I have had a request for a COSHH assessment for soot, very little info and not very much time :) Any help, I will engage my chemist brain in a minute but was looking for a quick fix? I don't need info on COSHH just hazards useful info etc :)

Sorry, cos I know I am likely to be accussed of being provocative but surely you can't do a COSHH assessment based purely upon the substance in isolation? Other than the obvious (chimeny sweeping) could we ask what the activity is?

Agree with David, it is the how it is a problem rather than the soot itself. Asbestos is fine left alone and secure, ACM's that are disturbed however take on an altogether different set of problems to assess and manage. The soot/carbon in my chimleys whilst potentially carcinogenic is fine where it is, if I start cleaning it and get the soot particles in the air and breathe it in and continue to do so for some time it is possible that I might / will experience eventual breathing difficulties. So the process that is causing you to assess the soot would be beneficial for an accurate response. CFT

Soot is carcinogenic to skin. Chimney sweeps were one of the first occupational groups to have a recognised health issue. The English surgeon Percivall Pott (1714-1788) was the first to establish a causal link between cancer and exposure to a substance in the environment. In 1775 he described the occurrence of cancer of the scrotum in a number of his male patients, whose common history included employment as chimney sweeps when they were young. He related the malignancy to the occupation, and concluded that their prolonged exposure to soot was the cause.