Rank: New forum user 
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Looking for a bit of info please. My company (UK based) has standards for air changes in labs of 8 occupied and 4 unoccupied and run 24/7 even though our core hours are 7am - 5pm. Is there any legal requirement that dictates you must have air changes out of hours.
Fot info - all out of hours experimentation (left overnight) is carried out in fume cupboards that are left switched on.
Any feedback appreciated
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Rank: Super forum user
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As you probably know, this comes under COSHH and under Reg 6 you need to identify the risk and establish controls taking into account the nature of the stuff you are dealing with. If you are relying on dilution ventilation (ie your air changes) to reduce the exposure to the hazardous substances then that is a control under reg 7. You are the one that decides if that is a sufficient control. You also mention fumecupboards: if you are using those then they should be sufficient to deal with whatever hazard your substances pose and you only need the dilution ventilation if a) you are handling really hazardous substances and you need backup for the fumecupboards or b) to deal with any spills of volatile substances out in the open lab.
See HSG 258 for more information.
http://www.hse.gov.uk/pUbns/priced/hsg258.pdf
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 1 user thanked A Kurdziel for this useful post.
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Rank: New forum user
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Originally Posted by: A Kurdziel  As you probably know, this comes under COSHH and under Reg 6 you need to identify the risk and establish controls taking into account the nature of the stuff you are dealing with. If you are relying on dilution ventilation (ie your air changes) to reduce the exposure to the hazardous substances then that is a control under reg 7. You are the one that decides if that is a sufficient control. You also mention fumecupboards: if you are using those then they should be sufficient to deal with whatever hazard your substances pose and you only need the dilution ventilation if a) you are handling really hazardous substances and you need backup for the fumecupboards or b) to deal with any spills of volatile substances out in the open lab.
See HSG 258 for more information.
http://www.hse.gov.uk/pUbns/priced/hsg258.pdf
Thanks - very useful. I'm aware of the requirements for COSHH but in the "out of hours" scenario there is no one in the labs. We have the air changes during operatonal times (and at least 1 hour prior to anyone being on site) and all hazardous work is defined as requiring engineering controls so I'm perfectly happy with this.
The rational for this question is to enable energy savings on the ventilation systems - shut down out of hours.
Again thanks for your input - gives me increased confidence to move forward with this proposal
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Rank: Forum user
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Interesting this as I have also been looking through Ventilation but within Catering areas in relation to CO2 levels (where Gas Appliances are used) under COSHH/Gas Safety Regs for scheduled PPM visits.
For sites that do not have Gas Appliances, in relation to their Venitlation are their any specific Regs (other than PUWER) that the Ventilation in these sites would fall under for scheduled PPM visits?
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Rank: Super forum user 
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Normally the air extracted by a fume cupboard is 'balanced' by air entering the room as part of the general area ventilation. So, whenever you are running fume cupboards, you need to ensure there is sufficient air entering the room. Shutting down the area ventilation overnight might mean the cupboard extract fan doesn't operate as effectively as you rquire. Obviously, if there is more than a single fume cupboard operating in a lab, that makes it worse.
In a well designed lab facility there will be dampers in both the inlet and extract systems that allow the facility management people to balance flows and ensure the fume cupboards operate to their design air flows.
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1 user thanked imwaldra for this useful post.
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Rank: Forum user 
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To answer your question, apart from the COSHH regs and HASAWA which both apply (especially when people are present!), I'm not certain (and happy to be corrected...) that there are any legal requirements stating air changes are something you must have, as you say, out of hours. To a certain extent it depends on what you are working with; Radioactives or Biohazards, probably not a good idea!
To add to this, we had temporary fumehoods which were switched on and off, as and when needed in our facilities too.
But there is something else I want to add - the fumecupboards are there to protect you from something; I know the things we were protected from you absolutely did not want escaping into the labs. When the fumecupboards tripped overnight, the result in the labs was not good, primarily with fumes and vapours condensing in the ducting and dripping into the fumecupboards themselves. There was the potential for sample contamination and, as imwaldra pointed out, the air intake is balanced with the air outflow - switching on and off may affect the balance of this system, particularly in labs with large numbers of fumecupboards... you may want to check with the system installer that this practice is acceptable.
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