Manchester · COSHH / HSG258
Statutory thorough examination and testing of local exhaust ventilation for Manchester workshops and production sites, keeping fume and dust control compliant with COSHH and HSE guidance HSG258.
Manchester
Manchester was the world's first industrial city, and a city of around 552,000 people still makes things at scale - engineering, fabrication and food manufacturing run right across it.
The trades cluster on the estates - welding and fabrication around Sharston and Openshaw, the bodyshops and machine shops between them - alongside the bakeries and food producers, the joinery and print shops, and the life-sciences and teaching labs of the two universities and the Royal Infirmary.
Every one of those Manchester 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 Sharston units to the smaller Manchester workshops - with capture and face-velocity readings, a clear pass or remedial outcome and system labelling.
By sector
Any system that draws fume, dust, mist or vapour off at source counts as LEV, and across Manchester and the rest of Greater Manchester it is the evidence COSHH expects you to hold.
On-torch extraction, fume arms and downdraught benches across the engineering and fabrication units around Sharston and Openshaw. Since the HSE's 2019 reclassification, all welding fume - mild steel included - is treated as carcinogenic.
Oil-mist extraction on machining centres across the city's engineering shops. Mist collectors clog quietly; a measured face velocity is the only proof they still capture.
Spray-booth and prep-bay extraction at Manchester bodyshops. Two-pack paints release isocyanates - the leading cause of occupational asthma - so booth airflow is examined to its design figure.
Flour-dust and steam extraction across the city's bakeries and food producers - fine organic dust that is a health and a combustion risk when it is left to build.
Dust extraction on saws, sanders and routers. Hardwood dust is a known carcinogen; ductwork and filters are checked for capture and leakage.
Fume-cupboard face-velocity testing for the two universities, the Royal Infirmary and the city's life-sciences and R&D labs, to the containment their work demands.
On the ground in Manchester
We are out under Manchester's extraction every week. The proof that matters is the jobs, not a stock photo.
A dental prosthetic lab in Manchester had fine white acrylic grinding dust settling on the benches around the polishing stations - the bench cowl was set too far back from the wheel to catch it. We measured the hood's capture velocity and it was sound mechanically, but the real fix was distance: we ran a smoke pen across the wheel to show the six technicians exactly where the capture dropped off, and set the hood where it needed to be. It passed on performance, with a note that the capture only works if the hood stays close to the work. The lab was tight on space, so we tested outside their normal hours.
The test
A statutory LEV test to HSG258 is far more than a look round. On a Manchester 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 Sharston 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 Manchester line.
Where exposure is in question - a welding and fabrication 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 Manchester sites - from the Sharston 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 Manchester 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 Manchester duty-holder.
Each system tagged with status and next-due date, so compliance is visible on the Openshaw 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 welding and fabrication bay, a cnc and metalworking bench and a lab fume cupboard can each sit on a different interval - we set the right one for every system.
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 Manchester, but a Sharston fabrication shop and a Rusholme canopy are kept as the separate jobs they are.
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 Sharston or a smaller Manchester workshop needs for their COSHH file.
Yes. We plan testing around production shifts at the Sharston units, term-time access at the Manchester university labs, and normal hours at smaller workshops, so the examination never stops the line.
Yes - the industrial estates and workshops around Sharston and Openshaw, the university and hospital labs, and the wider Greater Manchester.
Yes. A new spray booth or fume-arm install at a Manchester 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. 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 Sharston unit will ask to see.
Phoenix Duct Clean · by the numbers
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