The COSHH Essentials tool implemented a process described in a document called, if I remember correctly,  the Technical Basis of COSHH Essentials, which as far as I know you can still get on the HSE website.  This document essentially gives an algorithm for the assessment. So you start with a table in which you can look up which hazard codes give you which hazard classes, and then there are tables about vapour pressure and quantities. It is possible but laborious to follow it just as it is (I have done this).  Someone with coding skills would quite easily be able to replicate the tool.

Originally Posted by: chris42

Could you still use it via the wayback machine? Though is its information out of date?

Chris

Thanks Chris. However, what is the wayback machine please?

What did the e-tool actually do? Amazingly,  I have never used it because where I have worked we always started from first principles and like Kate I have always been suspicious of anything that claims to do the risk assessment (ie the thinking) for you.  

Sorry it was worth a try. I have not used it myself so I looked to see if there was something to download. However when I got to the old (2022) last saved version it was an all online thing, so could not be downloaded. It looked like it may still work on the net, but I didn't try it.

As I said worth a try as people were using it up to the end of Jan.

Perhaps IOSH would like to create their own version? 😁

Chris

Hi

As I said we start from first principles. We are a university, so I hope that people understand the scientific background and of course they use some niche substances.  So basic risk assessment: what is the hazardous nature of the substances in the process? Solid, gas, powder or liquid. Is the powder granular or fine and dusty ? Who’s at risk? Any one with health issues such as asthma or are they pregnant?  Then look at the likelihood of exposure: how much is being used and how often. What process is the stuff being used for? Is it being mixed or blended or heated etc.

What are the exposure routes? Apply the hierarchy of controls.  If they say I will use LEV, you can ask which LEV it has been tested is it suitable etc.   if they say the will use RPE then you ask why? Is it  something out of the ordinary if you rely on PPE rather than isolating the procedure in a fumecupboard etc. then record and review.

Hi Svick

Part of the problem is going to be working out what to do when somebody is exposed to multiple hazardous substances.

Looking at it VERY simplistically suppose employee A is exposed to solvents and lead.

How these enter the body and then impact on it are largely different, so you could mostly assess each individually. But I wrote "largely" and if you are in borderline territory perhaps you need to consider the potential interaction much more closely.

However, if we change the scenario such that employee A is exposed to solvent G and solvent H, it is likely that the impacts are additive, so you need to work out what proportion of the Workplace Exposure Limit (or STEL etc etc) they are liable to get from G, the same for H.

So suppose their exposure is at 0.75 of the WEL for solvent G, and 0.5 of the WEL for solvent H, you might be within the WEL for each, but would exceed the notional WEL for the mix of hazardous substances if you add up the fractional exposures in each case as a proportion of the WEL for each. 0.75 + 0.5 = 1.25 = problem!!

Then there is the even more complex scenario of "synergistic" mixtures of exposure, where rather than adding each fraction together you apply a multiplier.

Perhaps the most commonly quoted example is someone exposed to asbestos who also smokes cigarettes (or similar). 

Lots of research to indicate what proportion of workers exposed to V fibres/ml asbestos in air for 40 hours a week for many years are likely to then sustain one or more respiratory health conditions.

Ditto research to tell you the likelihood of someone smoking say 20 cigarettes a day for many years sustaining one or more respiratory health conditions.

However, if the exposure is to both the risk is much greater than simply adding together the numbers for each individual contaminant.

If you have such a scenario then the former COSHH e-tool probably wouldn't have given you an adequate assessment of the overall risk.

That took might have been OK for very simple scenarios preferably with only one contaminant to consider, but would be unlikely to produce the required "suitable and sufficient" assessment in more complex situations.