What is CoSHH and is my CoSHH Assessment System Compliant?

There is much to read on what makes a compliant CoSHH assessment and much of the information that is available, in particular over the internet, contradicts one another. So how can you be sure that you are doing everything that the law states you must do in order to comply with the CoSHH regulations and keep clear of trouble? You should treat CoSHH assessment the same way as you would treat any job you do where there is a potential hazard, simply entail whatever reasonable precautions need to be taken in order to make the process safe. There are a few basic principles that apply, you must have an understanding of risk assessment and have knowledge of the chemicals that you or your workforce are using.



As you may already know, risk from a hazard can only occur if there is exposure and risk arises out of the use of a substance. It stands to reason then that a task-based risk assessment is the way to go and yet this is not the way many CoSHH assessment systems work. We also know there is an ongoing challenge with keeping Safety Data Sheets up-to-date. Safety Data Sheets, known as SDS or MSDS contain 16 sections of information about a hazardous substance and it is your legal responsibility to provide access to your SDS library to your workforce at any time. Are you confident that your current system for managing CoSHH would stand up to scrutiny?



When Performing a CoSHH Compliant CoSHH Assessment:

1) Are you confident your S.D.S. collection is up to date?

2) Are you confident your Risk assessment would stand up to an HSE audit?

3) Does the person or Company doing the risk assessments fully understand the task or process being assessed?

4) Can your assessments accommodate more than one chemical?

5) Does your workforce fully understand your assessments?




If you answered no to any of the above, then you should seriously consider revitalising your CoSHH assessment system to avoid compensation claims and potential imprisonment.



Nowadays it is possible to find a CoSHH compliance solution for CoSHH assessment online. Software such as this allows you to produce compliant task-based CoSHH assessments, giving you immediate access to all your substance information in one place to produce CoSHH assessments through a simple questionnaire wizard. Additionally, a system like this will keep your Safety Data Sheets up to date.