COSHH, law & TExT
The logbook is where your extraction proves itself between tests - and it is the first thing an inspector reaches for.
The short answer
HSG258 is explicit that every LEV owner needs two documents: a user manual that describes the system and how it should perform, and a logbook that records what has actually happened to it. The manual is the reference; the logbook is the living history. Together they let anyone - a manager, a new examiner, an HSE inspector - see whether the system has been checked, serviced and tested as it should have been.
The detail
HSG258 provides a checklist of logbook contents. In practice it records the weekly operator checks - system on, grilles and pre-filters clear, airflow indicator normal, each dated and signed - along with any routine servicing, filter changes and repairs, and the result and date of every thorough examination and test.
It should also point to the reference material: the commissioning data that sets the benchmarks, and the user manual. The value is cumulative. One dated check proves little; three years of dated checks, services and test results proves the system has been under continuous control - which is exactly what compliance is.
What it means for you
The logbook only works if it is continuously populated, not assembled the week before an inspection. A record written up retrospectively is worth little as evidence and tends to show - gaps in dates, uniform handwriting, checks that clearly never happened. Inspectors know the difference, and an obviously reconstructed logbook damages rather than helps your position.
Kept properly, it is quietly powerful. It turns a scatter of job sheets and inbox attachments into a single, defensible narrative you can open in five minutes: here is the system, here is what good looks like, and here is the unbroken record that it has stayed that way.
It is also the simplest thing to delegate well. A short, dated weekly routine carried out by a trained operator, with the examiner adding each test result, keeps the record current without anyone having to reconstruct it later under pressure.
The service behind the guide
Each thorough examination we carry out is entered into your logbook with its result and next due date, and we will help you set the weekly check routine around it - so your history stays continuous and credible.
Questions
HSG258 states every LEV owner needs a user manual and a logbook, and it is how you evidence the maintenance, checks and testing that COSHH Regulation 9 requires. Without it you cannot demonstrate compliance, so in practice it is essential.
Dated weekly operator checks, routine servicing and repairs, filter changes, and the result and date of each thorough examination and test - plus references to the commissioning data and user manual. HSG258 gives a checklist of contents.
No. The user manual describes the system and its intended performance; the logbook records what has actually been done to it over time. HSG258 expects an LEV owner to have both.
The operators or a designated competent person record the routine weekly or daily checks and any servicing; the examiner enters the result of each thorough examination and test. It should be kept up as you go, not written up before an inspection.
Test records must be kept for at least five years under COSHH. A rolling multi-year logbook is good practice, since the value is in showing continuous control over time - so many businesses simply keep the logbook running for the working life of the system.
Phoenix Duct Clean · by the numbers
We enter each thorough examination result into your logbook and help you set up the weekly check routine around it, so your record reads as one continuous history. Call or email to arrange it.