Chemical Safety

What is the meaning of COSHH (The Control of Substances Hazardous to Health)?

What does COSHH stand for? What is the meaning of COSHH? How to write a COSHH Risk assessment? Get ready to explore COSHH from all angles with EcoOnline.
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October 13, 2023

What is COSHH? What does COSHH stand for?

Whether you’re looking for more information on COSHH or a way to streamline COSHH management, you’re in the right place!

One of the first questions you might be asking yourself is what is COSHH? What does COSHH stand for? COSHH means the Control of Substances Hazardous to Health. This refers to a law in the United Kingdom which provides guidance to employers on how to protect employees from exposure to substances hazardous to health.

When was COSHH introduced?

First introduced in 1988 and coming into force the following year on 1st October 1989, COSHH was originally put in place to offer more detail to the Health and Safety at Work Act 1974. It has now evolved to the Control of Substances Hazardous to Health Regulations 2002 (COSHH regulations 2002), which all UK organisations must follow to create a safer working environment. There are a number of COSHH regulations which employers must fulfil, including regulations 6-13.

Why is Control of Substances Hazardous to Health (COSHH) important?

You might be wondering what this has to do with you – why is COSHH important? It’s essential that employers and employees follow these regulations to efficiently:

  • protect teams from injuries and illnesses
  • remain compliant with UK regulations
  • avoid hefty fines that could cost you – one organisation was fined £800,000 when three employees developed a lung condition because they were exposed to mist from metal fluid

How does Control of Substances Hazardous to Health (COSHH) promote safety?

So just how does COSHH promote safety? It provides clear steps on what actions are needed to prevent hazardous workplace exposures, leading to a safer and happier work environment. COSHH outlines the duties of an employer and exactly what is expected of them.

By identifying all hazardous substances, conducting COSHH risk assessments, providing employee training and more, COSHH aims to reduce the number of illnesses and incidents on site relating to substances hazardous to health. Being COSHH compliant will help elevate the standard of health and safety at your organisation and show your employees and other businesses that you take the health and safety of your teams seriously.

Discover everything you need to know about COSHH in our comprehensive resource: The Ultimate Guide to COSHH Management: Your Roadmap to Mastering Chemical Safety.

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What are your COSHH responsibilities?

Every employer’s priority is keeping their employees safe; however, is COSHH entirely the responsibility of the employer? No! It’s a common misconception that all COSHH responsibilities fall solely on the employer. Both the employer and employees have responsibilities they need to fulfil.

COSHH employer’s responsibilities range from conducting COSHH risk assessments to training employees on how to handle substances hazardous to health, while COSHH responsibilities of employees include (but are not limited to) following all procedures and control measures put in place to always reporting hazards and risks they see in the workplace.

To find out more about COSHH employee’s responsibilities and COSHH employer responsibilities, read our blog, COSHH Uncovered: Embracing Your COSHH Responsibilities.

What does COSHH identify as hazardous substances?

Hazardous substances COSHH identifies.

There are many substances hazardous to health covered by the Control of Substances Hazardous to Health (COSHH). COSHH substances are identified by the potential to cause harm because of their associated health hazards. A substance that might not normally be considered hazardous can become harmful depending on the way it is being used.

One of the first elements important to understand to fulfil your COSHH responsibilities is what are COSHH hazardous substances? Under COSHH, substances hazardous to health are materials which could harm individuals. This could be because the substances themselves have associated COSHH hazards. These COSHH chemicals could also be considered harmful depending on the way they are being used.

Which hazardous substances does COSHH not cover?

COSHH substances could come in several forms which range from gases to biological hazards. So, what is not covered by COSHH? There are certain materials that COSHH does not cover which you should be aware of. These are asbestos, lead and radioactive substances.

Substances not covered by COSHH

COSHH hazard symbols

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One way to identify whether substances are harmful is to look at their respective COSHH labels or COSHH pictograms. There are 9 standard COSHH symbols which represent potential hazards. Hazard pictograms were created so people around the world could rely ona single system to recognise harmful hazards.

Every symbol depicts a specific health hazard and can be found within section 2 of your COSHH safety data sheet. Discover more about COSHH symbols and meanings, COSHH labelling, and other COSHH elements in our blog, Hazard Pictograms and What They Mean.

What is a Workplace Exposure Limit (WEL)

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Another key element to hazardous substances is workplace exposure limits. Workplace exposure limits, also known as an occupational exposure limit, are levels of safe exposure to a hazardous substance in the air. Your employees could experience serious health effects if exposed to certain chemicals for too long. That’s why regulations have been put in place in to protect your people from harm.

These regulations include setting certain limits of exposure. This could range from Short Term Exposure Limits (STELS) of around 15 minutes to Long Term Exposure Limits of about 8 hours.

Dive into key elements of this topic in our blog, What is a Workplace Exposure Limit, including workplace exposure limits in the UK, occupational exposure limits in the EU, and how employers can manage exposure limits.

COSHH risk assessment template

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One of the most fundamental ways to manage chemical risk is by conducting a COSHH risk assessment. A COSHH risk assessment allows you to evaluate hazardous substances in terms of the  risks and hazards they pose, who they may affect in the workplace, necessary control measures, and more. This COSHH form is your key to creating a safer work environment for your employees.

Because we have your organisation’s best interest at heart, we’ve created a COSHH risk assessment template for you to use so you don’t have to start from square one! Access this COSHH form now.

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The Ultimate Guide to COSHH Management

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When was COSHH introduced? What are COSHH responsibilities? What is a COSHH assessment? We’ve explored these different areas of COSHH in the articles above, but what if you could get deeper insights on this topic in just one resource?

We’re here to deliver! It’s time to download The Ultimate Guide to COSHH Management: Your Roadmap to Mastering Chemical Safety.

Access this guide to discover everything you need to know about COSHH, including:

  • What is COSHH and why you should care
  • COSHH regulations
  • COSHH employer and employee duties
  • Routes of chemical exposure
  • 5 steps to COSHH assessment completion
  • 8 steps to COSHH management
  • And so much more!
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How to manage chemical risk

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Managing COSHH and different aspects of chemical safety can be a challenging task, especially if you’re using paper. Paper-based systems or Excel spreadsheets can lead to time-consuming manual processes and a lack of standardisation. It also makes it extremely difficult to uncover gaps in compliance and communicate efficiently with your teams. This leads to a reactive approach to safety, which is not in your organisation’s best interest.

What’s the solution? We’ve created A Best Practice Guide to Managing Chemical Risk which covers key elements needed to elevate your approach to chemical safety:

Find out more about:

  • Examples of controls for hazardous substances
  • 7 steps to manage chemical safety
  • The benefits of a cloud-based system to level up your approach

It’s time to master chemical safety and Download A Best Practice Guide to Managing Chemical Risk now.

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3 common mistakes of hazardous substances management

We’ve teamed up with global law practice Eversheds Sutherland to share the common mistakes organisations making when managing hazardous substances.

With an ever-increasing focus on the protection of workers’ health, the management of hazardous substances is arguably higher on the business agenda than ever before. However, many organisations still fall foul of basic mistakes when implementing COSHH (Control of substances hazardous to health) processes to protect staff from the dangers of work-related ill health. 

Moyna Merrison, Director of COSHH specialists EcoOnline Sypol, highlights three of the most common mistakes businesses make:

1. “I have a list of hazardous substances and how they should be used, so I’m compliant”

Understanding the substances that are used within your business is just half of the COSHH challenge.  Every business needs to document what substances are being used and, more importantly, how they are being used. A compliant COSHH assessment needs to detail how a substance is being used, for how long, in what type of environment and what protective measures need to be taken.  This information then needs to be effectively communicated to the staff so that they understand what precautions need to be taken to protect their health.  

2. “I reviewed my COSHH assessments a few years ago, so I don’t need to do anything”

Effective COSHH management should be a cyclical process of continuous improvement – it is not a static task that should only be done once.  Legislative updates, the introduction of different products or substances and personnel changes can all have a fundamental impact on a COSHH assessment. 

Businesses who are not proactively reviewing their COSHH assessments may as well not have any assessments in place at all.  

3. “I’ve never had a COSHH incident, so my business doesn’t have a problem”

Ignorance is no excuse for failing to implement a robust COSHH management strategy.  The symptoms of many occupational diseases caused by hazardous substances – lung cancer, occupational asthma, joint and nerve damage – can take several years to emerge. 

Therefore, while a business may not have had an incident to date, that doesn’t mean that its COSHH processes are effective.  And if a worker develops an occupational disease in the future that can be related to a job they did in the past, their former employer will still be held responsible.

What are the legal implications of non-compliance?

One of the Health and Safety Executive’s (‘HSE’) current priorities is on occupational health, with a particular focus on occupational lung disease, given the disease leads to an estimated 12,000 deaths each year.  Health and safety lawyer, Elizabeth Hyde, Principal Associate at Eversheds Sutherland comments:

“Under UK health and safety law all the HSE has to prove in order to bring a prosecution against a company is that the company has posed a risk to the health and safety of its employees or to those affected by the company’s activities.  The HSE does not have to demonstrate that actual harm has occurred.  Companies therefore run the risk of prosecution if they fail to properly implement effective COSHH processes.”. 

Personal Injury lawyer, Louise Bland, Partner at Eversheds Sutherland adds:

“Failure to carry out effective COSHH assessments will also leave businesses highly vulnerable to injury claims.   Whilst injury claims are often insured, claims arising as a result of a poor COSHH management strategy may result in increased insurance premiums and more importantly threaten damage to brand and reputation”.

COSHH assessment software

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COSHH management can be a challenging task, so let EcoOnline’s COSHH management software do the heavy lifting! Our COSHH assessment platform will help digitise and centralise your safety data sheets and risk assessments, making them easily accessible to your teams. It will also help you communicate the latest information in your COSHH database to your employees, so they are always aware of any updates.

Imagine having the ability to complete your COSHH assessments online with a few simple clicks in EcoOnline’s COSHH management software. With this COSHH tool in the palm of your hands, you can help streamline the elements needed to create a safer work environment for your people.

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COSHH Case Study

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Questioning whether our COSHH assessment software is right for you? Müller, a multi-national company, employing over 20,000+ employees across Europe relies on EcoOnline’s COSHH assessment system to help manage substances hazardous to health and stay compliant across multiple sites.

Müller also uses our COSHH risk assessment software to standardise chemical assessments across the organisation. Our COSHH consultants have been an asset to keeping Müller up to date and on track with any new or changing legislation.

Find out more about how EcoOnline has helped this organisation simplify COSHH compliance and management by reading their story.