Embedded Files
What is COSHH compliance?
What is COSHH compliance?
In health and safety, COSHH stands for the Control of Substances Hazardous to Health Regulations. It literally means you must control hazardous substances to protect people's health. These regulations require you, by law, to control substances that are hazardous to health within your workplace.
The COSHH regulations are not new they go back over 30 years. The latest (2002) version of the regulations is already over 20 years old. And the first version of COSHH was introduced way back in 1988. The large majority of the infomation below is copyright of haspod - see www.haspod.com.
When should I use the COSHH compliance check?
To comply with COSHH, every hazardous substance in the workplace should be identified.
COSHH applies to a variety of substances such as cleaning products, paints, inks, and chemicals.
It applies to any substance that could be harmful to those handling it.. A harmful substance might irritate the skin, cause breathing problems, or make your eyes sting.
And it doesn't just apply to substances you purchase either.
Hazardous substances may even be created during work processes, such as mixtures, fumes, and dust.
To keep track of the hazardous substances used, produced, and released in your workplace, a COSHH register should be created and maintained.
There are free templates available from organsiations such as HS Spod.
It is often the duty of the Head Superintendent or Assistant Superintendent to ensure that records are up to date.
The COSHH regulations apply to
Any substance or mixture that is dangerous for supply - listed in the CLP regulations and which an indication of danger specified for the substance is very toxic, toxic, harmful, corrosive or irritant;
Any substance which has been given a Workplace Exposure Limit (WEL);
Any biological agents used at work;
Any dust other than one with a WEL at a concentration in the air above 10 mg/m3 averaged over 8 hours, or any such respirable dust above 4 mg/m3 over 8 hours;
Any other substance that creates a risk to health because of its properties and the way it is used or is present in the workplace.
Substances that fall under the COSHH regulations can usually be identified from information on labels and the information provided by suppliers (usually on a safety data sheet, hazard data sheet or other similar product information sheet).
The information provided and the symbols displayed will usually identify hazards involved.
To identify substances produced during work activities, processes that could emit dust, fumes, vapours, mist or gas should be considered.
COSHH Assessments should be reviewed every time there is a significant change.
How to use the COSHH compliance check
Most golf related businesses will use hazardous substances in one form or another. Even the office environment will use cleaning chemicals, for example.
Under the COSHH regulations, employers are required to control substances that are hazardous to health through prevention or reduction of exposure.
But just knowing what substances are harmful isn't enough they must also be controlled.
Examples:
Extraction
Containment
Cleaning systems
PPE
RPE
Putting controls in place isn't the only thing needed. Instruction and training for workers is also necessary, so that they know what the hazards are, what the risks are, and what they need to do to stay safe.
For any case involving COSHH, access to records and the record keeping procedure is very important. It is also important to ensure that any changes to the situation after an incident occurs are disclosed. For instance, it is easy to bury evidence either physically or metaphorically.
Thus any site inspection should be arranged as a matter of urgency after the incident.
Page updated
Google Sites
Report abuse