COSHH - Hazard identification and risk assessment

What you should be aiming for…….

Hazard identification

In order to control the risks associated with handling chemicals, it is essential to first ensure you have identified all of the hazardous substances. This should be built into the COSHH assessment procedure.

You should not just be thinking about the main substances involved. The process may produce other hazardous substances such as intermediates in chemical reactions, or by-products such as dusts, fumes, vapours or break-down products. All of these need to be considered, so don't rely on the safety data sheet alone to provide you with your list of hazards!

Risk Assessment

A risk from hazardous substances arises when you use them - if the container is never opened there's no risk. The level of risk depends on the amount you are exposed to, how long for and sometimes personal factors (such as genetics and previous exposures). So it is essential for the assessment to consider how and where in the process/task exposure can occur and how significant the exposure is likely to be.

Once the potential sources and points of exposure have been identified your assessment should:

• Clearly identify where the risk is not adequately controlled, suggest further control measures that may be required, and link to a time dated improvement plan.
  
• Seek to improve control measures and fully justify the measures you have used to achieve adequate control. Remember the assessment is your proof to your employees and the company (as well as the enforcing authority) that you can justify your control measures and should demonstrate you have done all that is necessary to achieve adequate control.
  
• Identify areas where monitoring is appropriate, and justify where you have decided it is not appropriate, considering factors such as the consequences of exposure or over-exposure
  
• Provide appropriate links to relevant documents such as health surveillance, monitoring strategies and results, training records, PPE maintenance and local exhaust ventilation test results.
  
• Be regularly reviewed, especially if Regulations or exposure standards change, employees begin to suffer ill effects, or monitoring results show a deterioration in control.

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Remember the assessment should be a living document!

Project results

The following were the key conclusions from the project regarding the specific area of assessment:

• Regulation 6 (assessment) was the least complied with.
  
• We found many examples of poor or no justification of the control measures. It was common for information to be simply copied from the data sheet, with no consideration of the task being carried out.
  
• Few assessments highlighted the consequences of exposure. This is important as it helps you to decide what is 'reasonably practicable' when justifying control measures.
  
• Poor identification of exactly who might be exposed as a result of the work task, and how long they could be exposed for. E.g. Often the immediate operator was considered, but not other operators working in the same area or visitors who may be exposed.
  
• Generally no clear identification of the different routes of exposure, which might include: inhalation, ingestion, and skin absorption.
  
• Poor links to supporting documents. Your COSHH assessment should act as a 'map' to point to the supporting evidence of the justification it provides.

The Texaco presentation provides a description of how they as a company approach the challenge of COSHH assessment on a very large scale, as well as providing information on the control systems they employ to maintain control over COSHH matters.

• Texaco presentation [380kb]

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