COSHH Assessment

Almost 2% of the UK workforce is affected by occupational illness every year.
Occupational exposure to chemical agents is responsible for a large number of these recorded cases. Inhalation of dusts, mists, vapours, fumes and gases is an ever present hazard in many workplaces, and absorption through skin exposure is another often underestimated hazard.

Under the COSHH Regulations, employers must assess the risks of exposure to hazardous substances in the workplace. There are well-defined steps integral to this process and we can assist with any of them:

• Identification of toxic or harmful substances – raw materials, by-products, waste materials etc.
• Assessment of mode and degree of exposure.
• Evaluation of current control measures.
• Recommendations for improved control.

Employers may require help with the whole process or just one part of it. We will tailor our assistance to your specific requirements.

Air Sampling

Brian Milligan Associates have a wealth of experience in measuring exposure to a wide range of airborne contaminants, whether it be extremely visible hazards such as wood dust or flour dust or more insidious ones such as isocyanates or hexavalent chromium.

Most surveys involve the employees wearing personal sampling equipment consisting of a battery-operated pump which draws the air through a medium that traps the contaminant of interest, such as a filter for airborne particulates or a tube of charcoal or molecular sieve for gaseous components. Passive sampling badges may also be used, which do not require the use of a pump. Static samplers may be stationed at strategic points to monitor background levels.

Air sampling may be needed as part of a COSHH Assessment, to investigate the effectiveness of controls such as local exhaust ventilation or to find out what level of respiratory protection is needed. It is also often useful as a means or reassuring the workforce if unfounded fears have been raised.

The science of air sampling is a highly technical area which requires some planning both in terms of techniques, to ensure accuracy of measurement, but also in terms of strategy, so that the exercise is designed to answer the right questions. To that end, we would normally visit the site and talk through the purpose of the measurements before formulating a methodology and offering a quotation.

Noise Measurement and Control

This could be very similar to my current page 4, but take out the sentence "Workplace exposure limits have come down by 5 dB(A) in 2006".

Office Environment

Office workers can often display a variety of symptoms such as headaches, tiredness, sore throats, etc., which are thought to be work-related but are difficult to allocate to any particular cause. Often known as 'sick building syndrome' these debilitating symptoms ca be due to a wide variety of disparate causes including:

• Inappropriate temperature or humidity
• Draughts or lack of air movement
• High carbon dioxide levels
• Carbon monoxide from heating appliances
• Volatile organic compounds from furnishings or other materials
• Paper dust from printers
• Inadequate or poorly directed lighting
• Bacteria, yeasts or moulds
• Ergonomic problems with display screen equipment.

We are experienced in assessing such situations, and would make the most appropriate measurements to assess the data and advise as to what action to take to eliminate or mitigate the problem.