Health and Safety
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The initiative - "Electronic COSHH Essentials" - is a free Internet package that anyone can use. Employers, safety representatives or employees can log on to: http://www.coshh-essentials.org.uk and work out what needs to be done to control chemicals.
Thousands of people every year are made ill from working with chemicals. Illnesses can include asthma, dermatitis or in some cases even cancer. These illnesses can be avoided, provided that people working with the chemicals take appropriate measures to limit exposures, which sometimes can be as simple a matter as providing sufficient ventilation.
Speaking at the launch, Dr Alan Whitehead MP, Minister responsible for health and safety at work, said
"I wanted to be here to launch this innovative product that can make a real impact on workers' health. My congratulations to all concerned in its creation, and I hope that people will take the message away with them that Electronic COSHH Essentials is an important tool for the future of workplace chemicals control."
John Monks, General Secretary of the TUC, who also spoke at the event, said
"There is nowhere to hide from chemicals at work. Machinists use them, hairdressers use them, printers use them and farmers use them. But they must use them safely. Unions welcome anything that makes it simpler to work safely, and COSHH Essentials is certainly that."
People who attended the launch of Electronic COSHH Essentials and were able to see a big-screen demonstration of the package, as well as pose a number of pertinent questions to HSE and to firms who piloted the system.
1. COSHH requires employers to:
a) Assess the risks to health from exposure to hazardous substances;
b) Prevent or adequately control exposure;
c) Ensure that control measures are used, maintained, examined and tested;
d) In some instances, monitor exposure and carry out appropriate health surveillance; and
e)Inform, instruct and train employees
2. 'COSHH Essentials' has been around in a paper-based format since 1999, and has been highly praised by both industry and trades unions. The Internet version will broaden the access to this guidance package allowing anybody to use the tool free of charge.
3. It is aimed at small and medium sized businesses and is a simple step by step guide leading to identifying the correct control approach for each chemical used. It works by allocating the Risk phrase(s) for each chemical, taken from a Safety Data sheet, to one of four hazard bands. Then by defining how much of the substance is being used and for what purpose.
4. COSHH Essentials works so well because it does not rely on measurement, which can be expensive for small firms, and research within the industry has shown that businesses do not understand the two limit system (OELs and MELs) currently in place.
5. HSE is currently carrying out a review of the present OEL framework with a view to revising it into a simpler one-limit system that is more readily understood and aim to have this in place by Spring 2004.
6. The new electronic system will allow more sophisticated calculations to go on behind the scenes while keeping the front end simple and easy for the user.
Call HSE's InfoLine, tel: 0845 345 0055
or write to: HSE Information Services, Caerphilly Park, Caerphilly
CF83 3GG.
Published on the HSE web site on 30 April 2002