Is an employer required to risk assess medications kept on site. e.g. Paracetamol, under CoSHH?

Consider item 18 in the current ACoP for COSHH:

"18 The general duties of COSHH apply to incidental exposure to, and deliberate work with, biological agents. However, COSHH does not cover a situation where, for example, one employee catches a respiratory infection from another. This is because regulation 2(2) specifies that COSHH only applies in those circumstances where risks of exposure are work related, and not those where they have no direct connection with the work being done."

Would you consider someone taking paracetamol for a headache being the medication having direct connection with the work being done? What work would you associate this with in terms of a risk assessment?

However, a duty of care suggests it would be prudent to ensure that any medication is only available from a responsible person and not for anyone to help themselves. 

Thank you Chris.

You wrote:

"Would you consider someone taking paracetamol for a headache being the medication having direct connection with the work being done? What work would you associate this with in terms of a risk assessment?"

Well, if let's say aspirin is provided to help employees work better, would that not be considered having direct connection with the work being done?

What about a healthcare provider; would they have to include all medications they administer in a CoSHH risk assessment?

General employers should not be providing medicines to employees HSE clearly stating medicines not being part of a First Aid kit - can't locate it at present but there are rules which differentiate between self medication, self diagnosis and prescription (asking for headache pills, asking for a specific headache pill and someone offering a pill to treat a headache).

Care homes etc. are covered by specific rules as to how, who and when typically in line with true medical care establishments.

Hopefully one of our medically orientated members can enlighten us further but I have the feeling they are not assessed under COSHH coming under various prescription medicine regulations.

Edited by user 16 February 2020 21:39:08(UTC)  | Reason: FAAW - HSE

As Nic has said we need more information. Are we talking about someone who has drugs on site as part of their work? For example on my second day in my current role I found a 50 kg drum of paracetamol open in a lab.  I told the lab user that he needed to store this properly and keep it secure and they needed to produce a COSHH assessment to manage the risk of using this substance-COSHH applies in this case.  Paracetamol is classed as a Generally Available Drug under medicine regulations and as such there is no restriction on keeping it or making it available but of course there is still a general duty of care that comes into play when you are issuing it and if you gave it to someone who was allergic to it or if someone managed to overdose on the company’s supply of the drug the employer would probably be liable.

If the only issue, is if an employee can bring their own medication onto your site than COSHH does not apply and it has really got nothing to do with the employer.  

....I think you need to ask a deeper question to this...if you employers is keen on preventing a headache or providing unlicenced pain relief...how does he ensure the competency of those issuing the tablets?...what if you are contributing to a suicide attempt?...unlikely but a possibility...people can also get headaches from over use of medication...the question and the answers are not straight foward..

​​​​​​​https://bnf.nice.org.uk/drug/paracetamol.html

Employers are prohibited from providing any medications to employees - check the guidance to the First Aid at Work Regulations.  No COSHH assessment is needed because you really shouldn't have them!!

Health care situations are a different thing altogether with administration of medicines being covered by protocols set by the Care Quality Commission, the only need for COSHH assessments that I know of are in situations where cytotoxic drugs for treating cancer are handled and stored not in a setting of administering those drugs to a patient.