LEV Testing · Guisborough
From the print and engineering units about Belmangate to the joineries and bodyshops of the town, Guisborough workplaces raise fume, mist and dust that the law says must be controlled - and the control proven by a thorough examination and test.
Guisborough works for a living below the moors. Its industry gathers on the Belmangate and edge-of-town estates, where print, packaging and engineering units sit alongside the bodyshops and joineries that serve east Cleveland. Every one of them raises something a worker should not breathe - solvent and ink mist, weld fume, oil mist, wood dust or paint spray.
Local exhaust ventilation is what captures it at source, and the law does not take the control on trust. Under COSHH the extraction has to be thoroughly examined and tested at least every 14 months, measured against how it is 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.
Real jobs, described by sector and area - never by a client's name.
At a print and packaging works in Guisborough, the extraction over the presses and the laminating line had dropped off and solvent vapour was reaching the floor. We measured capture at each hood, checked the ducting and the discharge, and found a fan below duty and a partly blocked take-off. We set out the remedial action, and re-tested to confirm the control before certifying.
At a Guisborough joinery the dust extraction served several machines off one system, and the run to the furthest machine had lost transport velocity. We measured at each hood, checked the ducting and the discharge, and reported exactly which take-off fell short and why - so it could be put right and re-tested rather than left to silt up.
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.
The point of a thorough examination and test is to prove the extraction still controls the exposure - so we measure it, we do not eyeball it. Condition, capture and face velocities, transport velocity and static pressure are checked against the design intent under HSG258, and the result is written up and labelled on the plant.
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 under COSHH Regulation 9 - and sooner for certain higher-risk processes. We set the right interval for what you run and put the next-due date on the label and the report.
A thorough-examination-and-test report against HSG258, a pass/fail on each point with any remedials listed, and a dated label on the plant showing when the next test falls due.
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 Belmangate estate and the town's units, and across Guisborough and the wider Cleveland.
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.
Guisborough grew rich on the alum that was quarried and processed from the cliffs along this coast from the seventeenth century - Britain's first true chemical industry, exacting and dangerous work. That industrial instinct still runs through the town's print, engineering and finishing shops, and every one carries a duty to control the vapour, fume and dust 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 Redcar and Cleveland 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 Redcar and Cleveland.
