Coshh Risk Assessment - If And When It Needs To Be Reviewed

When running a business, at times it may be easy to forget just how important it is to review your CoSHH risk assessment, that is until it's too late. It is crucial that your CoSHH risk assessment is reviewed regularly. This then makes sure that any small changes that occur over time do not go unnoticed leaving the assessment as invalid and no longer suitable.

It should also be reviewed immediately if there is a reason to assume that the earlier CoSHH assessment is no longer valid, for example, evidence from examining controls or reports from supervisors about control centre defects. It should also be reviewed immediately if any changes at work are significant and could affect employees' exposure to hazardous substances.

When reviewing the assessment it does not mean that the whole assessment procedure has to be repeated, it is just to verify that the existing assessment is still suitable and falls within CoSHH guidelines. If it is suitable, then nothing else needs to be addressed.

Even if the assessment seems like it is no longer valid, only the parts of the assessment which have changed need to be addressed and not the whole assessment.

Some examples which make a review of the CoSHH assessment necessary are noted below:

Has the volume of work production changed? An example may be that your employees are completing a long-term order which means they have to do double shifts and as such the ventilation equipment which extracts fumes is also working twice as long? The CoSHH assessment review would highlight that the maintenance schedule for the ventilation equipment would have to be looked at.

Has the plant changed? Are you using a more concentrated amount of chemical for example?

Have the materials you use changed? Possibly you have introduced a new product which requires a different cleaning material to the one usually used.

Has the process changed? Have you changed the way in which your end product is produced? If this is the situation, it is possible that the new system for example, generates more vapour.

It is imperative to remember to review your CoSHH assessment if:

- A worker becomes ill due to a work related issue

- New evidence comes to light about hazards of substances

- Monitoring or health surveillance demonstrate a loss of control

- New or improved techniques of control become plausible to use