Hiya, We are an office and I am having a discussion with my team as to what items need COSHH. They want to include all items that fall under CHIP, even if they are not classed as officially Very toxic, Toxic, Harmful, Corrosive, Irritant, Sensitising, Carcinogenic Mutagenic, or Toxic to reproduction. The extra items would include hand sanitizers in bathrooms (flammable only as per chip), toners, liquid tip ex. But COSHH also requires an assessment for any chemicals if they are not deemed as above but their use may be harmful to health. I am arguing though that the extra items in their current use do not justify COSHH. And we are not full of vulnerable people who need supervision and would drink the stuff and abuse.... It's not alarp. What's your thoughts on this?

Sorry... still thinking about this: From the COSHH ACOP: "Employers should regard a substance as hazardous to health if it is hazardous in the form in which it may occur in the work activity." Hand sanitizer in the bathrooms???

Hi Chris, but we are an office and don't work with vulnerable people.

Reading between the lines on this - it seems to be essentially domestic cleaning products and in the same amounts as found in a domestic situation. Sounds to me as you/your people need to follow the instructions on the label. Thats about the limit of CoSHH applicability. CHIP is no longer used. I am assuming that this is a genuine query/post?

Gav81: We mustn't request "safety data sheets" for products that don't need one. Over the years, the supply chain has succumbed to repeated requests for SDS by customers for products whcih are not hazardous. The misguided then take this SDS as a prompt to create "COSHH assessments" for soaps, pencils, and all sorts of nonsense.

Thank you for all your posts. We are not even talking about cleaning products, as these are covered by the COSHH from our cleaning contractors. These are the items: Hand sanitizers liquid TipEx Toners Dishwashing tabs (we produced a COSHH for this one, as irritant) And yes, this is a serious post, not a troll.

On the subject of toner, carbon black is an excellent conductor. If there is a spillage, you don't want to use an ordinary vacuum or Henry! There's also a risk of creating an explosive mixture.

No slight intended Gav81. This is a public Forum though, and not everyone knows the ropes. COSHH Assessment for using a pencil/ bar of soap, etc: I came across these specific assessments in my own Organisation. The repsonsible person in one of our divisions had spent a small fortune on and external health and safety consultant to "do" the COSHH Assessments.......................

Personally I would say yes to toner, no to sanitizer and tipex

Mountains out of mole hills starting to appear, by the look of things. As previous - read the product labels/instructions, and leave it at that.

I went to a seminar recently at the Babraham institute where Jane Blunt and another gentleman (who's name I don't recall) gave a speech on COSHH and it's application. A very similar debate ensued in the seminar, it wasn't that heated but it was a little awkward. It's all about the assessment, if the risk is perceivable, document it and make suitable arrangements.

Risk perception varies and therefore, if we were to document all "perceivable" risks, that may include trivial risks. For Laboratory environments where a whole range of chemical hazards are present and therefore risks ( and sometimes with a transient user community) , it may be a pragmatic approach to evaluate chemical health risks, classify them , say, low/medium/high risks and have proportionate documentation/controls. The key operating term is "proportionate"

This topic will always be a subject with those who decide it to be 'trivial' and those who take it too far. The subject of cleaning gear being trivial is a case in point. It cannot be dismissed that when certain cleaning products are mixed they have the potential to kill. In my previous employment, I had an individual who without malice who thought he was doing the right thing, was removing damaged cleaning products, pouring the contents into the same bucket and then disposing of it down the drain, with little environmental or health and safety considerations. Without conducting and recording an assessment, how can you truly know what the effects these products will have? I am amazed by the attitude of some key players both on this forum and out in the manufacturing world, who give such scant regard to this topic. I have recently tried to get MSDS datasheets from 3 major suppliers of cleaning products whose MSDS have on receipt been woefully poor, the information serves no purpose, to the extent that it did not even relate to the chemicals actually contained within the product. (According to the label on the product).. But it appears that in the eyes of some of the contributors to this forum this is ok as it is only 'cleaning products'... But is it? Those individuals who have been exposed to chemicals and have suffered from work related dermatitis know too well the effects of being given the wrong advice. I think we need to get back to why we as H&S Managers are employed as such and ensure that our members of staff are protected by ensuring that the relevant information required to undertake their roles is available to the best of our ability as opposed to finding ways of not doing our jobs.

I agree. As a cleaner and sufferer of dermatitis in a previous job role often the cleaners are forgotten, and are often faced with comments such as we use bleach at home and that's not a problem. But as you say it's the mixing and potential extended contact time that can make it hard to deal with. I am all for COSHH and feel it should reflect what's going on in that environment. Washing up liquid for example to rinse a few bits isn't a big concern, but continuous use and potentially being on your hands for long periods can cause problems.