Hi,

I have a question around servicing of laboratory laminar flow cabinets and whether my company can remove the need to have them serviced annually (or 14 months under COSHH)?

We use them to protect a sample while we prepare it and not protect the person carrying out the work (we have chemical fume hoods and Class II MBSC for tasks that require staff / environmental protection) - in effect it is an expensive and glorified box.

Checking HSG258 and G202 the information centres around removing the contaminants away from the operator, the type of laminar flow cabinets we have are designed to protect the sample so I cannot see how this guidance would apply (& thereby the COSHH reg) - or have I misread / understood this?

Any help would be appreciated.

Thanks

Kate is absolutely correct.  A laminar flow cabinet is intended to protect the work not the operatives and as such it is not classed as LEV and therefore does not require a statutory 14 monthly examination under COSHH. You may want to check that they are working as part of your quality system but not as part of Health and Safety.