LEV Testing · Alcester
From the engineering units to the joinery and vehicle shops, Alcester workplaces raise fume, mist and dust that the law says must be controlled - and the control proven by a thorough examination and test.
The workshops of Alcester are where the engineering and fabrication units weld and machine, the joinery and timber shops cut and sand, and the vehicle shops grind and refinish. The arc and the grinder raise weld fume and metal dust, and the joinery and spray work add wood dust, oil mist and paint mist, all of which a worker should be kept from breathing.
Local exhaust ventilation is what captures it at source, and the law does not take the control on trust. Under COSHH the weld-fume arms, the wood-dust extraction and the spray and mist extraction have to be thoroughly examined and tested at least every 14 months, measured against how they are used, not just switched on and assumed to work.
CNC and manual machining raises oil mist and metal dust at the enclosure and bench that has to be captured at source.
Flour, powders and steam need capture at the mixing and process points, from bakeries to production kitchens.
Saws, sanders and routers throw fine wood dust that has to be drawn off at the tool and the bench.
Weld fume and grinding dust need capture at the arm and booth, wherever steel is fabricated.
Bodyshop spray booths and prep bays carry paint mist and solvent vapour that the extraction has to hold and clear.
Fume cupboards, safety cabinets and dental and salon extraction all count as LEV and all fall due on the same clock.
Typical jobs we handle, by sector and area - representative of the work we do, not named clients.
At an engineering unit near Alcester, welding, grinding and fabricating, the draw at the arms had dropped and the air was thick by mid-shift. We surveyed the system, measured capture and static pressure, and found leakage and an overloaded filter starving the hoods. We detailed the remedials and re-tested to confirm the LEV met HSG258 before labelling it.
At a joinery unit near Alcester, running the saws, planers and sander, capture had slipped below what the process needed and wood dust was carrying across the floor. We gauged capture and transport velocities, examined the ducting, and found a collapsed flexible choking the run. We set out what to put right, re-tested after the work, and certified the system to HSG258.
Condition of hoods, ducting, filters and fan - the damage, blockage and wear that quietly drops performance.
Measured capture and face velocities at the working points, plus transport velocity and static pressure through the system.
The readings assessed against how the LEV should perform to actually control the exposure - not just whether the fan turns.
Where the process warrants it, sampling to confirm the control is keeping the substance out of the breathing zone.
A thorough examination and test under COSHH is a real assessment, not a rubber stamp. It is a structured examination of the system's condition, measurement of its actual performance, and an assessment of those readings against how the system should perform to control the exposure. It follows the HSE's guidance, HSG258, and ends in a report and a label.
We test to the HSE's guidance, HSG258, and the job ends in a report and a label on the plant: what was measured, what passed, what needs putting right, and the date the next test falls due.
We inspect the system's condition - hoods, ducting, filter and fan - and identify how it is meant to control each process.
We take the readings: capture and face velocities, duct transport velocity and static pressure at the key points.
We assess the readings against the benchmark and set out clearly whether the system is controlling the exposure.
The system is labelled with the test result and next-due date, and you get the report for your COSHH file.
COSHH Regulation 9 sets a maximum of 14 months between tests, and some higher-risk processes need it sooner. We set the interval to match what you run and record the next-due date on the label and the report.
An HSG258 thorough-examination-and-test report, a clear pass or fail at every point with remedials listed, and a dated plant label carrying the next test date.
We set out exactly what failed and why - often a single reading such as static pressure or capture velocity - so it can be put right, and we re-test to confirm the control before certifying.
Yes - the Alcester workshops and units, and across Alcester and the wider Warwickshire.
No - any LEV: welding fume arms, wood and grain dust systems, spray booths, mist extraction, fume cupboards, and dental and salon extraction all fall under the same duty and the same clock.
Alcester works its metal, timber and vehicles, welding and grinding, sawing and sanding, and refinishing - raising weld fume, metal and wood dust, oil mist and paint mist. Every one carries a duty to control what its work throws off - and to prove it with a measured test.
We have carried out LEV thorough examination and testing to HSG258 since 2001, across Warwickshire and the UK. From a machine shop to a joinery, a spray booth or a lab fume cupboard, the job ends the same way: measured readings, a clear verdict, and a label whose next-due date you can rely on.
Tell us what you run and we will examine, measure, report and label it to HSG258 - across Warwickshire.
