Motherwell · COSHH / HSG258
Statutory thorough examination and testing of local exhaust ventilation for Motherwell workshops and production sites, keeping fume and dust control compliant with COSHH and HSE guidance HSG258.
Motherwell
Motherwell is the administrative heart of North Lanarkshire, a town of around 32,000 people east of Glasgow whose name once stood for steel across Britain. They called it Steelopolis: the Dalzell works and the vast Ravenscraig plant made Motherwell the steel capital of Scotland, and Ravenscraig was the largest hot strip mill in Western Europe when it closed in 1992.
The heavy engineering, fabrication and manufacturing trades still run through the town, much of it grouped in the industrial units at Braidhurst Industrial Estate and Carfin Industrial Estate, with newer premises on the Flemington and Ravenscraig sites where the furnaces once stood.
Every one of those Motherwell 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 Braidhurst Industrial Estate units to the smaller Motherwell workshops - with capture and face-velocity readings, a clear pass or remedial outcome and system labelling.
By sector
Where fume, dust, mist or vapour is pulled away at the point it is made, that is LEV - and for employers in Motherwell and across Lanarkshire it stands as their COSHH evidence.
Oil-mist and coolant-mist extraction on CNC machining centres and grinding lines, in the machine shops and metalworking units that carry Motherwell's steel-town engineering heritage into precision manufacturing.
Steam canopies and flour-dust control in Lanarkshire's bakeries, butchers and food producers, where cooking, mixing and processing lines all need their extraction proven to keep the air right.
Fine-dust extraction and downdraught tables at Motherwell 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 Braidhurst and Carfin estates, in a town built on heavy fabrication. Since the HSE's 2019 reclassification, all welding fume - mild steel included - is treated as carcinogenic.
Spray-booth and prep-bay extraction at Motherwell 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 New College Lanarkshire and the healthcare and testing labs nearby, to the containment their work demands.
On the ground in Motherwell
We are out under Motherwell's extraction every week. The proof that matters is the jobs, not a stock photo.
A family-run ceramics studio in Motherwell had the extraction on its grinding station falling short, with a filter well overdue for replacement. We checked static pressure, cleared an unsealed joint and re-tested each point against benchmark. One point failed at first on the blocked filter and passed once the remedial work was done, and we logged and reported the readings. The job went in on a Sunday while the bay was closed.
The test
A statutory LEV test to HSG258 is far more than a look round. On a Motherwell 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 Braidhurst 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 Motherwell 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 Motherwell sites - from the Braidhurst 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 Motherwell 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 Motherwell duty-holder.
Each system tagged with status and next-due date, so compliance is visible on the Carfin 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.
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 Braidhurst Industrial Estate or a smaller Motherwell 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 Braidhurst Industrial Estate and Carfin Industrial Estate and across the wider Lanarkshire.
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 Braidhurst Industrial Estate unit will ask to see.
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 Motherwell, but a Braidhurst Industrial Estate fabrication shop and a Brandon Parade canopy are kept as the separate jobs they are.
Yes - the industrial estates and workshops around Braidhurst Industrial Estate and Carfin Industrial Estate, the university and hospital labs, and the wider Lanarkshire.
Yes. We plan testing around production shifts at the Braidhurst Industrial Estate units, term-time access at the Motherwell university labs, and normal hours at smaller workshops, so the examination never stops the line.
Local knowledge
David Colville and Sons opened the Dalzell Steel and Iron Works at Motherwell in 1872, and by the First World War it was the largest steelworks in Scotland, feeding the shipyards and engineering shops of the Clyde. That heavy-engineering instinct still runs through the town's machine shops and fabrication units, 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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