EDITOR’S CHOICE By Emma Holmberg, technical quality and compliance manager of Chemical Management at EcoOnline. I
n December 2025, a joint investigation between Channel 4 News and The Independent revealed the true extent to which NHS staff have been exposed to formaldehyde. With data from 117 NHS cell pathology departments revealing that over a third of them breached the UK’s legal limit, which sits at nearly seven times that set in the EU, it’s not surprising that workers are feeling the impact. Dangerously common, formaldehyde is categorised as a Group 1 human carcinogen, routinely present in settings as varied as hospital pathology labs, research facilities, composite-wood manufacturing, and metal foundries. With asbestos, the move from accumulating warnings to decisive prevention took too long; around 5,000 asbestos-related deaths still happen annually in the UK. This pattern of long-term harm from unsafe working conditions happens too often, evidenced by the 371 claims, worth £6m, that were made between April 2013 and March 2023 following hazardous substance exposure. The message is clear: the longer that organisations lean on minimal compliance, the more they harm workers, leading to escalating claims, reputational damage and rising insurance and remediation costs.
REGULATIVE CHANGE ON DANGEROUS CHEMICAL USE In the UK, the current legal limit for exposure to formaldehyde, as set by the HSE, is two parts per million (ppm) over eight hours. This is significantly higher than the EU’s binding occupational exposure limit of 0.3 ppm (0.37 mg/m³) over eight hours. The HSE has also noted that the formaldehyde WEL is under review, which signals potential change ahead.
Fortunately, the regulatory tide is changing. In October 2025, the UK government submitted a draft regulation to the World Trade Organisation (WTO) proposing a ban for 17 cosmetic substances and lowering the labelling threshold for formaldehyde-releasing preservatives. While this focuses on consumer products rather than workplace exposure limits, it reflects the broader direction of travel: increased scrutiny of formaldehyde and formaldehyde-releasing substances, and rising expectations on organisations to re-examine how they use and control them.
OVERSIGHT IN CARCINOGEN CONTROL Many workplaces still rely on outdated, static chemical registers and paper SDS binders when managing chemical hazards. This approach is fundamentally misaligned with the Control of Substances Hazardous to Health (COSHH) framework, which urges businesses to identify hazardous substances, assess exposure, monitor exposure, and provide health surveillance where indicated. For carcinogens, the requirement is to drive exposure as low as reasonably practicable, not merely below a limit. Businesses looking to do this well need a living inventory linked to task-specific risk assessments, routine personal and area monitoring, verified engineering controls, and a documented plan to substitute, or phase out, high-risk substances where feasible. To prevent long-term health impacts from
formaldehyde, organisations need to identify and address risk wherever the chemical is stored, handled, or released. This includes pathology labs and mortuaries using formalin, research environments, and industrial settings where formaldehyde resins or treated materials are used. Prevention starts upstream. It includes procurement choices, task design (including containment and ventilation), safe decanting and waste handling, and clear controls for non-routine work such as maintenance, spill response, and emergencies. Effective control also depends on up-to-date chemical management practices as well as ongoing training, ensuring workers understand the exposure risks, required controls, and escalation steps.
DIGITAL SYSTEMS FOR HIGH-RISK CHEMICALS For businesses to shift towards proactive and effective chemical management, the solution lies in moving away from fragmented, reactive paperwork to a unified, cloud-based solution that centralises all information in one system. Modern solutions provide a complete chemical inventory, automated SDS updates, COSHH-ready risk assessments, and centralised exposure monitoring records and trends. This gives organisations clear visibility into how chemicals are used across their workplaces and helps reduce injury and illness risk. It also helps close execution gaps that often cause carcinogen controls to drift, ensuring controls are consistently applied and verifiable. Mobile access with QR-code scanning and version-controlled SDS retrieval ensures teams can instantly access up-to-date handling instructions, first-aid measures, and emergency guidance, removing reliance on outdated binders and speeding up decision-making at the point of use. As a single online chemical inventory links each substance to its current hazard profile, labelling requirements, exposure records, and training requirements, errors are minimised and consistent communication happens across rotating teams and multiple locations. With data retained over time, automated reporting and audit-ready trails reduce administrative effort, helping organisations demonstrate compliance, document exposure-related events, and verify that controls are implemented and reviewed. With ongoing visibility into chemical usage, exposure trends, and risk-reduction actions, businesses can act sooner when controls start to drift or risk indicators begin to rise. The result is a safer working environment, stronger compliance, and more predictable long-term outcomes. The biggest gains come when chemical safety is not treated as a standalone system but connected to day-to- day safety workflows. When chemical inventories, risk assessments, and SDS guidance feed into safety training and learning, the right people receive role-relevant instruction and refreshers. And similarly, if chemical management goes hand in hand with health and safety software, workers can more easily report risks and hazards, such as spills, strong odours, control failures, or unsafe handling at the point of risk. Those signals can then trigger corrective actions, reassessment, and targeted retraining, closing the loop between identifying chemical risk and preventing repeat exposure.
6 WINTER/SPRING 2026 | INDUSTRIAL COMPLIANCE
THE UK’S HIDDEN CHEMICAL SAFETY THREAT: FORMALDEHYDE
SUBSTITUTION AS A LONG-TERM STRATEGY Besides immediate exposure control, long-term risk reduction depends on substitution. With comparison tools within chemical management software, organisations are able to identify safer alternatives without compromising on performance or effectiveness. The software allows companies to document substitution decisions, monitor risk-reduction progress, and build an auditable record of safety-driven decision-making. Substitution is especially pertinent for formaldehyde and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS), both of which carry long-term health implications and growing legal scrutiny. The ability to demonstrate proactive measures will prove invaluable as courts and regulators intensify their focus on chemical exposures.
A TURNING POINT FOR UK BUSINESSES The shift toward stronger chemical safety is ultimately a cultural one. When organisations make critical information easily accessible, they empower employees with clarity during routine work, and in urgent situations. Real-time visibility reduces uncertainty, builds confidence, and supports safer decisions, especially when workers understand the handling, storage, and emergency procedures. With improved collective awareness, companies can strategically reflect the importance of chemical management being proactive and integrated, not reactive or administrative. The broader challenge facing UK businesses is whether they are prepared to evolve ahead of regulation, particularly when regulation can lag behind the research. The current regulatory environment shows that reliance on exposure limits alone is no longer enough. Building internal resilience means adopting dynamic inventories, real-time hazard communication and data-driven substitution strategies that reduce both present-day risks and long-term liabilities. The disparity between formaldehyde’s legal limit for exposure in the UK and that set in other regions is a clear call for businesses to act. Waiting for statutory alignment, or another high-profile investigation, risks repeating the pattern we observed with asbestos, leading to irreversible long-term harm. Instead, organisations can lead by replacing static compliance with modern, connected software systems that support continuous improvement, clearer accountability, and structured substitution planning.
EcoOnline
www.ecoonline.com
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36
