COSHH REGULATIONS 2002, AS AMENDED 2004

ACoP Regulation 9 specifies that the employer must ensure that whoever carries out a maintenance examination and test is competent to do so in accordance with regulation 12 of COSHH. 'People carrying out examination and test on LEV plant must have adequate knowledge, training and expertise in examination methods and techniques - UKAS RG4 provides guidance for the selection of competent persons to perform the tasks.' All P&J test staff comply with the specific LEV testing qualifications listed in RG4.

REGULATION 12 OF COSHH states that the person to whom any work is delegated/sub contracted is qualified to do it and identifies the British Occupational Hygiene Society as the relevant UK professional body, P&J is a corporate member of BOHS and individual professional staff are members too. P&J test staff and their supervisors have appropriate BOHS specialist training and qualifications.

REGULATION 9 OF COSHH also specifies that the test should be in accordance with HSG54, which lays down criteria for selection of competent test personnel.

Regulation 9 & HSG54 specify the information to be included in an LEV test/ assessment report.

P&J comply with all of these including areas often omitted by insurance companies and specialist test firms. Areas typically omitted include:

• Measurement of the airborne concentration of dust in the breathing zone of the workers to demonstrate the success of the LEV at controlling the hazardous substance. This needs to be done by a trained technician - all P&J's test engineers are suitably trained and can also undertake personal sampling of individual operatives exposure over an 8hr TWA if required.
   
• Details of the adjustment or repairs needed to restore the LEV to its original operating/ design specification.
   
• Measurement of the filter efficiency and concentration of the contaminant in systems which return the filtered air (in mg/m³ or ppm as appropriate.)
   
• Record Keeping - P&J guarantee to keep hard and electronic copies of all test reports for at least 5 years.