Epsom · COSHH / HSG258
Statutory thorough examination and testing of local exhaust ventilation for Epsom workshops and production sites, keeping fume and dust control compliant with COSHH and HSE guidance HSG258.
Epsom
Epsom sits on the northern edge of the Surrey downs, a market town of around 33,000 whose name the whole world has borrowed twice over - once for Epsom salts, the magnesium sulphate first drawn from its spa waters in the 1600s, and once for the Derby, the Classic flat race that has been run on Epsom Downs since 1780.
Its working economy runs on precision manufacturing, food production and the fabrication and vehicle trades, most of it grouped in the units of the Longmead Industrial Estate and the Kiln Lane Estate on the north side of the town off the A24.
Every one of those Epsom 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 Longmead Industrial Estate units to the smaller Epsom 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 Epsom and the wider Surrey it is your evidence under COSHH.
Oil-mist, coolant-mist and solder-fume extraction across the town's machine and assembly shops, from TensCare building its pain-relief and stimulation devices on the Longmead Industrial Estate to Ergonomic Solutions making technology mounts and mobility products on Kiln Lane.
Steam canopies, flour-dust control and cold-store extraction in the bakeries, kitchens and food units clustered on the Longmead and Kiln Lane estates that supply the town and its retail parks.
Fine-dust extraction and downdraught tables at Epsom 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 Longmead and Kiln Lane units. Since the HSE's 2019 reclassification, all welding fume - mild steel included - is treated as carcinogenic.
Spray-booth and prep-bay extraction at Epsom bodyshops and the Mercedes, Renault and Nissan dealerships off Kiln Lane. 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 science labs at Nescot, the University for the Creative Arts and Epsom General Hospital, to the containment their work demands.
On the ground in Epsom
We are out under Epsom's extraction every week. The proof that matters is the jobs, not a stock photo.
The station extract nozzles at a family-owned hair salon in Epsom had been reading low on airflow since their last test, which pointed to debris collecting in the ducting. We checked static pressure, cleared a leaking connection and re-tested every point against benchmark. Once a tired filter was replaced all the points passed, and we drew up a full LEV report for the COSHH file. The work was booked for a Monday with the studio closed.
The test
Under HSG258 a statutory LEV test is no visual once-over. For an Epsom system it has to answer three things - whether the system is sound, whether it still draws at the hood, and whether that draw holds to what it was designed to deliver.
Ductwork, hoods, filters, fans and dampers checked for damage, blockage and leakage across the Longmead 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 an Epsom 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.
For most Epsom sites - from the Longmead 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 Epsom 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 Epsom duty-holder.
Each system tagged with status and next-due date, so compliance is visible on the Kiln Lane 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 an Epsom 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.
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 Longmead Industrial Estate or a smaller Epsom 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 Longmead Industrial Estate and Kiln Lane Estate and across the wider Surrey.
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 Longmead Industrial Estate unit will ask to see.
Yes. We plan testing around production shifts at the Longmead Industrial Estate units, term-time access at the Epsom university labs, and normal hours at smaller workshops, so the examination never stops the line.
Yes - the industrial estates and workshops around Longmead Industrial Estate and Kiln Lane Estate, the university and hospital labs, and the wider Surrey.
Local knowledge
Modern Epsom does its making on the Longmead Industrial Estate and the Kiln Lane Estate, where firms like TensCare, builder of pain-relief and nerve-stimulation devices, and Ergonomic Solutions, maker of technology mounts, sit among the town's engineering and assembly shops. Precision work like this throws off solder fume, coolant mist and fine dust that has to be drawn away at the source. Every one of those employers carries a duty to control it. We test and certify local exhaust ventilation to the standard COSHH sets, so the extraction reads true against its design figures.
Phoenix Duct Clean · by the numbers
Stay compliant with COSHH and HSG258. No-obligation quote, UK-wide.