What's measured
A thorough examination and test tells you whether your extraction is moving air and capturing at the source the way it was designed to. It does not, on its own, tell you what a worker is actually breathing. For that you need air sampling - and it is a separate duty under COSHH.
The short answer
A thorough examination and test tells you whether your extraction is moving air and capturing at the source the way it was designed to. It does not, on its own, tell you what a worker is actually breathing. For that you need air sampling - and it is a separate duty under COSHH.
The detail
The LEV thorough examination sits under COSHH Regulation 9, which requires the control equipment to be kept in efficient working order and examined at least every fourteen months. Its job is engineering: airflow, capture velocity, static pressure, hood and duct condition, all judged against the system's design. Personal exposure monitoring - air sampling - sits under Regulation 10, and its job is different: to measure the concentration of a substance in the air a worker breathes, usually with a sampling pump and a collection medium worn in the breathing zone, or with static samplers around the process.
The two answer different questions. The test asks whether the kit is performing as designed. Sampling asks whether exposure is actually below the workplace exposure limit. A system can pass its examination and still leave exposure too high if the design was wrong for the process, or the work has changed - which is exactly why sampling is sometimes needed alongside the test rather than instead of it.
What it means for you
Air sampling is called for when you need positive proof that exposure is controlled: where the substance is a carcinogen or asthmagen and confidence has to be high, where the control approach is novel or uncertain, where a substance carries a specific monitoring requirement, or after a change to the process, materials or extraction. It is also the way to demonstrate compliance with a workplace exposure limit rather than infer it from airflow alone. The test and the sample also run on different clocks: the examination is a fixed fourteen-month duty, while sampling is driven by the risk and repeated whenever the process, the substance or the control changes enough to matter.
Where sampling is not required, the examination still stands as the routine check that keeps the system honest between exposure assessments. The sensible position is to treat the two as partners: the fourteen-month test proves the extraction still works, and sampling - when the risk warrants it - proves the worker is genuinely protected.
The service behind the guide
We carry out LEV thorough examination and testing, and can advise where exposure sampling is the right next step, with a clear report either way.
Questions
Not usually. A thorough examination and test measures the engineering performance of the extraction - airflow, capture and condition - against its design. Measuring the concentration a worker breathes is a separate exercise called air or exposure sampling.
Personal exposure monitoring falls under COSHH Regulation 10, which is distinct from the LEV examination duty under Regulation 9. The two are complementary rather than interchangeable.
Typically when you need positive proof exposure is below the workplace exposure limit - for carcinogens or asthmagens, novel or uncertain controls, substances with a specific monitoring requirement, or after a change to the process or materials.
Yes. If the extraction was under-designed for the process, or the work has changed, the kit can perform to its design and still leave exposure too high. Sampling is what reveals that.
For personal monitoring, the sampler is worn in the worker's breathing zone so it measures what they actually inhale. Static samplers can also be placed around the process for background context.
Phoenix Duct Clean · by the numbers
We carry out LEV thorough examination and testing, and can advise where exposure sampling is the right next step to prove you are below the workplace exposure limit.