The Company I work for currently use SYPOL to produce COSHH assessments and was wondering if anybody use a different system or are aware of a systems that does the same thing. I have also looked at the HSE COSHH Risk Assessment documents but feel these do not meet the requirements of the regulations. thanks in advance Paul

If you genuinely need external assistance on COSHH, there are many dozens of competent hygienists listed on the BOHS directory of consultants. They are experts in hazardous substance exposure. http://www.bohs.org/consultants-directory/

The COSHH essentials tool does have limitations. So does Sypol. There is no substitute for undertaking & reviewing a risk assessment first hand, in real-time. An over-dependency on tools and systems can also obscure the actual requirements of the Regs.and diminish, as opposed to adding, value. (These systems don't come cheap either). We're supposed to routinely review what we do to see if safer alternatives and technological advances for risk reduction have become available. A 'heads down, blinkers on' approach as encouraged by some commercial systems can lead to undue focus on screen grabs and bits of paper, and does not foster that essential approach to risk reduction and legal compliance.

Got to agree with Chris here. Computer based systems are useful for data input, storage and retrieval only. You still have to go out and do the assessment and that assessment has to be process based. Take water as an example. If you were to conduct a COSHH assessment on a process that used water then you would have to consider the following. Temperature - is the water in the form of live steam, water or ice and what measures would be required to prevent prolonged skin contact - burns (steam), dermatitis (water), frostbite (ice). If the process took place in a water bath or enclosed vessels you may need to consider breathing apparatus if you needed access. If the process involved elevated pressures then you would have other risks such as high pressure injection etc. Water is only one example and many would argue that they wouldn't COSHH assess water but there are thousands of substances that are used and many COSHH assessments consider the substance only without considering how the process affects the nature of the substance.

pl53 Interesting that you mention water. As it happens several studies have identified wet work, i.e. contact with water, as one of the most common causes of occupational irritant contact dermatitis. At a EU meeting in Dresden (on policies to reduce the incidence of dermatitis among hairdressers) we had a discussion on water. The conclusion among the dermatologists was that they would classify water as a skin irritant. In Germany their Technical Regulation on Hazardous Substances (TRGS) no. 401 stipulates that where exposure to water or wet work is for more than two hours in total in any eight hour shift this must be considered a situation hazardous to the skin requiring action. Actually, if you look at regulation 2(1) in COSHH on the definition of a hazardous substance, paragraph (e) reads: "which, not being a substance falling within sub-paragraphs (a) to (d), because of its chemical or toxicological properties and the way it is used or is present at the workplace creates a risk to health”. In other words, any substance can become a substance hazardous to health under specific circumstances. So any COSHH assessment needs to look at all substances involved in a particular activity to identify whether this condition would apply. Chris

Geoff I can see where you are coming from. However, my experience (and bear in mind that I am primarily concerned only with skin exposure) is that the time taken to risk assess a particular task can vary enormously. Many can be done in just a vew minutes, others (as you say) may take several hours. In some cases some research into the effects of the chemical in use and resultant hazards may require quite a lot of research. So I have tended to shy away from a figure per assesement but rely more on a daily rate. Also, for my clients, what they are really looking for is not the risk assessment. This only tells them if there is an actual, or potential, problem. What they expect from me is advice on the 'risk management' aspect, e.g. can we use a less harmful substance, how can we modify the process to eliminate the exposure, what sort of gloves should be used and how frequently should they be changed, etc. In other words, they are looking for answers to the problems that often they did not know that they had, although they may have suspected that this was the case. Again, the risk management aspect may be extremely simple, or it may require quite a lot of research to find the best solution. In one case it involved considerable financial expenditure on the client's part in remodelling their process, having first identified how this could be done, who could supply the required equipment, etc. (It did subsequently pay for itself in a reduction in operating costs - somewhat to his surprise). So again, trying to determine a price per assessment/task is a route I have not tended to take. Hope this is of some help. Chris

Thanks Chris & Bob The reality of it is if we tried to price a COSHH assessment for the time it takes, some would be in the region of hundreds of pounds.