Letchworth · COSHH / HSG258
Statutory thorough examination and testing of local exhaust ventilation for Letchworth workshops and production sites, keeping fume and dust control compliant with COSHH and HSE guidance HSG258.
Letchworth
Letchworth Garden City is the world's first garden city, a town of around 33,600 people in North Hertfordshire that First Garden City Ltd began building in 1903 to Ebenezer Howard's vision of combining the best of town and country. Its masterplan was drawn by the architects Barry Parker and Raymond Unwin, and the experiment went on to inspire planned towns across the globe.
Its working economy runs on precision engineering, printing, food and the fabrication trades, much of it grouped in the units along Works Road, at Pixmore, off Icknield Way and across Letchworth Business Park.
Each of those Letchworth 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 the Works Road industrial estates units to the one-bench Letchworth workshops, taking capture and face-velocity readings and leaving a clear pass or remedial verdict with the hoods labelled.
By sector
Where fume, dust, mist or vapour is pulled away at the point it is made, that is LEV - and for employers in Letchworth and across Hertfordshire it stands as their COSHH evidence.
Oil-mist and coolant-mist extraction on CNC machining centres and electronics lines, in the tradition of the British Tabulating Machine Company that moved to Letchworth in 1920 and grew into ICL, and the precision and safety-systems work carried on by employers such as Tyco.
Steam canopies and flour-dust control in the town's bakeries and kitchens, and the mash tuns and brewing vessels of the Garden City Brewery that revived commercial brewing in a town founded teetotal.
Fine-dust extraction and downdraught tables at Letchworth 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 Works Road and Pixmore units. Since the HSE's 2019 reclassification, all welding fume - mild steel included - is treated as carcinogenic.
Spray-booth and prep-bay extraction at Letchworth 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 science labs at North Hertfordshire College and the town's testing and manufacturing labs, to the containment their work demands.
On the ground in Letchworth
We are out under Letchworth's extraction every week. The proof that matters is the jobs, not a stock photo.
A traditional joinery workshop in Letchworth had the extraction on its sanders not pulling as it should, down to a worn fan impeller. We took benchmark readings, visualised capture at each hood and cleared debris out of the ducting. The tool capture hoods passed on re-test, written up in a full LEV report for the COSHH file. We fitted the visit around the weekly delivery so the team weren't disturbed.
The test
A statutory LEV test under HSG258 is not a visual once-over. On a Letchworth 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 the Works Road industrial estates 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 Letchworth 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
Under Regulation 9 of COSHH the obligation sits squarely with the employer - any LEV that controls a hazardous substance needs a thorough examination and test at least every fourteen months, and the records held for five years.
For most Letchworth sites - from the the Works Road industrial estates 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 Letchworth 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 Letchworth duty-holder.
Each system tagged with status and next-due date, so compliance is visible on the Letchworth 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 the Works Road industrial estates or a smaller Letchworth workshop needs for their COSHH file.
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 the Works Road industrial estates production line we can usually fit the re-test around your shifts. We will not pass a system that does not control exposure.
Yes. We plan testing around production shifts at the the Works Road industrial estates units, term-time access at the Letchworth 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 the Works Road industrial estates unit will ask to see.
Yes. A new spray booth or fume-arm install at a Letchworth 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.
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 the Works Road industrial estates and Letchworth Business Park and across the wider Hertfordshire.
Local knowledge
The British Tabulating Machine Company moved from London to Letchworth in 1920 and became the town's biggest employer, growing through ICT into ICL and helping make the garden city a centre of precision engineering. Shelvoke and Drewry built dustcarts and fire engines here from 1922 until 1991, and that engineering instinct still runs through Letchworth's machine shops and electronics lines. 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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