LEV Testing · Caversham
Caversham's joineries, salons and dental and veterinary practices raise wood dust, chemical vapour and clinical aerosol that the law says must be controlled. We examine and test local exhaust ventilation to HSG258 and certify it.
Caversham's working side is the service trades that fill a prosperous suburb - the cabinet-makers and joiners off the back streets, the hair and beauty salons of Prospect Street and the dental and veterinary practices around Church Street. Their saws and sanders, their colour stations and their surgery suites each raise something a local exhaust or extraction system has to draw off at source.
LEV loses its edge without anyone noticing - a filter loads, a duct furs, a fan tires - until a hood no longer holds the exposure. We carry out thorough examination and testing to HSG258 across Caversham: measured capture and face velocities at the working points, a judgement against how the system was meant to perform, and a label carrying a next-due date you can trust.
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.
Real jobs, described by sector and area - never by a client's name.
In a Caversham cabinet workshop, the dust extraction serving the saws and sanders needed its thorough examination. We measured capture at each machine and the transport velocity through the ducting, found one branch starved, set the fix, and re-tested before certifying.
A Prospect Street salon needed its colour-station extraction testing. We measured capture at the stations, checked the airflow, and labelled the system with the readings and next-due date.
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 examine the condition of the hoods, ducting, filter and fan and how each is meant to control its process.
We measure capture and face velocities, transport velocity and static pressure at every key point.
The readings are judged against the design benchmark under HSG258, with a clear pass or fail on control.
The plant is labelled and you get the report and next-due date for your COSHH records.
At least every 14 months for most systems, sooner for higher-risk processes. We match the interval to the work and label the next-due date on the plant.
The condition of hoods, ducts, filters and fan, and measured capture, face, transport and static-pressure readings - all weighed against how the LEV should perform to control the exposure.
We set out what failed and why, usually a single reading, so it can be corrected, then re-test to confirm control before certifying.
No - wood dust, salon vapour, dental and clinical aerosol, weld fume and machining mist across Caversham all fall under the same duty.
Yes - the workshops, salons and practices across Caversham, and the wider Berkshire.

Caversham's joineries and salons carry the suburb's dust and vapour work, drawn off wherever a saw runs or a colour is mixed. We test to HSG258 so those rooms can prove their extraction holds what their people would otherwise breathe.
We have carried out LEV thorough examination and testing to HSG258 since 2001, across Berkshire 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 Berkshire.