Redditch · COSHH / HSG258
Statutory thorough examination and testing of local exhaust ventilation for Redditch workshops and production sites, keeping fume and dust control compliant with COSHH and HSE guidance HSG258.
Redditch
Redditch is a Worcestershire new town of around 87,000, once the needle capital of the world and still a strong manufacturing town.
The signature trade is manufacturing - the springs, precision components and light manufacturing rooted in the town's needle and fishing-tackle heritage - alongside advanced manufacturing and plastics, across the Washford Industrial Estate and Moons Moat estates, with the bodyshops between them.
Each of those Redditch 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 Washford Industrial Estate units to the one-bench Redditch 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 Redditch and across Worcestershire it stands as their COSHH evidence.
Machining, grinding and fume extraction across the manufacturing and engineering units, a trade rooted in Redditch's needle and spring heritage, where metal dust and mist need capture at source.
Grinding, degreasing and fume extraction across the spring and precision-component lines, where metal dust and solvent vapour need capture proven.
VOC and particulate extraction on the plastics and moulding lines, where melt fume and dust need capture at source.
On-torch extraction, fume arms and downdraught benches across the Washford Industrial Estate and Moons Moat units. Since the HSE's 2019 reclassification, all welding fume - mild steel included - is treated as carcinogenic.
Spray-booth and prep-bay extraction at Redditch 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 Heart of Worcestershire College and the Alexandra Hospital, to the containment their work demands.
On the ground in Redditch
We are out under Redditch's extraction every week. The proof that matters is the jobs, not a stock photo.
A springs and precision-wire factory in Redditch had the lip extraction over an alkaline degreasing tank losing containment - a leaking duct sleeve had dropped the system static pressure. We sealed the leaking sleeve temporarily with high-tensile foil tape and measured the slot velocity. It passed on the temporary seal and we flagged it for a permanent hard-duct repair segment. The plant made high-performance automotive suspension springs, and the heavy machinery vibration meant anchoring the test gear securely.
The test
Under HSG258 a statutory LEV test is no visual once-over. For a Redditch 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 Washford 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 Redditch line.
Where exposure is in question - a manufacturing and engineering 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 the great majority of Redditch sites, from the Washford Industrial Estate units to the one-man workshops, the fourteen-month deadline is what catches people out: once it passes the system is non-compliant regardless of its actual state. We carry out the examination, label every hood with its status and next-due date, and issue the report an HSE inspector or your insurer expects to see - and if a point fails, you get the number, the cause and the fix rather than a bare fail.
How it runs
Full visual and structural check of every hood, duct run, filter and fan across the Redditch 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 Redditch duty-holder.
Each system tagged with status and next-due date, so compliance is visible on the Moons Moat 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 manufacturing and engineering bay, a springs and precision components bench and a lab fume cupboard can each sit on a different interval - we set the right one for every system.
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 Washford Industrial Estate production line we can usually fit the re-test around your shifts. We will not pass a system that does not control exposure.
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 Washford Industrial Estate unit will ask to see.
Yes. We plan testing around production shifts at the Washford Industrial Estate units, term-time access at the Redditch university labs, and normal hours at smaller workshops, so the examination never stops the line.
Yes. A new spray booth or fume-arm install at a Redditch 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 - the industrial estates and workshops around Washford Industrial Estate and Moons Moat, the university and hospital labs, and the wider Worcestershire.
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 Redditch, but a Washford Industrial Estate fabrication shop and a Church Green canopy are kept as the separate jobs they are.
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