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LEV testing - understanding COSHH
COSHH is one of those workplace acronyms that gets used constantly and understood vaguely. But it is the law that sits behind so much of workplace health - including why LEV has to be tested at all - so it is worth understanding properly. What COSHH stands for, what it actually requires, and why it matters to any employer whose work involves hazardous substances.
The short answer
COSHH stands for the Control of Substances Hazardous to Health Regulations - the law requiring employers to protect workers from substances hazardous to their health. Its core duty is to prevent or adequately control exposure to hazardous substances, which means: assessing the risks they present, preventing exposure where reasonably practicable or otherwise controlling it, using and maintaining the control measures, monitoring and health surveillance where needed, and informing and training workers. LEV is one of the engineering control measures COSHH relies on, which is why COSHH is the reason LEV must be provided, maintained and tested. Understanding COSHH is understanding the framework that makes controlling hazardous substances - and testing the controls - a legal duty.
An acronym worth understanding
COSHH is one of those acronyms that circulates in workplaces constantly - people mention COSHH assessments, COSHH sheets, COSHH compliance - often without a clear grasp of what it actually is. But COSHH is not a piece of jargon to nod along to; it is the central body of law governing how employers must protect workers from substances that can harm their health, and it underpins a great deal of workplace health and safety practice. Because it is so foundational, and because so much - including the whole requirement to test LEV - flows from it, it is genuinely worth any employer understanding what COSHH is and requires.
The reason it matters to understand properly, rather than vaguely, is that COSHH imposes real legal duties on employers, and meeting them requires knowing what they are. An employer who treats COSHH as a box-ticking acronym may miss the substance of what it requires; one who understands it can meet its duties knowingly and protect their workers properly. And for anyone dealing with LEV, understanding COSHH is especially relevant, because LEV exists within the COSHH framework - it is one of the controls COSHH requires, which is why it must be maintained and tested. So COSHH is the acronym behind the practice, and worth understanding as more than a label.
What COSHH stands for
COSHH stands for the Control of Substances Hazardous to Health Regulations. The name is descriptive: it is the law about controlling substances that are hazardous to health in the workplace. Substances hazardous to health is a broad category - it covers chemicals, dusts, fumes, vapours, gases, mists, and biological agents, essentially anything used in or arising from work that can harm health through exposure. So COSHH applies wherever work involves such substances, which is an enormous range of workplaces: manufacturing, food production, workshops, laboratories, cleaning, and countless others where hazardous substances are used or generated.
The word control is the heart of it. COSHH is fundamentally about controlling exposure to these substances - keeping workers from being harmed by them. It is not about banning hazardous substances, which are often necessary to the work, but about ensuring that where they are used, exposure is prevented or kept to a safe level. So the name captures the essence: the control of substances hazardous to health, meaning the legal framework for making sure that hazardous substances in the workplace do not harm the people working with or around them. Understanding this much - what the acronym stands for and the broad scope of substances it covers - is the starting point for understanding the duties it imposes.
What COSHH requires
COSHH imposes a structured set of duties on employers, all serving the central aim of preventing or adequately controlling exposure. First, assessment: employers must assess the risks from the hazardous substances in their work - what the substances are, how workers could be exposed, and what the risk is. This COSHH assessment is the foundation, because you cannot control a risk properly without understanding it. Second, control: employers must prevent exposure where reasonably practicable, and where prevention is not possible, adequately control it - which is where control measures, including LEV, come in.
The duties continue beyond putting controls in place. Employers must ensure the control measures are used and kept in good working order and efficient - which is precisely why controls like LEV must be maintained and tested, so they keep working. Where appropriate, employers must monitor exposure and provide health surveillance, checking that the controls are effective and that workers' health is being protected. And they must inform, instruct and train workers about the hazards and the controls. Together these duties form a complete framework: understand the risk, control it, keep the controls working, check they are effective, and make sure workers know what they need to. COSHH is this whole cycle, not just a single requirement - which is why it governs so much of workplace health practice.
Why it matters for LEV
For anyone dealing with LEV, COSHH is directly relevant, because LEV exists within the COSHH framework - it is one of the engineering control measures COSHH relies on to control exposure. When COSHH requires exposure to a hazardous substance to be adequately controlled, and that control is achieved by capturing the substance at source, LEV is the control doing the job. So the whole reason a workplace has LEV is, very often, to meet a COSHH duty to control exposure. LEV is not a free-standing thing but a COSHH control measure.
This is why COSHH is the reason LEV must be maintained and tested. COSHH requires that control measures are kept in good working order and efficient - and for LEV, keeping it in good working order and confirming its efficiency is exactly what the thorough examination and test does. The legal requirement to test LEV flows from the COSHH duty to keep control measures working. So understanding COSHH explains why LEV testing is not optional: it is how an employer meets the COSHH obligation to ensure their engineering controls remain effective. The acronym, understood properly, connects directly to the practice - COSHH is the framework, LEV is one of its controls, and testing is how that control is kept doing its COSHH job. Which is why understanding COSHH is worth any employer's time.
The takeaway
COSHH stands for the Control of Substances Hazardous to Health Regulations - the law requiring employers to protect workers from substances hazardous to their health, covering chemicals, dusts, fumes, vapours, gases and biological agents. Its core duty is to prevent or adequately control exposure, through a structured framework: assess the risks, prevent or control exposure, keep the control measures working, monitor and carry out health surveillance where needed, and inform and train workers. It is the foundational law behind a great deal of workplace health practice.
For LEV, COSHH is directly relevant, because LEV is one of the engineering controls COSHH relies on - which is why LEV must be provided, maintained and tested. The COSHH duty to keep control measures in good working order and efficient is the reason the thorough examination and test exists. So understanding COSHH is understanding the framework that makes controlling hazardous substances a legal duty and testing the controls a requirement. It is not an acronym to nod along to but the law behind the practice - worth any employer understanding properly.
Questions
The Control of Substances Hazardous to Health Regulations - the law requiring employers to protect workers from substances hazardous to their health. The name is descriptive: it is the legal framework for controlling substances that are hazardous to health in the workplace, so that they do not harm the people working with or around them.
A broad category - chemicals, dusts, fumes, vapours, gases, mists, and biological agents; essentially anything used in or arising from work that can harm health through exposure. So COSHH applies across an enormous range of workplaces wherever hazardous substances are used or generated, from manufacturing to food production to workshops.
A structured set of duties serving the aim of preventing or adequately controlling exposure: assess the risks; prevent exposure where reasonably practicable or otherwise adequately control it; keep the control measures used and in good working order; monitor and provide health surveillance where needed; and inform, instruct and train workers about the hazards and controls.
LEV is one of the engineering control measures COSHH relies on to control exposure. When COSHH requires exposure to a hazardous substance controlled, and that is achieved by capturing it at source, LEV is the control doing the job - so the reason a workplace has LEV is very often to meet a COSHH duty.
Because COSHH requires control measures to be kept in good working order and efficient. For LEV, keeping it in good working order and confirming its efficiency is exactly what the thorough examination and test does. So the legal requirement to test LEV flows directly from the COSHH duty to keep control measures working.
Because it imposes real legal duties, and meeting them requires knowing what they are - an employer who treats it as a box-ticking acronym may miss the substance. Understanding COSHH lets an employer meet its duties knowingly and protect workers properly, and it explains why practices like LEV testing are required rather than optional.
LEV is a COSHH control measure, and COSHH requires it kept working and efficient - our thorough examination is how you meet that duty, confirming your engineering control still controls exposure.
