Simplifying COSHH management – a Sypol customer journey

Managing COSHH obligations can be a sore point for many UK organisations. For businesses trying to get by on their own it can mean cobbling together bits of information from safety data sheets, deciphering handwritten labels and consulting inconsistent chemical inventories. This is leaving aside the admin burden of performing the assessments.

COSHH assessments are a vital component of workplace safety, but of course most businesses do not employ full-time chemical specialists to complete them. So, how can they overcome these compliance challenges while ensuring they are producing in-depth assessments that reduce the chemical risks that their employees face?

This is the question that we asked Sypol customer David Thurston, Health, Safety, Fire and Hazardous Substances Manager at the University of Greater Manchester.

David was speaking with EcoOnline consultant advisor Annette Stewart in our recent webinar: ‘Simplifying COSHH compliance: How the University of Greater Manchester transformed with Sypol’. 

Table of contents

Click on a specific section below to navigate to that area:

• About the University of Greater Manchester
• COSHH compliance challenges
• Sypol: where better COSHH management begins
• System adoption tips

About the University of Greater Manchester

While it was granted ‘University’ status in 2005, the University of Greater Manchester (previously University of Bolton) has been an educational institution since 1812. 

As of 2025, the University has over 11,000 students and employs around 900 people. There is a strong vocational aspect to the University, going back to its founding as Bolton Mechanics’ Institute.

Some of the major focus areas of the University in the current day include nursing and midwifery, motor engineering and biomedical sciences.

COSHH compliance challenges

According to David, there were several challenges faced by employees when it came to COSHH management: 

Poor Communication

Because there was no central, standardised repository for chemical safety information (past COSHH assessments, safety data sheets etc.), it was difficult to communicate chemical risk to the different sectors of the University.

Too much of the information is siloed, with no single source of truth for employees to access. Some chemical labels were handwritten and did not follow a standard format, making hazard communication even more difficult.

Limited Visibility 

There was no detailed inventory of chemicals being used in the various labs and workshops of the University. This led to uncertainty about which chemicals were being used onsite, the processes they were involved in and their exact locations.

With no detailed chemical inventory, chemical products built up over time, were not disposed of properly once expired and were in some cases being stored incorrectly.

Insufficient Evidence

Without up-to-date, clear, standardised documentation and chemical oversight, the University found it difficult to meet Health and Safety Executive regulatory requirements. This could be very problematic in the event of an incident or inspection.

No internal expertise

There was an absence of personnel who were trained to carry out COSHH risk assessments. As the assessments can be quite extensive, this added to the time required to perform them. This lack of time can lead to documents such as safety data sheets incorrectly being used as COSHH assessments.

DIY approach

The University did not have a full time chemical specialist on staff, and as in most organisations, the majority of staff did not come from a chemical background. This meant that they did not have expert guidance and knowledge when it came to completing their COSHH assessments.

Watch the in-depth clip of the challenges faced by the University

How did the University tackle these challenges? They opened up a dialogue with the Sypol team at EcoOnline.

Sypol: where better COSHH management begins

EcoOnlines COSHH risk assessment software, powered by Sypol, helped David and his team to automate and streamline COSHH compliance for the University. After first performing an internal review of their chemical stores and then disposing of old and unused materials, they reached out to our team. 

Following this, a Fast Track Assessor from EcoOnline visited the University to fully document their chemical inventory and product locations. From this point, simple online training on the new software was provided for key staff, who could then roll this out to new staff as required. 

Here is a brief look at some of the key benefits that Sypol has brought so far: 

100% Visibility 

Cost-saving

Utilising Sypol means that the University did not have to hire additional specialist staff or expensive external consultants to help them meet their COSHH requirements. Sypol is supported by professional consultants who carry out the assessments.

Evidence of compliance

Fire is a high risk in the University, due to the presence of the fire lab. Having a clear idea of what substances are in each workshop and lab is vital for fire and rescue teams who may attend an incident. Sypol lets the University provide assurance to regulators that all substances have been accounted for and assessed.

Awareness and engagement

Adopting Sypol has led to greater awareness of chemical risk across the University and improved team engagement. Users of the software see chemicals that pertain to their specific department, so they are not inundated with unnecessary information. There is now better knowledge among students and staff of what chemicals are present, COSHH assessments and the controls that have been put in place.

Watch the in-depth clip of the benefits of choosing Sypol

System adoption tips   

Finally, we asked David to share some of the tips he has for others looking to change how they manage their COSHH assessments: 

Looking to bring the same improvements in COSHH management to your business? Our COSHH risk assessment software, powered by Sypol, lets you create assessments in minutes that your employees can access from anywhere. We also offer comprehensive site reviews and COSHH assessor training, featuring our 6-step assessment builder.  

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