Consett · COSHH / HSG258
Statutory thorough examination and testing of local exhaust ventilation for Consett workshops and production sites, keeping fume and dust control compliant with COSHH and HSE guidance HSG258.
Consett
Consett is a hilltop town of around 30,000 on the edge of the Pennines in County Durham, once home to one of the largest steelworks in Europe, which since its 1980 closure has rebuilt itself around modern manufacturing.
The signature trade is manufacturing - the caravan and motorhome manufacturing, the engineering and fabrication, and the food and drink manufacturing - across the Hownsgill Industrial Park and Number One Industrial Estate estates, with the bodyshops between them.
Every one of those Consett 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 Hownsgill Industrial Park units to the smaller Consett workshops - with capture and face-velocity readings, a clear pass or remedial outcome and system labelling.
By sector
A system that catches fume, dust, mist or vapour at the point it is released is LEV, and for Consett employers and others across County Durham it is the record COSHH looks for first.
Styrene-vapour, spray-coating fume and wood-dust extraction across the composite-lamination, coating and joinery lines of the town's largest manufacturer, where the GRP and finishing work need capture at source.
Weld-fume, grinding-dust and cutting-fluid-mist extraction across the metal-fabrication and machine shops that succeeded the steel heritage, where metal fume and mist need capture proven.
Frying-fume, seasoning-dust and oven-fume extraction across the snack and food-production lines of the town's food heritage, where cooking fume and organic dust need capture at source.
On-torch extraction, fume arms and downdraught benches across the Hownsgill Industrial Park and Number One units. Since the HSE's 2019 reclassification, all welding fume - mild steel included - is treated as carcinogenic.
Spray-booth and prep-bay extraction at Consett 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 Derwentside College and the Shotley Bridge Community Hospital, to the containment their work demands.
On the ground in Consett
We are out under Consett's extraction every week. The proof that matters is the jobs, not a stock photo.
A caravan-manufacturing plant in Consett had a spray-and-dust extraction over a composite-lamination and coating bay pulling weak, letting styrene vapour and wood dust drift off the line. We measured the capture at the bench and checked the ducting and fan for losses. It failed on the low capture and the vapour breakthrough, and we specified the remedial work. The bay laid up GRP and coated, so the styrene monitoring backed up the airflow test.
The test
An HSG258 statutory LEV test goes well beyond a walk-round look. On a Consett system it has to establish three things - that the plant and ductwork are sound, that the hoods still capture, and that the capture still meets the figure the system was designed around.
Ductwork, hoods, filters, fans and dampers checked for damage, blockage and leakage across the Hownsgill Industrial Park 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 Consett line.
Where exposure is in question - a caravan and motorhome manufacturing 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 Consett sites - from the Hownsgill Industrial Park 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 Consett 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 Consett duty-holder.
Each system tagged with status and next-due date, so compliance is visible on the Number One Industrial Estate 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 caravan and motorhome manufacturing bay, an engineering and fabrication 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 Hownsgill Industrial Park or a smaller Consett workshop needs for their COSHH file.
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 Consett, but a Hownsgill Industrial Park fabrication shop and a Middle Street canopy are kept as the separate jobs they are.
Yes. A new spray booth or fume-arm install at a Consett 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 Hownsgill Industrial Park and Number One Industrial Estate, the university and hospital labs, and the wider County Durham.
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 Hownsgill Industrial Park unit will ask to see.
Yes. We plan testing around production shifts at the Hownsgill Industrial Park units, term-time access at the Consett university labs, and normal hours at smaller workshops, so the examination never stops the line.
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