Free interactive check
Not sure whether your extraction is something the law says you must test? Answer three quick questions and this tool will tell you whether you have a duty under COSHH - and roughly when your test is due. No price, no details, no catch.
Think about what is given off when the work is actually being done. Pick the main one.
Extraction captures the dust or fume where it is made and takes it away - before it reaches the people working.
A thorough examination and test (a “TExT”) is the formal LEV test - not a quick visual look or a filter change.
This tool gives general guidance based on the Control of Substances Hazardous to Health Regulations (COSHH). It is not a substitute for your own COSHH risk assessment, and some high-hazard processes must be tested more often than every 14 months. If you are unsure, send us a photo of your system and we will tell you where you stand.
The rule in plain English
If a process at work releases a substance hazardous to health into the air, the law expects you to control it - and if you control it with local exhaust ventilation (LEV), that LEV becomes a legal control measure you have to look after.
Regulation 9 of COSHH requires any LEV used to control exposure to be thoroughly examined and tested at suitable intervals - at least every 14 months for most processes, and more often for certain high-hazard ones. The test, known as a thorough examination and test or TExT, measures whether the system is actually capturing the contaminant, not just whether it switches on. You also have to keep the report, act on any faults, and keep the system maintained between tests.
Far more than people assume. Wood dust, stone and silica dust, flour, welding and soldering fume, spray-paint mist, metalworking-fluid mist, solvent and adhesive vapour, and vehicle exhaust are all hazardous to health. A dust being “only sawdust” or “just a bit of spray” does not take it outside the rules - the question is whether it can harm health if breathed, and for these it can.
If any of these is there to take a hazardous contaminant away from your workers, it is LEV - and the 14-month testing duty applies, whether you have a single mobile unit or several large systems.
Keep reading
The short, clear answer on where the duty comes from and who it falls on.
Read the guide →Why 14 months, how the clock works, and what happens if you miss it.
Read the guide →The maintenance, records and training duties that sit alongside the test itself.
Read the guide →If you cut stone or engineered worktops, start here - the risk, the law and the controls.
Read the guide →Questions
If your work releases a substance hazardous to health into the air - dust, fume, mist, vapour or gas - and you control it with any form of extraction (a hood, booth, on-tool extractor, fume cupboard, downdraught bench, ducted system or mobile extractor unit), then that extraction is local exhaust ventilation (LEV). Under Regulation 9 of COSHH you must have it thoroughly examined and tested at least every 14 months, and keep the record. The duty applies however simple or complex the system is.
LEV is any engineered system that captures a hazardous airborne contaminant at or near its source and removes it. That includes capture hoods and canopies, spray booths, fume cupboards, downdraught benches, on-tool extraction fitted to saws, grinders and sanders, fixed ducted extraction serving one or more machines, and portable or mobile extractor units. If it is there to take dust, fume, mist or vapour away from the worker, it is almost certainly LEV.
At least every 14 months for most processes - this is the maximum interval set by COSHH for a thorough examination and test (TExT). Some high-hazard processes require testing more often (for example, certain processes listed in COSHH Schedule 4 are tested every month or every six months). The 14-month figure is a legal ceiling, so the next test must happen before 14 months have passed since the last one.
COSHH sets out a hierarchy of control: you must control exposure at source by engineered means, such as LEV, before relying on respiratory protective equipment (RPE). Masks protect only the person wearing them, only while worn correctly, and only if face-fit tested. If your work creates a hazardous airborne substance and you are relying on masks alone, you very likely need extraction fitted - and once it is in, it needs testing every 14 months.
Arrange a thorough examination and test as soon as possible. Untested LEV is both a legal gap under COSHH and a practical risk, because you have no evidence the system is actually controlling exposure - extraction can run, and hum, while failing to capture the contaminant. A first test establishes whether it works, what (if anything) needs putting right, and sets your 14-month clock running.
No. Pricing depends on how many systems and capture points you have, which cannot be judged from a form - a site can have one mobile unit or several ducted systems serving many machines. This tool tells you whether you have a testing duty and roughly when it is due. For a firm quote, send us a couple of photos of your system (or systems) by WhatsApp or email and we will confirm a fixed price without a site visit.
Because every site is different, we price from images rather than a form - send a few quick photos of your extraction (and any connected tools or machines) and we will confirm a fixed price for the test, with no site visit needed.
