Northwich · COSHH / HSG258
Statutory thorough examination and testing of local exhaust ventilation for Northwich workshops and production sites, keeping fume and dust control compliant with COSHH and HSE guidance HSG258.
Northwich
Northwich, in Cheshire, is a Weaver-valley salt town of around 22,700 whose centuries of brine pumping and soda-ash chemistry, and the Victorian Anderton Boat Lift, shaped the landscape between the rivers Weaver and Dane.
The signature trade is salt and chemicals - the soda-ash and sodium-bicarbonate manufacturing, the brine-fed chemical and process plants, and the engineering and food of the estates - across the Gadbrook Park and Wincham Industrial Estate estates, with the bodyshops between them.
Every one of those Northwich 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 Gadbrook Park units to the smaller Northwich 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 Northwich and across Cheshire it stands as their COSHH evidence.
Alkaline-dust, process-fume and drying-fume extraction across the soda-ash and sodium-bicarbonate lines, the defining trade of the salt town, where fine alkaline dust is a respiratory irritant and needs capture at source.
Reactive-vapour, mist and particulate extraction across the brine-fed process plants of the Winnington and Lostock corridor, where the process vapour needs capture proven.
Weld-fume, machining-mist and cooking-fume extraction across the engineering, distribution and food units of the estates, where metal dust and cooking fume each need their own capture.
On-torch extraction, fume arms and downdraught benches across the Gadbrook Park and Wincham units. Since the HSE's 2019 reclassification, all welding fume - mild steel included - is treated as carcinogenic.
Spray-booth and prep-bay extraction at Northwich 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 local college and the Victoria Infirmary, to the containment their work demands.
On the ground in Northwich
We are out under Northwich's extraction every week. The proof that matters is the jobs, not a stock photo.
A soda-ash and sodium-bicarbonate works near Northwich had an alkaline-dust extraction over a drying-and-milling line pulling weak, letting fine process powder drift off the plant. We measured the capture at the hood and checked the collector for leaks. It failed on the low capture and the dust breakthrough, and we specified the remedial work. Fine alkaline dust is a respiratory irritant, so respiratory protection and the dust housekeeping were checked alongside the airflow.
The test
Under HSG258 a statutory LEV test is no visual once-over. For a Northwich 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 Gadbrook Park 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 Northwich line.
Where exposure is in question - a soda-ash and chemicals manufacturing process, say - sampling confirms whether control is actually protecting the people at the process.
The duty
The duty is written into COSHH Regulation 9: where LEV controls a hazardous substance, the employer must have it thoroughly examined and tested at least every fourteen months and keep the records for five years.
For most Northwich sites - from the Gadbrook Park 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 Northwich 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 Northwich duty-holder.
Each system tagged with status and next-due date, so compliance is visible on the Wincham 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 soda-ash and chemicals manufacturing bay, a brine-fed process manufacturing 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 Gadbrook Park or a smaller Northwich 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 Gadbrook Park production line we can usually fit the re-test around your shifts. We will not pass a system that does not control exposure.
Yes - the industrial estates and workshops around Gadbrook Park and Wincham Industrial Estate, the university and hospital labs, and the wider Cheshire.
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 Gadbrook Park unit will ask to see.
Soda-ash and chemicals manufacturing, brine-fed process manufacturing, engineering and food, welding and fabrication, vehicle body and paint, and the labs of the college and infirmary - the trades clustered around Gadbrook Park and Wincham Industrial Estate and across the wider Cheshire.
Yes. We plan testing around production shifts at the Gadbrook Park units, term-time access at the Northwich university labs, and normal hours at smaller workshops, so the examination never stops the line.
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