Clevedon · COSHH / HSG258
Statutory thorough examination and testing of local exhaust ventilation for Clevedon workshops and production sites, keeping fume and dust control compliant with COSHH and HSE guidance HSG258.
Clevedon
Clevedon is a Victorian seaside town on the east shore of the Severn Estuary in North Somerset, a place that grew from a quiet farming village into a genteel resort once the railway arrived. Its landmark is Clevedon Pier, opened in 1869 and now Grade I listed, which the poet John Betjeman famously called the most beautiful pier in England.
Behind the seafront the town keeps a working economy of light-industrial units, marine and boat trades and the fabrication shops grouped in the estates off the M5 at Junction 20, chiefly the Hither Green Trading Estate and Kenn Road Business Park.
Every one of those Clevedon 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 Hither Green Trading Estate units to the smaller Clevedon workshops - with capture and face-velocity readings, a clear pass or remedial outcome and system labelling.
By sector
If a process captures fume, dust, mist or vapour at source, that capture system is LEV - and across Clevedon and the wider Somerset it is your evidence under COSHH.
Oil-mist and coolant-mist extraction on CNC machining centres and lathes in the engineering units of the Hither Green Trading Estate beside Junction 20 of the M5, where fine airborne mist has to be captured at the machine before it drifts across the shop floor.
Steam canopies and flour-dust control in Clevedon's bakeries, kitchens and small food producers, where extraction has to keep humidity, heat and airborne particulate off the workforce.
Fine-dust extraction and downdraught tables at Clevedon cabinet shops and joinery works, where hardwood and MDF dust is drawn off at the tool before it can reach the lungs.
On-torch extraction, fume arms and downdraught benches across the Hither Green Trading Estate, Kenn Road Business Park and the town's marine and boat-repair trades. Since the HSE's 2019 reclassification, all welding fume - mild steel included - is treated as carcinogenic.
Spray-booth and prep-bay extraction at Clevedon bodyshops. Two-pack paints release isocyanates - the leading cause of occupational asthma - so booth airflow is examined against its design figure.
Fume-cupboard face-velocity testing for the science laboratories at Clevedon School and the clinical spaces of Clevedon Community Hospital, to the containment their work demands.
On the ground in Clevedon
We are out under Clevedon's extraction every week. The proof that matters is the jobs, not a stock photo.
At a Clevedon bodyshop, capture velocity across parts of the spray booth had slipped below benchmark and a poorly sealed duct joint was to blame. We took face and capture readings, visualised airflow with smoke at each point and inspected the fan and filter. One point failed on a slipping belt to begin with, then passed after we put it right. Certificate and readings went over by email, and we gave the workshop manager a few pointers on keeping things clear between visits.
The test
A statutory LEV test to HSG258 is far more than a look round. On a Clevedon system it settles three questions: is the ductwork and plant intact, does it still capture at the hood, and does that capture still match the design.
Ductwork, hoods, filters, fans and dampers checked for damage, blockage and leakage across the Hither Green Trading 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 Clevedon line.
Where exposure is in question - a precision engineering and manufacturing process, say - sampling confirms whether control is actually protecting the people at the process.
The duty
COSHH Regulation 9 puts a hard duty on the employer: any LEV controlling a hazardous substance must have a thorough examination and test at least every fourteen months, with records kept for five years.
Across most Clevedon sites - the Hither Green Trading Estate plant and the smaller units alike - it is the fourteen-month interval that trips people up, because a lapsed test leaves the system non-compliant from that date whatever its real condition. We run the examination, mark every hood with its result and next-due date, and produce the report your insurer or an HSE inspector will look for, and any failed point comes back with its reading, its cause and the fix rather than a bare red tag.
How it runs
Full visual and structural check of every hood, duct run, filter and fan across the Clevedon 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 Clevedon duty-holder.
Each system tagged with status and next-due date, so compliance is visible on the Kenn Road Business Park 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. A precision engineering and manufacturing bay, a food and drink production bench and a lab fume cupboard can each sit on a different interval - we set the right one for every system.
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 Hither Green Trading Estate or a smaller Clevedon workshop needs for their COSHH file.
precision engineering and manufacturing, food and drink production, woodworking and joinery, welding and fabrication, vehicle body and paint, and laboratory fume cupboards - the trades clustered around Hither Green Trading Estate and Kenn Road Business Park and across the wider Somerset.
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 Hither Green Trading Estate production line we can usually fit the re-test around your shifts. We will not pass a system that does not control exposure.
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 Hither Green Trading Estate unit will ask to see.
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 Clevedon, but a Hither Green Trading Estate fabrication shop and a Hill Road canopy are kept as the separate jobs they are.
Yes. We plan testing around production shifts at the Hither Green Trading Estate units, term-time access at the Clevedon university labs, and normal hours at smaller workshops, so the examination never stops the line.
Local knowledge
When the Clevedon branch line opened in 1847 it turned a farming village into a resort, but the town also gathered a working economy of its own that today sits in the units off the M5 at Junction 20. The engineering and fabrication shops of the Hither Green Trading Estate and Kenn Road Business Park carry the same duty as any heavy-industry town: to control the mist, fume and dust their work throws off. We test and certify local exhaust ventilation to the standard the law sets, so the extraction reads true against its design figures. Every report shows exactly where the airflow meets the mark and where it falls short.
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