Posted By Lorraine Dyer I would appreciate any views on the following: I recently carried out a number of generic COSHH Assessments for our charity shops and produced a list of Approved Substances. On our list of 'banned substances' are items containing bleach and also aerosol airfresheners. The latter has caused some upset as there are many occasions when instant freshening of fitting rooms is required. My first question is am I being overzealous in banning aerosols? (I felt that I had gone through each of the steps required by COSHH -i.e. there was a safer alternative- solid air fresheners). My second question is does anyone know of any (off the shelf) non aerosol alternatives that can provide instant air freshening? (I have looked at product called ALphasan but this is quite expensive-we have 270 charity shops)

Posted By Juliet Fennell There are pump action sprays available, One such one is Neutradol, it is very effective and is not a presureised aerosol, I have bought it in supermarkets. Hope this helps. Juliet

Posted By Ken Taylor It's generally a matter of assessing risk rather than outright bans - but I agree that where safer alternatives are available they should be used. Aerosols tend to either contain flammable propellants or Ozone -depleting CFCs but an earlier respondant rightly directs you to other forms of propelling the chemical (atomisers and the like). 'Milton' is basically 'bleach' it's all a matter of concentration!

Posted By George Wedgwood In our Corporate Offices, we have started using an air freshener which smells very good and is unobtrusive and solid. It is called 'Tagfresh' and is available form several suppliers - try; http://www.allbright-shiny.co.uk/sca.htm It is a green 'rubber' disc and it hangs up on a convenient hook or it could be ties with some string. It appears to last quite a while.