The Control of Substances Hazardous to Health Regulations 2002 (COSHH) require employers in Great Britain to assess and control risks from substances hazardous to health. The assessment must include risks arising from storage, handling and disposal. Safe storage measures should reflect the substances, quantities, exposure routes and foreseeable incidents involved, and should form part of the employer’s wider COSHH risk assessment.
COSHH stands for the Control of Substances Hazardous to Health Regulations 2002.
The Regulations require employers to protect employees and others who may be exposed to substances hazardous to health as a result of work activities.
COSHH applies in Great Britain – England, Scotland and Wales. Northern Ireland has separate Control of Substances Hazardous to Health Regulations.
The principal COSHH duties include assessing risks, preventing or adequately controlling exposure, maintaining control measures, monitoring exposure where required, providing health surveillance where appropriate, providing information and training, and preparing for relevant accidents and emergencies.
Yes. HSE guidance specifically states that a COSHH assessment must include the health and safety risks arising from the storage, handling and disposal of substances hazardous to health.
Storage should therefore be considered as part of the complete work activity rather than treated separately from the COSHH assessment.
The level of control required will depend on factors such as:
COSHH covers a wide range of substances capable of causing harm to health at work.
These can include:
A substance does not necessarily need to arrive on site with a hazard label to fall within COSHH. Hazardous substances can also be generated by activities such as welding, cutting, sanding or other industrial processes.
Yes. Some hazardous substances are principally controlled under separate legislation rather than COSHH.
HSE identifies three important examples:
Other workplace requirements may also apply alongside COSHH depending on the substance and activity involved.
Before work involving substances hazardous to health is carried out, the employer must make a suitable and sufficient assessment of the health risks and identify the steps needed to comply with COSHH.
The assessment should consider matters such as:
The assessment should reflect what actually happens at the workplace rather than relying solely on generic chemical information.
No. A Safety Data Sheet is an important source of information, but it is not a COSHH risk assessment.
Safety Data Sheets provide information about matters including:
Employers should use this information together with their knowledge of the workplace, activities and potential exposure to produce a suitable and sufficient COSHH assessment.
The objective of COSHH is to prevent exposure to substances hazardous to health or, where prevention is not reasonably practicable, to control exposure adequately.
Employers should first consider whether exposure can be avoided altogether, for example by eliminating a hazardous substance or replacing it with a safer substance or process where practicable.
Where exposure cannot be prevented, suitable control measures may include:
Control measures should be proportionate to the health risk and should address all relevant routes of exposure.
COSHH does not prescribe one universal chemical store design. The storage controls required should follow from the substances, exposure risks and activities identified in the assessment.
Depending on the substances and workplace, appropriate measures may include:
Other legislation and guidance may impose additional requirements where the substances are flammable, explosive, environmentally hazardous or present another specific risk.
Chemical compatibility should be considered as part of safe storage and the workplace risk assessment.
Information on incompatible materials can normally be found in the Safety Data Sheet, particularly the sections dealing with handling and storage and stability and reactivity.
Where contact between incompatible substances could create a harmful reaction, release or other hazard, suitable separation or segregation measures should be established.
For packaged dangerous substances, HSE guidance such as HSG71 may provide additional storage and segregation information.
COSHH does not establish one universal bund-capacity rule for every hazardous substance store.
However, preventing or controlling exposure can require appropriate arrangements for containing and dealing with spills or releases.
Secondary containment such as bunded storage, spill pallets or other containment systems may therefore form part of the controls identified through the risk assessment.
Separate environmental requirements, permits, guidance or other legislation may also affect the containment capacity and design required at a particular site.
Workplace Exposure Limits, commonly known as WELs, are limits on airborne concentrations of certain hazardous substances in workplace air.
Current Great Britain Workplace Exposure Limits are published by HSE in EH40.
Where a substance has a WEL, employers must ensure that exposure is adequately controlled and does not exceed the applicable limit.
For substances such as carcinogens, mutagens and asthmagens, exposure must be reduced to as low a level as is reasonably practicable in addition to meeting any applicable Workplace Exposure Limit.
Yes. Control measures used to prevent or control exposure must be properly used and maintained in an efficient state, in efficient working order, in good repair and in a clean condition where relevant.
Certain engineering controls, including local exhaust ventilation systems, require thorough examination and testing at specified intervals.
Employers should also ensure that procedures and other non-engineering controls continue to operate effectively.
Exposure monitoring may be required where it is necessary to ensure that employees are adequately protected or where COSHH specifically requires monitoring for particular substances or processes.
Monitoring can involve measuring airborne concentrations of hazardous substances and comparing the results with relevant Workplace Exposure Limits or other appropriate exposure criteria.
The need for monitoring should be determined through the COSHH assessment and the nature of the exposure involved.
Health surveillance is required in specified circumstances where employees are exposed to substances hazardous to health and the conditions set out by COSHH are met.
Its purpose is to identify signs of work-related ill health at an early stage and check whether workplace controls are adequately protecting employees.
Examples can include circumstances involving substances capable of causing occupational asthma, dermatitis or other identifiable occupational diseases.
The appropriate health-surveillance arrangements should be determined from the substance, exposure and applicable HSE requirements.
Employees who may be exposed to substances hazardous to health must receive suitable and sufficient information, instruction and training.
This should enable employees to understand:
Training should be appropriate to the work being performed and updated where significant changes affect the risks or control measures.
Where the nature of the work creates a foreseeable risk of an accident, incident or emergency involving a substance hazardous to health, appropriate arrangements should be established to protect employees and others who could be affected.
Depending on the hazards involved, arrangements may include:
The measures required should be proportionate to the substances and foreseeable consequences involved.
COSHH and DSEAR can both apply to the same substance, but they address different types of risk.
For example, a solvent may create a health risk from inhalation that must be controlled under COSHH while its flammable vapour also creates a fire or explosion risk requiring consideration under DSEAR.
Employers should therefore avoid treating a COSHH assessment as a substitute for a DSEAR assessment where both sets of requirements are relevant.
The Control of Substances Hazardous to Health Regulations 2002 discussed on this page apply in Great Britain.
Northern Ireland has separate legislation: the Control of Substances Hazardous to Health Regulations (Northern Ireland) 2003.
Businesses operating in Northern Ireland should refer to guidance from the Health and Safety Executive for Northern Ireland and confirm the legislation applicable to their activities.
Chemstore provides hazardous material storage solutions that can support the control measures identified through a site’s COSHH and wider workplace risk assessments.
For drums and IBCs, the Hazvault range provides bunded chemical storage in a range of capacities and configurations.
For smaller quantities and indoor applications, Chemstore also supplies safety storage cabinets for different hazardous material storage requirements.
Storage equipment should be selected according to the substances, quantities, compatibility, workplace conditions and findings of the risk assessment. No individual storage product replaces the employer’s duties under COSHH.
The Health and Safety Executive and UK legislation website provide the primary sources for COSHH requirements in Great Britain.
This page provides general information about the Control of Substances Hazardous to Health Regulations 2002 and hazardous substance storage in Great Britain. It does not replace the Regulations, HSE guidance, Safety Data Sheets, a COSHH assessment or advice from a competent person.
The controls required for an individual workplace should always be determined from the substances, quantities, activities, exposure risks and site-specific conditions involved.
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