (section 8).

(v) Where necessary, arrange for health surveillance for workers (section 9).

(vi) Ensure that workers are provided with information, instruction and training, so that they understand the possible effects of exposure to hazardous substances and how to use the control measures provided (section 10).

(b) The Regulations also set out a number of duties on employees.

University staff must

(i) follow defined working practices or SOPs, where these are intended to minimise the risk of exposure to hazardous substances

(ii) use all control measures (including PPE) properly and report any defects to their supervisor or line manager

(iii) attend health surveillance appointments at the appointed time.

5. Risk assessment

The purpose of the COSHH assessment is to identify how to prevent, or adequately control, workers’ exposure to hazardous substances. The University’s COSHH assessment pro-forma and the accompanying notes on completion (Appendix 1) are designed to help the assessment process. Other assessment formats are also acceptable (e.g. incorporating assessments into laboratory SOPs) provided that they address the points set out below.

It is usually preferable to adopt an activity-based approach to COSHH assessments, rather than making individual assessments for all the substances to which workers may be exposed. The assessment should be made by someone who is familiar with the activity, who has access to the relevant information and who has the knowledge and experience to make good judgements about the risks involved and the actions needed to minimise them. In many cases, further advice will be needed and this can be obtained from the departmental safety officer, area safety officer, or the University Safety Office.

The COSHH assessment must be carried out before work with hazardous substances takes place. It must consider the following points.

(a) Is it likely that a work activity could endanger someone’s health?

The assessment should

(i) consider the substances that are present, used or produced

(ii) identify the properties of the substances (e.g. are they volatile, or dusty?)

(iii) identify the hazards associated with those substances (e.g. are they toxic, harmful, irritant?)

(iv) identify possible exposure routes (e.g. by inhalation, skin absorption, ingestion from contaminated hands)

(v) identify all those at risk of exposure (e.g. workers, cleaners, maintenance staff, other visitors)

(vi) pay special attention to those who may be unusually vulnerable, either by virtue of their physical condition (e.g. pregnant or nursing mothers; or people with certain medical conditions), or because their relative inexperience requires a high degree of supervision (e.g. work experience or undergraduate students).

The information provided on safety data sheets will help in assessing points (i) to (iii). However, safety data sheets do not, in themselves, constitute a COSHH assessment, as they take no account of the circumstances in which the substances are used.

(b) Have significant risks of exposure been identified?

If so, then control measures will need to be specified. In general, engineering controls such as laboratory fume cupboards, or local exhaust ventilation (LEV) for woodworking machinery and for welding or other fumes are already available, although the assessment may identify the need for more. Personal protective equipment (for respiratory, skin or eye protection) may also be needed, as may specific working procedures. Control measures are considered in more detail in section 6.

In general, it should, although the information recorded should be proportionate to the risk identified. For work using substances commonly found in offices (e.g. correcting fluids, adhesives, photocopier toners), it is sufficient to make a generic assessment. This can be done by listing the substances, noting that they must be used in accordance with the supplier’s or manufacturer’s instructions, and concluding that their use in this way presents little or no risk to health. A more comprehensive record will be needed occasionally where work presents a greater risk to health and the COSHH assessment form should be used.

(d) Does the assessment have to be reviewed?

The assessment is intended to be a working document and it must be reviewed if there is evidence that it is no longer valid (e.g. following a change in the substance or the form of a substance used in a procedure, or a major change in work practices; following defects or a breakdown in control measures, where results of health surveillance have identified work-related ill health; where there is new information on the health effects of exposure to a substance).

It is good practice to carry out periodic reviews of COSHH assessments. As a minimum, assessments must be reviewed every five years.

Appendix 3 shows how assessment should be approached for common University activities.

6. Control of exposure and control measures

The Regulations set out a hierarchy of control, which must be followed.

(a) Prevent exposure to hazardous substances where reasonably practicable, e.g.

(i) change the procedure so that hazardous substances are not required, or not produced (e.g. use colophony-free solder to avoid the generation of colophony fumes, which may cause asthma, from traditional resin-cored solder).

(ii) use a safer alternative substance (e.g. use Decon instead of chromic acid for cleaning glassware, where possible).

(iii) use a safer form of the substance (e.g. use premixed acrylamide solutions instead of acrylamide powders, to avoid exposure to acrylamide dust).

(b) If exposure cannot be prevented, it must be adequately controlled.

(i) The eight principles of good practice set out in Appendix 2 must be applied.

(ii) If there is a WEL for the substance used, then it must not be exceeded.

(iii) If the substance causes cancer, heritable genetic damage or asthma, then exposure must be reduced to as low a level as reasonably practicable.

(c) The principles of good practice define an order of priority for the choice of control measures where exposure cannot be prevented by the methods described in (a) above.

(i) Totally enclose the process (e.g. by using a glove box or Class 3 microbiological safety cabinet).

(ii) Change the system of work so as to minimise the number of people exposed, to limit their exposure time (e.g. by controlling access to areas of particular hazard), and to minimise the amount of hazardous substance used or produced.

(iii) Use partial enclosure with LEV (e.g. a fume cupboard or Class 1 or 2 microbiological safety cabinet); use LEV (e.g. dust extraction equipment on woodworking machinery, or tip extraction on soldering irons); ensure there is good general ventilation.

(iv) Provide safe handling, storage, transport and disposal of hazardous substances (e.g. use only the minimum quantity and use double containers where danger would arise from spillage in storage or transport).

(v) Provide adequate hygiene measures (e.g. provide facilities for laundering lab coats and other protective clothing; enforce the prohibition on eating or drinking in laboratories).

(vi) Use personal protective equipment (PPE) only where adequate control cannot be achieved by other measures, and then use it only in addition to those measures (e.g. you must not provide dust respirators as an alternative to providing LEV).

Note that where tight-fitting respiratory protective equipment (RPE) is provided as a control measure, then face fit testing will be required (see Appendix 4, which contains more information on PPE ).

7. Use and maintenance of control measures

If they are to be effective, control measures must be properly used and departments must have adequate supervision arrangements in place to ensure compliance. Workers also have a duty to use control measures properly and to report any defects (in equipment, PPE or working practices) to their supervisor.

Control measures also need to be maintained to ensure they are still effective.

(a) Users should check before use that there is an inward airflow to their LEV (e.g. by using a tissue or ribbon tell-tale), or that any displays or indicators provided on the equipment are confirming proper operation.

(b) LEV must be maintained according to the manufacturers instructions.

(i) In the case of ducted fume cupboards, this service is provided through the University Estates Department.

(ii) In the case of microbiological safety cabinets, regular tests are the responsibility of the department, which must be carried out according to the University’s Biological Safety Policy using a competent contractor.

(iii) In the case of other LEV, a thorough examination and test is provided through the University’s Insurance Section. Departments are responsible for ensuring that the Insurance Section has up to date information about the inventory of equipment that needs testing.

(d) Where RPE (other than disposable RPE) is provided, then this must also be maintained, examined, and tested according to the manufacturer’s recommendations.

8. Monitoring of exposure

Where suitable techniques exist, monitoring of airborne containments may occasionally be required, for example:

(a) where failure of control measures may result in a serious health effect

(b) where it is necessary to check that a WEL has not been exceeded

(c) where it is necessary to check the effectiveness of control measures (e.g. where a case of work-related disease has been diagnosed).

The Safety Office can advise when monitoring is required and will make the appropriate arrangements.

9. Health surveillance

Health surveillance is intended to protect individual employees by the early detection of work-related adverse health changes; to help evaluate the efficiency of control measures; and to evaluate hazards to health by collecting and analysing data.

(a) When is health surveillance required?

Health surveillance will be required in the following circumstances.

(i) where workers are exposed to a hazardous substance that is linked to an identifiable disease or adverse health effect; and

(ii) where there is a reasonable likelihood that the disease or health effect may occur under the particular conditions of their work; and

(iii) where there are valid techniques for detecting the disease or health effect.

(b) Occupational Health Service (OHS) registration

Where the criteria in (a) are met, departments must register workers with the OHS. Work with the following classes of hazardous substances may require registration, depending on the circumstances of exposure:

(i) substances of recognised systemic toxicity (i.e. those that can be inhaled, ingested, or absorbed through skin or mucus membranes and affect parts of the body other than those where they entered), e.g. metals like mercury, thallium, lead and their salts

(ii) substances known to cause occupational asthma, e.g. laboratory animal excreta and secreta, colophony (rosin-based solder flux fume), some wood dusts, glutaraldehyde, some plant pollens

(iii) substances known to cause dermatitis or severe irritation of the mucous membranes, e.g. nickel, cobalt, arsenic and chromium compounds; some adhesives or their components

(iv) some pathogens or genetically modified organisms.

Where workers are registered with the OHS, departments will need to provide the OHS with adequate information so an appropriate health surveillance programme may be devised.

This will include the properties of the substance, the potential exposure routes, the intensity, frequency, and duration of exposure, and any other information that may be considered relevant. The OHS or the University Safety Office will advise in cases where there is any doubt about the necessity for health surveillance.

Departments should ensure that individuals are re-registered with the OHS whenever there has been a change in exposure and that the OHS is notified when exposure ceases. Where no such changes have occurred, then individuals should be re-registered every two years.

The format of the record of health surveillance (the health record) is prescribed by COSHH. It does not include clinically confidential information (i.e. it is not a medical record). The OHS keeps these records on behalf of the University and they will be retained for at least 40 years.

The OHS will inform individuals of the results of their health surveillance. They will also inform departments of the collective results of health surveillance, so as to provide assurances about their workers’ continuing fitness to work.

(d) Health surveillance appointments

In order to provide more meaningful information to departments to use in reviewing their control measures, the OHS will attempt to assess groups of workers from the same working environment at the same time and, wherever possible, at a location close their workplace.

If this is not possible, then appointments will be offered at an OHS centre. Attendance for health surveillance is compulsory and departments are responsible for ensuring that their staff attend. Failure to attend will result in steps being taken to ensure that the worker is removed from the work that requires health surveillance.

(e) Instances of suspected ill health

If an individual (either between planned health surveillance appointments, or not undergoing health surveillance at all) shows symptoms that may be associated with exposure to a hazardous substance then they should report this to their supervisor and the department should refer them to the OHS. Alternatively, they may wish to self-refer to the OHS. Where an individual is given a medical certificate linking sickness absence to possible work-related illness, then the department should refer them to the OHS and provide a copy of the certificate.

Whenever health surveillance indicates that ill health may be associated with exposure to hazardous substances, then the department, together with the Safety Office and the OHS, must review the control measures. Every effort will be made to allow individuals to continue with their work, using appropriate control measures. Where this is not practicable, then the individual will need to be removed from further exposure and further risk to their health.

10. Information, instruction and training

Departments must provide those working with hazardous substances with the information contained in the COSHH assessments and SOPs relating to their work. Where appropriate, they must also be provided with information about the health surveillance process (including the purpose of health surveillance, their duty to attend for health surveillance on the appointed date and the arrangements for access to their health records).

Departments must also provide instruction and training so workers know

(a) when and how to use the control measures provided

(b) how to use PPE, and especially RPE, correctly (e.g. how to fit and remove gloves and masks; how long to use disposable gloves and masks before they must be replaced)

(d) how to act in an emergency involving hazardous substances.

11. Prohibitions on certain substances

The Regulations impose prohibitions on certain substances. The relevant prohibitions for the University are

(a) the use or production for any purpose of 2-naphthylamine; benzidine; 4-aminodiphenyl; 4-nitrodiphenyl, their salts; and any substance containing any of these compounds, in a total concentration ³0.1% by mass

(b) the use of sand or other substance containing free silica as an abrasive for blasting articles in any blasting apparatus.

THIS STATEMENT FORMS PART OF THE UNIVERSITY SAFETY POLICY. (UNIVERSITY POLICY NOTE S2/00 IS WITHDRAWN) PLEASE AMEND THE INDEX.

July 2005.

[1] i.e. those classified as very toxic, toxic, harmful, corrosive, irritant, sensitising, carcinogenic, mutagenic or toxic to reproduction

[2] The COSHH (Amendment) Regulations 2004 introduced the concept of the WEL and discontinued the use of maximum exposure limits (MEL) and occupational exposure standards (OES), which were familiar from earlier versions of COSHH.