COSHH Risk
What is a COSHH Risk Assessment?
COSHH is an acronym which stands for “Control of Substances Hazardous to Health”.
Control Of Substances Hazardous To Heath (Regulations 2002) require employers to make an assessment of the risks from hazardous substances and take appropriate precautions. This particular assessment of risk is known as a COSHH assessment.
Chemicals and dangerous substances can cause a variety of different diseases and health complications if the correct precautions are not taken.
COSHH (Control of Substances Hazardous to Health) legislation was set up in 2002 in order to create specific fixed health and safety guidelines for employers to follow to assess COSHH risk and keep it to a minimum.
As a result of COSHH legislation, information and fact sheets on all hazardous substances must be made available to all business, for both the employers and the workforce, these are commonly refered to as “material safety data sheets”. COSHH regulations were updated in 2005 to include a list of eight principles which are laid out make a risk assessment for COSHH purposes.
The COSHH risk assessment based upon these eight principles is designed to protect both employers and employees from any danger or exposure in the future. A risk assessment for COSHH purposes therefore plots out the actions that need to be taken by a business so that it fulfils the requirements of COSHH guidelines. Accordingly, a risk assessment for COSHH purposes includes assessing the risks, deciding what preventative measures need to be implemented and putting them into action, as well as maintaining and updating these measures whenever they are needed.
The main goal of COSHH is to offer information and educate employees and employers alike of all the different sorts of chemicals that they maybe in contact with and the potential dangers surrounding them. Many people who work with chemicals and hazardous substances are completely unaware of their potential dangers and how to control their exposure and deal with any unplanned contamination.
With COSHH assessment information under their belts, employees will be able to determine if the tasks they have been set are safe and reasonable, as well as being legal, according the mandated regulations that have been set up for their protection.
Our COSHH Assessment Pack contains a couple of completed examples, see our prices page for more details and instant downloads.
For further COSHH information and advice, please see: