REGULAR
UNDER THE COSHH
A proper, accurate understanding of COSHH regulations is essential for any cleaning professional, according to regular TC Columnist Matt Baines, of Premiere Products.
As any of you that read my monthly witterings will be aware, I have been known to wax lyrical on the complexities inherent in the provision of a modern cleaning service, of the in-depth technical knowhow held by many of the industry’s workforce and of the chagrin felt at how ignorant people outside of the industry can be regarding these facts.
Whilst I continue to steadfastly maintain these points of view, I am frequently surprised by the blind spot in many a cleaning professional’s knowledge where a true and accurate understanding of the Control of Substances Hazardous to Health (COSHH) regulations is concerned.
As many will be aware, the COSHH regulations are a mechanism whereby employers can identify if any of the materials their employees use contain substances that are legally classified as being hazardous to health.
28 | Tomorrow’s Cleaning November 2015
Clearly the COSHH regulations are important, however, it is very common for me to come across organisations for which COSHH has become an umbrella term, encompassing all matters of chemical safety. For example, I would estimate that a good 75% of our end-user customers refer to the basic Health & Safety training delivered by our key account team as being COSHH training. Rest assured, this is definitely not the case.
Don’t get me wrong, I don’t wish to come across as some kind of geeky, red tape obsessed snob on this matter – far from it! I have no real problem with the fact that the term COSHH has become somewhat of a convenient catch-all on the proviso that those who need to know the requirements of the regulations within any given organisation, do so.
However, I fear this is quite frequently not the case. Whilst I can understand
there being a grey area surrounding the difference between COSHH and CLP (both being concerned with chemical safety), they are quite dissimilar from one another and exist to serve what are fundamentally distinct and separate purposes.
The core difference between the two is that CLP deals with the whole formulation and asks the question: “What effect could that have on someone?” Irritation or burning of the skin and eyes, etc.
By contrast COSHH weighs each ingredient on its own merit to gauge whether any are capable of entering the human bloodstream and as a result of over exposure, posing a more long-term hazard to our health. Where cleaning practices are concerned there are three potential routes via which a chemical substance could enter the body: absorption, ingestion and inhalation.
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