WORKPLACE AIR MONITORING
Workplace Air Monitoring measures your workforce’s exposure to airborne dust, fume or vapour. Information from this monitoring will allow you to assess whether exposures in the workplace are being adequately controlled in order to keep staff protected from inhaling substances that can be hazardous to health.
The Control of Substances Hazardous to Health (COSHH) Regulations 2002 places a duty on to employers to undertake assessments to evaluate the risks to health when using hazardous substances in the workplace.
Benefits
- Ensure compliance with the COSHH Regulations and Workplace Exposure Limits (WEL’s)
- Inform your COSHH Risk Assessments
- Identify whether existing control measures are working and put more effective ones in place
- Allows you to select the right Respiratory Protective Equipment (RPE)
- Identify whether Health Surveillance is required in your workplace
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The main reason to undertake Workplace Air Monitoring is for compliance with the COSHH Regulations. Regulation 10 requires monitoring for exposure in the following instances:
- To inform a risk assessment
- When failure or deterioration of the control measures could result in a serious health effect
- When measurement is needed to ensure Workplace Exposure Limits are not exceeded
- When there have been significant changes to a process or work practices which may mean adequate control is no longer maintained
- To check the effectiveness of controls
Workplace Air Monitoring is important to ensure that exposures are controlled and thereby protects you and your employees from the consequences of ill health.
How Can We Help?
Elan Environmental has extensive experience of undertaking Workplace Air Monitoring, including dust, fume and vapour, in a wide range of industrial and manufacturing environments.
Using current sampling methodology and equipment we can undertake comprehensive Workplace Air Monitoring for industrial and commercial clients throughout the UK, that meets all current HSE guidelines. Our Workplace Air Monitoring can measure employee exposure as well as background levels of hazardous dusts, vapours and fumes including:
Types of Monitoring
Workplace Monitoring broadly falls into two categories – personal monitoring and static monitoring.
Personal monitoring looks at the concentration of hazardous substances that are present in an individual’s breathing zone. These results can be compared directly with Workplace Exposure Limits. Sampling equipment, typically in the form of a small battery-operated pump with various attachments, will need to be worn by an individual over the course of their shift or a specific task under investigation.
Depending on your requirement, static monitoring can also be performed. Static monitoring uses similar equipment, positioned in a fixed location, and can provide additional information. This can include determining background concentrations, identifying whether migration of contaminants is occurring and assessing the potential for bystander exposure.
These methods can be supported by other techniques such as the use of direct reading instruments or detector tubes.
During the assessment, the consultant will also gather information through observations and discussions with you and other staff to understand how and why exposures may occur. All the information is then compiled into a report which will advise on your current level of compliance and offer recommendations for improvement.
