Control Of Substances Hazardous to Health COSHH – Why?

If you run a small business or are self-employed, you need this information to make sure you are protecting your employees. If you run a medium-sized or large business, where decisions about controlling hazardous substances are more complex, you may also need professional advice..

Every year, thousands of workers are made ill by hazardous substances, contracting lung disease such as asthma, cancer and skin disease such as dermatitis. These diseases cost many millions of pounds each year to industry, to

§  replace the trained worker;

§  society, in disability allowances and medicines; and

§  individuals, who may lose their jobs.

You, as the employer, are responsible for taking effective measures to control exposure and protect health. These measures can also improve production or cut waste.

Your aim in running your business is to make a profit. You know what you do, and how you are doing it. You know what ‘processes’ and ‘tasks’ are involved. You know the short cuts. Ensuring your workers remain healthy may also lead to healthy profits.

Which substances are harmful?

§  Dusty or fume-laden air can cause lung diseases, e.g. in welders, quarry workers or woodworkers.

§  Metalworking fluids can grow bacteria and fungi which cause dermatitis and asthma.

§  Flowers, bulbs, fruit and vegetables can cause dermatitis.

§  Wet working, e.g. catering and cleaning, can cause dermatitis.

§  Benzene in crude oil can cause leukemia.

Many other products or substances used at work can be harmful, such as paint, ink, glue, lubricant, detergent and beauty products. Ill health caused by these substances used at work is preventable. Many substances can harm health but, used properly, they almost never do.

Find out the dangers in your business – ask your supplier, your trade association.

Substances can also have dangerous properties. They may be flammable, for example solvent-based products may give off flammable vapour. Clouds of dust from everyday materials, such as wood dust or flour, can explode if ignited.

Look at each substance

Which substances are involved? In what way are they harmful? You can find out by:

§  checking information that came with the product, e.g. a safety data sheet;

§  asking the supplier, sales representative and your trade association;

§  looking in the trade press for health and safety information;

 Think about the task

If the substance is harmful, how might workers be exposed?

§  Breathing in gases, fumes, mist or dust?

§  Contact with the skin?

§  Swallowing?

§  Contact with the eyes?

§  Skin puncture?

 

Bear these in mind when you look at the tasks.

Exposure by breathing in

Once breathed in, some substances can attack the nose, throat or lungs while others get into the body through the lungs and harm other parts of the body, e.g. the liver.

Exposure by skin contact

Some substances damage skin, while others pass through it and damage other parts of the body. Skin gets contaminated:

·         by direct contact with the substance, e.g. if you touch it or dip your hands in it;

·         by splashing;

·         by substances landing on the skin, e.g. airborne dust;

·         by contact with contaminated surfaces – this includes contact with contamination inside protective gloves.

 

Exposure by swallowing

People transfer chemicals from their hands to their mouths by eating, smoking etc. without washing first.

Exposure to the eyes

Some vapours, gases and dusts are irritating to eyes. Caustic fluid splashes can damage eyesight permanently.

Exposure by skin puncture

Risks from skin puncture such as butchery or needlestick injuries are rare, but can involve infections or very harmful substances, e.g. drugs.

Noise at work: A brief guide to controlling the risks

The Control of Noise at Work Regulations 2005 (Noise Regulations 2005) require employers to prevent or reduce risks to health and safety from exposure to noise at work. The Regulations require you as an employer to:

Assess the risks to your employees from noise at work; 

Act to reduce the noise exposure that produces those risks;

Provide your employees with hearing protection if you cannot reduce the noise exposure enough by using other methods;

Make sure the legal limits on noise exposure are not exceeded;

Provide your employees with information, instruction and training. Carry out health surveillance where there is a risk to health 

The aim of the risk assessment is to help you decide what you need to do to ensure the health and safety of your employees who are exposed to noise. Your risk assessment should:

Identify where there may be a risk from noise and who is likely to be affected;

Contain a reliable estimate of your employees' exposures, and compare the exposure with the exposure action values and limit values;

Identify what you need to do to comply with the law, e.g. whether noise-control measures or hearing protection are needed, and, if so, where and what type; and

Identify any employees who need to be provided with health surveillance and whether any are at risk

Wherever there is noise at work you should be looking for alternative processes, equipment and/or working methods which would make the work quieter or mean people are exposed for shorter times. You should also be keeping up with what is good practice or the standard for noise control within your industry.

Where there are reasonably practicable things you can do to reduce risks from noise, that are reasonably practicable, they should be done. However, where noise exposures are below the lower exposure action values, risks are low and so you would only be expected to take actions that are relatively inexpensive and simple to carry out.

Where your assessment shows that your employees are likely to be exposed at or above the upper exposure action values, you must put in place a planned programme of noise control

You are required to issue hearing protection to employees:

Where extra protection is needed above what has been achieved using noise control;

As a short-term measure while other methods of controlling noise are being developed.

Provide your employees with hearing protectors if they ask for it and their noise exposure is between the lower and upper exposure action values;

Provide your employees with hearing protectors and make sure they use them properly when their noise exposure exceeds the upper exposure action values;

Identify hearing protection zones, i.e. areas where the use of hearing protection is compulsory, and mark them with signs if possible;

Provide your employees with training and information on how to use and care for the hearing protectors;

ensure that the hearing protectors are properly used and maintained.

  The Noise Regulations require you to take specific action at certain action values. The values are: 

lower exposure action values:

• daily or weekly exposure of 80 dB;
• peak sound pressure of 135 dB;

upper exposure action values:

• daily or weekly exposure of 85 dB;
• peak sound pressure of 137 dB 

There are also levels of noise exposure which must not be exceeded. These are called exposure limit values: 

•  daily or weekly exposure of 87 dB;
•  peak sound pressure of 140 dB.

It is important that employees understand the risks they may be exposed to. Where they are exposed above the lower exposure action values you should at least tell them:

The likely noise exposure and the risk to hearing this noise creates;

What you are doing to control risks and exposures;

Where and how people can obtain hearing protection;

How to report defects in hearing protection and noise-control equipment

What their duties are under the Noise Regulations 2005;

What they should do to minimise the risk, such as the proper way to use hearing protection, how to look after it, store it and where to use it;

Your health surveillance systems.

Health surveillance for hearing damage usually means:

Regular hearing checks in controlled conditions;

Telling employees about the results of their hearing checks;

Keeping health records;

Ensuring employees are examined by a doctor where hearing damage is identified.

Hearing loss caused by work is preventable, but once your hearing has gone it will not come back. Some people suffer deafness, ringing in the ears or other ear conditions caused by excessive noise at work. You need to assess, reduce and control the risks from noise at work. For help go to www.anchorhands.co.uk

Risk in your business

Here we will be looking at the physical risks that need to be accounted for within any business planning, but hopefully will cover the general areas necessary to give you an idea of what to look out for.

Before we move on let’s be clear what we are talking about.

       

What is Risk?                                           

“Risk is the likelihood of a body or event to cause harm.”

This should not be  confused with Hazard.         

What is Hazard?            

“Hazard is the ability of a body or event to cause harm.”

From this we can see that in order to reduce the risks to our businesses we need to remove, reduce or protect against the hazards we come across. The way we do this is by carrying out a Risk Assessment

There are five steps to carrying out any risk assessment.

Step 1: Identify and record the hazards that are present, these fall broadly into five categories

Physical: such as pressure, heat, damp, noise, radiation and electricity

Chemical: such as dusts, fumes, chemicals, toxic materials and gases

Biological: such as infections, viruses and contagions

Ergonomic: work conditions, stress, RSI and man-machine interaction

The fifth one we'll come back to as it’s covered under specific legislation

Step 2: Identify the people that may be affected by the hazard

Paying particular attention to those groups that may be especially vulnerable such as the elderly, blind, young and disabled.

At this point it is possible to rank the severity of the risk, giving it a more tangible identity

Step 3: Remove, reduce the severity or Protect against, the Hazard.

The preference here is always to remove the hazard completely (rearrange items to avoid trips and impacts), if this cannot be done then reduce the severity of the hazard (use low voltage equipment or less aggressive chemicals) and as a last resort protect against the hazard (provide warnings or personal protective equipment).

Once again assuming that all the measures have been put into place, it will be possible to rank the severity of the residual risks. You can then establish whether the remaining risks are acceptable or if they need further action.

Step 4: Record, Plan, Inform and Train            

Record the significant findings from steps 1 to 3 and what actions have or need to be taken as a result.

Prepare any plans or procedures that may be required in order to facilitate the actions

Inform and instruct all relevant people, co-operate with all concerned.

Provide any necessary training that may be required as a result of the assessment.

Step 5: Review

Having carried out the assessments they must be kept relevant, which means that they should be reviewed on a regular basis or when conditions change (such as work practices, new technology, legislation or results of monitoring)

Remember any revisions to the assessments must be communicated to those that need to know the results of those revisions.

  

Why have we gone to the trouble of doing these risk assessments and putting whatever precautions in place, is it because of our genuine concern for our fellow workers safety, is it because it makes financial sense to do it or is it our legal duty?

The answer is all of the above!

a.     From a humanitarian and moral point of view, we do not want to cause or allow to be caused, harm to anybody

b.    Research shows that investing in risk reduction leads to better company performance.

c.     A good working environment is good business.

d.    Staff feel that they are valued.

e.    Your customers see a company that does it right and cares.

f.      You avoid costs associated with disruption, sickness, investigation, down time, compensation claims, increased insurance premiums and loss of goodwill

g.    And for those companies that cannot see the benefit, there are legal requirements, with quite hefty penalties for non compliance

Remember under step 1 of the risk assessment I said there was a fifth hazard, which was covered under its own legislation, this is Fire!

Potentially this one can be the most destructive, obviously to your staff, the public and visitors, but also to a business.

If your stock and premises are all destroyed, how are you going to trade?

This is why in March 2006 the “Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order 2005” came into force, making it the responsibility of all owners or occupiers of commercial properties, to carry out a Fire Risk Assessment of those premises and put into action any necessary precautions and planning.

For the purpose of the legislation “Commercial” means anything non-domestic, so that includes churches, schools, libraries etc. In fact only military and some government buildings are exempt.

When we carry out our Fire Risk Assessment it’s worth remembering how fire works, for this we use the fire triangle.

 Fire needs 3 elements to exist firstly Fuel (flammable gases, flammable liquids or flammable solids. Secondly Oxygen (The air around us, oxidizing agents and stored oxygen) and finally Ignition (Naked flame, faulty electrical appliances, hot processes and hot machinery)… Remove any one of these and the fire goes out.

We have seen that there are many types of hazards and therefore risks, surrounding our businesses, it is essential then that we Eliminate these risks, if we cannot do this, then we should Reduce the effect of them, and finally Protect against any residual risk.

Remember none of this will work if we do not communicate your findings and plans to those who may be affected.

This way our businesses should be safe environments in which to work, be protected from the disruption and costs that incidents can bring and demonstrate to others that we are responsible and considerate business people.

All of this has to be a cost effective  benefit to all of our businesses, a benefit which you can take to the bank!

If you would like more information, then please contact us at info@anchorhands.co.uk

Guide to Safe Equipment at Work

Accidents happen in every walk of life and often, are down to lack of concentration or simple carelessness but accidents in the workplace can happen because equipment is not safe to use or a risk assessment hasn’t taken place.

Clearly, a worker should not use equipment if he or she thinks it isn’t safe but employers are bound by a duty of care which means they are ultimately responsible for making sure that both staff and visitors are not put at risk.

So employers must ensure that all equipment and machinery is safe for use. This means that it should be inspected regularly in case it has been damaged or misused.

Ensuring Safety in Your Business

Most obviously, you need to keep the workplace clean and safe for all and ensure that people are protected from falling from heights or being exposed to hazardous substances.

You should also check that all roads, walkways, floors and stairs are safe to use and not blocked by large pieces of equipment or piled up stock.

Although serious accidents can occur with large or specialised machinery, many injuries happen every year when employees are using basic every day equipment such as stepladders, hand saws or mechanical screwdrivers.

Inspections

So it’s extremely important to make sure that all equipment is inspected regularly. In most cases, a daily pre-check should be carried out. You can emphasise the importance to your workers through regular toolbox talks.

Show them some examples of accidents which have happened through every day equipment and make sure they know the importance of checking all equipment before they use it.

For example, before using a ladder they should check it visually for any broken or cracked rungs and ensure that the feet are solid.

They need to check that any locking devices on stepladders are working properly and should use any recommended safety equipment at heights, such as a harness.

Other equipment such as machinery should be visually checked and employees must know who is responsible for checking that any safety guards or switches are in good working order and that any moving parts, waste collectors and other gadgets have been oiled regularly.

If machinery has an exhaust system, this needs to be inspected on a regular basis.

Safety Aids

Research by the Health and Safety Executive has shown that experience is no substitute for safety guards or equipment.

It takes only a split second of concentration loss to lose a finger in cutting equipment but often, experienced workers have disabled safety features to make a machine easier to use.

It is easy to become complacent about small equipment such as wood saws or mechanical screwdrivers but they are capable of causing serious injury if not well maintained or used correctly.

Employers should make a list of all equipment in use and decide how and when it should be checked and who will note that an inspection has been undertaken. In the event of an accident, this will at least show that dangers have been taken seriously and that procedures are in place to keep employees safe.

Protective Equipment

Lots of every day equipment has the potential to cause injury unless workers have been given personal protective equipment (PPE) to reduce the chances of harm.

PPE equipment can vary from something as simple as clothing which provides protection against the weather to safety helmets, gloves, eye protection, safety footwear, noise reduction headphones or safety harnesses.

If PPE is needed for a job, it must be provided by the employer and they cannot charge employees for it.

It is important that employers provide the required PPE and ensure that it is fit for purpose. Check gloves for holes or damage, ensure that headphones are not broken and follow guidelines for checking harnesses.

Employees also have a responsibility towards their own safety and can refuse to undertake any job which they consider unsafe.

As an employee you can reduce the risk of accidents by reporting any faulty equipment or machinery as soon as possible. Make sure equipment that you are using is in good condition and well looked after. It should always be cleaned well and correctly stored after use.