CoSHH
Control of Substances Hazardous to Health
One of the most "Googled" CoSHH related items is "Do I need a CoSHH Assessment for washing up liquid?"
Ultimately any substance (household or not) that you use for work purposes should have a CoSHH Assessment
You should not consider that COSHH is substance specific, but COSHH is more to do with your work operations and how those operations generate potential substance exposures than the substances themselves.
All substances are toxic to some degree and the dose creates the poison.
In essence, if you wash dishes at home once or twice a day, it’s doubtful you suffer any effects from that. If you spend 8 hours a day washing dishes at work, you may suffer some degree of ill health.
The fact that a substance is not classified as harmful does not mean it will not cause ill health with sufficient exposure.
Hazard checklist
Does any product you use have a danger label?
Does your process produce gas, fume, dust, mist or vapour?
Is the substance harmful to breathe in?
Can the substance harm your skin?
Is it likely that harm could arise because of the way you use or produce it?
What are you going to do about it?
- Use something else?
- Use it in another, safer way?
- Control it to stop harm being caused?
Will an MSDS (material safety data sheet) do?
No an MSDS is not the same and a CoSHH Assessment is still required.
Translating important data from an MSDS can be difficult and they can be tricky to understand.
Zebra Safety can complete this easily for you and your business.
It is essential that you share CoSHH Asssessments with staff who use the substances and they sign to say they understand.