Blyth · COSHH / HSG258
Statutory thorough examination and testing of local exhaust ventilation for Blyth workshops and production sites, keeping fume and dust control compliant with COSHH and HSE guidance HSG258.
Blyth
Blyth is a Northumberland port town of around 40,000, a major offshore-energy base where the first offshore wind farm in the UK was built, and home to the national blade-testing centre.
The signature trade is offshore energy - the offshore-wind and energy support of the Port of Blyth, the marine and offshore fabrication, and the renewables research and advanced manufacturing - across the Cowpen Lane Industrial Estate and Kitty Brewster estates, with the bodyshops between them.
Every one of those Blyth processes puts fume, dust, mist or vapour into the air, and COSHH requires it controlled at source - which means local exhaust ventilation, thoroughly examined and tested at least every fourteen months. We test the LEV across all of it - from the Cowpen Lane Industrial Estate units to the smaller Blyth workshops - with capture and face-velocity readings, a clear pass or remedial outcome and system labelling.
By sector
Where fume, dust, mist or vapour is pulled away at the point it is made, that is LEV - and for employers in Blyth and across Northumberland it stands as their COSHH evidence.
Weld-fume, coating-vapour and blade-grinding extraction across the offshore-wind and renewables support units of the Port of Blyth, the defining trade of the town, where fume and dust need capture at source.
Grinding, weld-fume and paint extraction across the marine and offshore-fabrication units, where metal dust and fume need capture proven.
Machining, solder-fume and coating extraction across the advanced-manufacturing units, where dust, fume and vapour need capture at source.
On-torch extraction, fume arms and downdraught benches across the Cowpen Lane Industrial Estate and Kitty Brewster units. Since the HSE's 2019 reclassification, all welding fume - mild steel included - is treated as carcinogenic.
Spray-booth and prep-bay extraction at Blyth bodyshops. Two-pack paints release isocyanates - the leading cause of occupational asthma - so booth airflow is examined to its design figure.
Fume-cupboard face-velocity testing for the local college and Blyth Community Hospital, to the containment their work demands.
On the ground in Blyth
We are out under Blyth's extraction every week. The proof that matters is the jobs, not a stock photo.
An offshore-energy fabrication yard at the Port of Blyth had a weld-fume extraction arm on a heavy-plate bay drooping short of the seam because its internal spine had cracked. We clamped the arm to hold position, measured the capture at the tip and logged the mechanical fault. It passed on the airflow but failed on the arm's positioning integrity, so the hood could not be held over the weld. Since the HSE reclassified all welding fume as carcinogenic in 2019, on-torch capture was checked alongside the arm on the offshore-wind structures.
The test
A statutory LEV test under HSG258 is not a visual once-over. On a Blyth 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 Cowpen Lane Industrial Estate 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 Blyth line.
Where exposure is in question - an offshore energy and renewables process, say - sampling confirms whether control is actually protecting the people at the process.
The duty
COSHH Regulation 9 makes it plain: any LEV controlling exposure to a hazardous substance has to be thoroughly examined and tested at intervals no greater than fourteen months, and the resulting records kept for at least five years.
For most Blyth sites - from the Cowpen Lane Industrial Estate 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 Blyth 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 Blyth duty-holder.
Each system tagged with status and next-due date, so compliance is visible on the Kitty Brewster 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 offshore energy and renewables bay, a marine and offshore fabrication bench and a lab fume cupboard can each sit on a different interval - we set the right one for every system.
Yes. A new spray booth or fume-arm install at a Blyth 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. We plan testing around production shifts at the Cowpen Lane Industrial Estate units, term-time access at the Blyth university labs, and normal hours at smaller workshops, so the examination never stops the line.
Offshore energy and renewables, marine and offshore fabrication, advanced manufacturing, welding and fabrication, vehicle body and paint, and the labs of the college and hospital - the trades clustered around Cowpen Lane Industrial Estate and Kitty Brewster and across the wider Northumberland.
Yes - the industrial estates and workshops around Cowpen Lane Industrial Estate and Kitty Brewster, the university and hospital labs, and the wider Northumberland.
A dated report to the HSG258 method, the readings taken, a pass or remedial outcome for each hood, and system labelling - the evidence a duty-holder at Cowpen Lane Industrial Estate or a smaller Blyth workshop needs for their COSHH file.
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 Cowpen Lane Industrial Estate unit will ask to see.
Phoenix Duct Clean · by the numbers
Stay compliant with COSHH and HSG258. No-obligation quote, UK-wide.