What is COSHH Essentials?
COSHH Essentials (http://www.coshh-essentials.org.uk/) is a control banding tool that helps small and medium-sized enterprises to do risk assessments for chemicals and mixtures of chemicals. COSHH stands for control of substances hazardous to health. This tool requires four pieces of information: • The type of task (e.g. mixing liquids, sack filling, manually cleaning and disinfecting surfaces) • The hazard classification from the material safety data sheet, or MSDS, part 15 (obtained from the chemical manufacturer or supplier) • The volatility or dustiness of the chemical or product • The amount used in the task (small quantities = grams or milliliters; medium quantities = kilograms or liters; large quantities = tons or cubic meters) The system then • identifies the control band (control approach), • produces advice on controlling risk from the chemical used in the specified task, and • provides written guidance and documentation as a result of the assessment. In British law, the duty
