COSHH Risk Assessment for a Laboratory

Dominic Areago

On a daily basis as individuals we encounter all forms of harms or things that are detrimental to our heath and well being, for example when crossing the street you are open to being injured by a passing car or even when your riding a bike you are open to falling down and hurting yourself. Some of the harms we face can be avoided more particular the ones that occur in work places and laboratories.

COSHH which stands for Control of Substances Hazardous to Health is the law that was implemented in 2002, it requires employers to control substances which are hazardous to the health of employees as well as others that may come in contact with the work place. The ideology behind COSHH was to ensure that it was safe for employees to work around substances or in environments that did not particularly favour good health; and in situations where by hazardous substances where unavoidable, good practices and controls were implemented to minimize the effects of coming in contact with them.

Statistics have shown that since the implementation of COSHH work related deaths have decreased over time. In the work year 2002/2003 the death toll was 2261 and in the work year for 2009/2010 this number has dropped to 152.2 The latter still being a high number, the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) have maintained its firm stance behind the use of a COSSH assessment in the workplace to avoid all work related incidents and fatalities, statistics from 2003 -2010 show that is making a difference.

The regulations defined by COSHH are broken down into 8 steps. Provided that employers follow these regulations, productivity in the work place will increase and injuries, fatalities and incidents that lower productivity will be kept at a minimal.

The COSHH regulations are as follows:

Step 1: Assess the risks

Step 2: Decide what precautions

Step 3: Prevent or adequately control exposure

Step 4: Ensure that control measures are used and maintained

Step 5: Monitor the exposure

Step 6: Carry out appropriate heath surveillance

Step 7: Prepare plans and procedures to deal with accidents, incidents and emergencies.

Step 8: Ensure employees are properly informed, trained and supervised.

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Step 3: Prevent or adequately control exposure

Step 4: Ensure that control measures are used and maintained

Step 5: Monitor the exposure

Step 6: Carry out appropriate heath surveillance

Step 7: Prepare plans and procedures to deal with accidents, incidents and emergencies.

Step 8: Ensure employees are properly informed, trained and supervised.

Step 1 of the regulations advise the employer to assess all risks from substances hazardous to health in the in the workplace or created by workplace activities. In relation to the laboratory, ‘substances hazardous to health’ can be seen as anything that is essentially ruinous to the health of employees. These can be items such as chemicals used in lab, for example sulfuric acid would be considered to be substances hazardous to health because is can cause severe burning to the skin, also strong alkali’s such as caustic soda can cause irritation to the skin. There are many other chemicals used in the lab that fall under this category, which is why on the bottles of such chemicals there are warning symbols that advise the user of its harms. For example on the packaging of caustic soda this symbol is shown.

As the details show this indicates it is corrosive and it is very harmful to skin.

Hazards in the lab are not only limited to chemicals used but can be, material itself such as glassware that can cause harm if mishandled. When working with microorganisms in biology there is the risk of catching infectious disease from them, when dealing with flames or heat itself, there are risks of burning yourself. Also hazards can come from substances or material that do not appear hazardous on their own, but in conjunction with other material they become harmful for example gases such as argon and helium. Hazards can even be byproducts from experiments that may be harmful to health, e.g. toxic fumes, gas, these if inhaled can cause devastating effects and all present hazards to health.

The above are only a fraction of substances hazardous to health in the lab. Once identified the next stage is to consider the risks they present to people’s health, this involves determining amounts presents in the workplace, how much its used, who will be exposed to it, the method by which it becomes a hazard to people’s health i.e. whether it be through the skin or inhaled.

Step 2 then involves determining what forms of precaution are needed to remove risks or lessen them to adequate levels. To make the most out of it, it is advised to check that any pre-existing control systems are effective and compare then to resources such as HSE website and other COSHH guidelines. It is vital that records of the assessment are kept. It should be detailed and contain information based on the decisions made and your justifications for use of non-use of controls measures. The assessment should also indicate when the subsequent review would be done.

Step 3 is devised to advise you on how to prevent exposure to hazardous substances and if it cannot be prevented then to sufficiently control it. In the case where by prevention is not feasible certain measures should be followed to ensure exposure is kept to a minimal. For instance if a byproduct of a reaction is a toxic gas that is unavoidable in the experiment, ensure that the person administering the experiment has personal protective equipment (PPE) to lesson the contact with the substance. This may include goggles, facemasks as well as suitable ventilation, in the lab area. This is very important especially in the use of carcinogens, mutagens and asthmagens. These are all harmful to health. Use of PPE can be very useful in controlling exposure.

Step 4 is simply to maintain the use of control measures, this is to say to be consistent with usage of controls and under no circumstances should controls not be used if required to lesson exposure. This step also involves regularly checking that all equipment used to control is in working order, this includes things like ventilation and respiratory protective equipment.

Step 5 is very vital in conjugation with step four, if exposure to hazardous substances is unavoidable, COSHH states that the amount should be measured to determine what may be adverse to heath of workers, this might be to measure the concentration of hazardous substances in the air that may be inhaled by the workers.

Step 6 is to carry out health surveillance; this is required where by an employee is exposed to substances that can harm his/her health. These health surveillance must involve a doctor, nurse or an individual who is trained to administer an examinations. This may be skin checks or questioning employees about any difficulties with breathing and such.

Step 7 is very important, if employees will be exposed to hazardous substances. Its involves devising plans and procedures that will used if an accidents, incidents and emergencies should occur. This requires setting up warning and communication system’s to advise employees of emergencies and incidents that have occurred. As well as having preparations in place it is essential that drills and practices should be honored regularly to ensure that in the event such incidents should happen, necessary steps are followed to minimize harm.

Step 8 is the final step of the COSHH regulation’s and somewhat the most important. This step states that employees should be informed and trained and supervised to ensure that COSHH procedures are followed. In terms of providing employees with information that means use of warning symbols and labels to advise employees of the material they are working with. This also means informing them of the substances they may come in contact with and the appropriate method of handling material. Access to safety material and warning guides should be supplied. There are a multitude of symbols and phrases used in the lab to indentify important things or health risk here are some of the ones seen in the lab.

Also the finding of the risk assessment should be shown to employees’ to inform them of your findings and to notify them of precautions they must take to protect themselves and other employee’s. This includes highlighting the uses of PPE. These are vital pints that must be adhered to, to maximize the effectiveness of controls in place to limit exposure.