Coshh- Carrying Out Your Risk Assessment

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It is a legal responsibility for employers to undertake CoSHH risk assessments. There is a structured pattern to the assessment which analyses what can go wrong in the workplace. A set of controls are needed to minimise danger to workers health as hazardous substances can cause various problems.

It is a crucial requirement for employers to conduct CoSHH risk assessments. Employers should examine all work based activities which could affect the health of their employees. This is a legal necessity.

The CoSHH assessment should cover everybody that has some connection to the task. This will involve not just employees but contractors, temporary workers and the general public etc.

Additional controls will need to be enforced if necessary for more vulnerable groups such as young people and pregnant women.

A written record must be kept of any significant findings from the CoSHH assessment.

It's imperative that CoSHH risk assessments are carried out systematically. All possible risks associated with dangerous substances need to be considered.

There are 5 steps which the HSE advocate when carrying out your risk assessment:

Identify the hazards relating to the work based task.

Identify whose health could be impacted by those hazards.

Establish control measures by identifying how the risks are currently managed and how the risks can be further reduced.

Record an official record of the findings of your CoSHH assessment and notify those at risk, of the control measures.

Review the risk assessment frequently, e.g. if the staff, the activity, or the equipment used change.

Certain factors should be considered when deciding how to control the risks:

Can the risk be prevented or even eliminated by altering work methods?

How can the process be altered to remove hazardous substances?

Can the risks be controlled at source? Exposure to the hazard should be controlled by either engineering controls such as ventilation equipment, procedural controls such as reducing exposure time, or by using personal protective equipment such as gloves or eye goggles.

It is important to keep workers informed by giving them CoSHH training and instruction. The more well informed workers are, the more thorough the assessment will be.

The workers involved in the activity being assessed should also be given some responsibility in carrying out the actual CoSHH assessment, as they are the ones with the most knowledge of the task.

The level of detail recorded in the assessment is relative to the size of risk involved.

About the Author:
Dale Allen delivers CoSHH compliance as one of the UK's leading compliance authorities. Find out more about how you can use his online COSHH365 CoSHH assessment tool to produce compliant CoSHH assessments with the benefits of a managed Safety Data Sheet library.



Article Originally Published On: http://www.articlesnatch.com


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