Basildon · COSHH / HSG258
Statutory thorough examination and testing of local exhaust ventilation for Basildon workshops and production sites, keeping fume and dust control compliant with COSHH and HSE guidance HSG258.
Basildon
Basildon is an Essex new town of around 188,000, home to Ford's Dunton Technical Centre - once the largest engineering research centre in Europe.
The work is automotive and manufacturing - the vehicle and engine engineering of the Ford Dunton base and its supply chain, the electronics and plastics manufacture, and the fabrication and food units - across the Pipps Hill and Burnt Mills estates, with the bodyshops and distribution between them.
Each of those Basildon processes throws fume, dust, mist or vapour into the workplace air, and COSHH demands it is captured at source - that capture system is local exhaust ventilation, and it must be thoroughly examined and tested at least every fourteen months. We cover the lot, from the Pipps Hill units to the one-bench Basildon workshops, taking capture and face-velocity readings and leaving a clear pass or remedial verdict with the hoods labelled.
By sector
A system that catches fume, dust, mist or vapour at the point it is released is LEV, and for Basildon employers and others across Essex it is the record COSHH looks for first.
Machining, weld-fume, exhaust and paint extraction on the automotive and engine-engineering lines, where metal dust, mist and fume need capture at source.
Solder-fume and dust extraction on the electronics and manufacturing lines, where fine dust and fume need capture proven.
VOC and particulate extraction on the plastics and recycling lines, where melt fume and dust need capture at source.
On-torch extraction, fume arms and downdraught benches across the Pipps Hill and Burnt Mills units. Since the HSE's 2019 reclassification, all welding fume - mild steel included - is treated as carcinogenic.
Spray-booth and prep-bay extraction at Basildon bodyshops. Two-pack paints release isocyanates - the leading cause of occupational asthma - so booth airflow is examined to its design figure.
Dust, steam and fume-cupboard extraction across the food producers and labs, where organic dust and vapour need capture at source.
On the ground in Basildon
We are out under Basildon's extraction every week. The proof that matters is the jobs, not a stock photo.
A plastic recycling yard in Basildon had the shredder-hopper extraction ducting crushed flat where a forklift had caught it. We cut the crushed section out, spliced in a new rigid steel segment and verified the transport velocity. It passed after the on-site repair, with the velocity back to 22 metres per second to clear the plastic flakes. It was a noisy outdoor yard with heavy vehicles moving, so it was high-vis winter gear and radios throughout.
The test
A statutory LEV test under HSG258 is not a visual once-over. On a Basildon system it answers three things: is the system intact, does it still capture, and does that capture match what it was designed to do.
Ductwork, hoods, filters, fans and dampers checked for damage, blockage and leakage across the Pipps Hill units - the faults that quietly kill capture.
Face and capture velocities, static pressures and airflows measured at each hood with calibrated instruments - numbers, not opinion.
Readings compared to the system's commissioning figures, so drift from as-designed is caught before it becomes a failure on a Basildon line.
Where exposure is in question - an automotive and engineering process, say - sampling confirms whether control is actually protecting the people at the process.
The duty
The duty is written into COSHH Regulation 9: where LEV controls a hazardous substance, the employer must have it thoroughly examined and tested at least every fourteen months and keep the records for five years.
For most Basildon sites - from the Pipps Hill units to the smaller workshops - the fourteen-month clock is the one that bites: miss it and the system is non-compliant the day it lapses, whatever its condition. We examine, label each hood with its status and next-due date, and issue the report an HSE inspector or your insurer will ask to see. If something fails, you get the reading, the cause and the fix - not just a red sticker.
How it runs
Full visual and structural check of every hood, duct run, filter and fan across the Basildon site.
Calibrated velocity, pressure and airflow readings at each extraction point.
A COSHH-compliant report: results against benchmark, clear pass or fail, and plain-English actions for the Basildon duty-holder.
Each system tagged with status and next-due date, so compliance is visible on the Burnt Mills floor.
Questions
Under COSHH Regulation 9, most local exhaust ventilation needs a thorough examination and test at least every 14 months, with higher-risk processes more often. An automotive and engineering bay, an electronics and manufacturing bench and a lab fume cupboard can each sit on a different interval - we set the right one for every system.
No. LEV testing is a statutory examination of fume and dust control to COSHH and HSG258, with capture and face-velocity readings; TR19 is kitchen grease and fire risk. We do both across Basildon, but a Pipps Hill fabrication shop and a Pitsea canopy are kept as the separate jobs they are.
Yes. We plan testing around production shifts at the Pipps Hill units, term-time access at the Basildon university labs, and normal hours at smaller workshops, so the examination never stops the line.
Yes. Each hood is labelled with its status and next-due date, and you get the HSG258 report and system schematic for your COSHH file - the record an HSE inspector visiting a Pipps Hill unit will ask to see.
Yes. A new spray booth or fume-arm install at a Basildon workshop needs a commissioning test to prove it performs to its design figures before it goes into service - we measure it and document the baseline the 14-month clock then runs from.
Yes - the industrial estates and workshops around Pipps Hill and Burnt Mills, the university and hospital labs, and the wider Essex.
We record it as remedial and set out what is needed - airflow, ductwork, filtration or capture at the hood. You do the work and we re-test, and on a Pipps Hill production line we can usually fit the re-test around your shifts. We will not pass a system that does not control exposure.
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