How often should a COSHH assessment be reviewed?

It’s important for employers to regularly review COSHH assessments to ensure that they are up-to-date. How often you will need to review your COSHH assessment will depend on a few different factors, including what risks are involved, what hazardous materials are used, the type of work that is being carried out, and how often changes are made to work processes. 

You’ll also need to have your COSHH assessment reviewed if:

• An accident or incident takes place in the workplace (even if it was narrowly escaped).
• Any changes are made to the work process that may expose employees to dangerous substances
• You are concerned that the original COSHH assessment is invalid
• Any changes are made to legislation

What is a COSHH assessment? 

COSHH stands for ‘Control of Substances Hazardous to Health’ and the COSHH assessment sets out to determine whether a workplace handling hazardous substances is safe. Essentially, the assessment will monitor the working environment and identify what risks are involved as well as the steps required to minimise the risk of harm or exposure to harmful chemicals to employees. Find out more here.

How to carry out a COSHH assessment

To carry out a COSHH assessment, you will need to find out information regarding the hazardous substances stored at the workplace, the work which is carried out, and processes involved when handling flammable or dangerous materials. You should:

• Complete a health risk evaluation
• Determine what measures need to be in place to comply with COSHH regulations
• Record your findings and evaluation (if you have over 5 employees)
• Plan a review date 

It is also important for employers to have data safety sheets for their hazardous materials as these will contain instructions advising how to use the products as well as the risks involved with their use. 

Read our blog on How to Write a COSHH Assessment and find out more in the Health and Safety Executive (HSE)  Step by Step Guide to COSHH Assessment.

If you are reviewing a COSHH assessment, you may not need to carry out the entire assessment process. When you begin a review, the first step is determining whether the existing assessment needs revising – you can decide this based on whether changes have been made to work processes and other factors discussed earlier in this article, however, reviewing your COSHH assessment regularly is important as there are bound to be slight changes emerging in the workplace over time and their impact on health and safety risks may otherwise go unnoticed. 

If you find that your current COSHH assessment is still valid, you do not need to take further action. If this is not the case, you may only need to revise certain parts of the assessment and amend areas that are different from your current workplace practices.  

Carrying out a COSHH assessment? 

If you’re carrying out a COSHH assessment review, you may be looking for a COSHH cabinet to store hazardous substances in order to keep your workplace safe. COSHH cabinets are designed to store dangerous hazardous materials such as flammable liquids, gases, and solids to keep them out of harm’s way. Why not browse our COSHH cabinets today.

Need some advice? Feel free to contact us and speak to a member of our friendly team if you would like some advice or more information on any of our products.