Droitwich · COSHH / HSG258
Statutory thorough examination and testing of local exhaust ventilation for Droitwich workshops and production sites, keeping fume and dust control compliant with COSHH and HSE guidance HSG258.
Droitwich
Droitwich Spa sits on some of the richest brine springs in Britain, a natural salt water ten times stronger than seawater and as salty as the Dead Sea. The Romans knew it as Salinae, the salt town, and it was salt that made the place - John Corbett, the 'Salt King', industrialised the works in the nineteenth century and turned Droitwich into the only inland brine spa in the country.
Its working economy today runs on manufacturing, food production and the fabrication trades, much of it grouped in the units north of the town at Berry Hill Industrial Estate and Hampton Lovett Industrial Estate off the A38.
Each of those Droitwich 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 Berry Hill Industrial Estate units to the one-bench Droitwich workshops, taking capture and face-velocity readings and leaving a clear pass or remedial verdict with the hoods labelled.
By sector
Any system that draws fume, dust, mist or vapour off at source counts as LEV, and across Droitwich and the rest of Worcestershire it is the evidence COSHH expects you to hold.
Oil-mist and coolant-mist extraction on CNC machining centres across the Berry Hill and Hampton Lovett units, where metal is cut, ground and finished a short run from Junction 5 of the M5.
Steam canopies and dust control in the food plants around Droitwich, from the dairy operations near the estates to the bakeries and processors that Wychavon's food trade depends on.
Fine-dust extraction and downdraught tables at Droitwich cabinet shops and joinery works, where hardwood and MDF dust is captured at the tool before it reaches the lungs.
On-torch extraction, fume arms and downdraught benches across the Kingswood Road and Wassage Way units at Hampton Lovett. Since the HSE's 2019 reclassification, all welding fume - mild steel included - is treated as carcinogenic.
Spray-booth and prep-bay extraction at Droitwich 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 laboratories and technical units on the Droitwich estates, to the containment their work demands.
On the ground in Droitwich
We are out under Droitwich's extraction every week. The proof that matters is the jobs, not a stock photo.
Face velocity across the dust capture hoods at a privately owned Droitwich ceramics studio was reading low, traced to a worn fan impeller. We carried out a full thorough examination and test — velocity readings, smoke visualisation and a filter check. Every point passed on re-test once the impeller was replaced, and we filed the readings and a report. We slotted the work into a quiet bank holiday to suit the workshop manager.
The test
A statutory LEV test under HSG258 is not a visual once-over. On a Droitwich 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 Berry Hill 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 Droitwich 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 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 Droitwich sites - from the Berry Hill 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 Droitwich 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 Droitwich duty-holder.
Each system tagged with status and next-due date, so compliance is visible on the Hampton Lovett 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 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.
Yes. A new spray booth or fume-arm install at a Droitwich 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 Berry Hill Industrial Estate and Hampton Lovett Industrial Estate, the university and hospital labs, and the wider Worcestershire.
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 Droitwich, but a Berry Hill Industrial Estate fabrication shop and a Friar Street canopy are kept as the separate jobs they are.
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 Berry Hill Industrial Estate and Hampton Lovett Industrial Estate and across the wider Worcestershire.
Yes. We plan testing around production shifts at the Berry Hill Industrial Estate units, term-time access at the Droitwich 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 Berry Hill Industrial Estate unit will ask to see.
Local knowledge
Droitwich brine carries around two and a half pounds of salt to the gallon, ten times the strength of seawater, and John Corbett built his fortune drawing and boiling it, earning the name the 'Salt King' as he industrialised the works through the nineteenth century. That instinct for heavy process still runs through the town's machine shops and food plants, and every one of them carries a duty to control the mist, fume and dust its work throws off. We test and certify local exhaust ventilation to the standard COSHH sets, so the extraction reads true against its design figures.
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