Saffron Walden · COSHH / HSG258
Statutory thorough examination and testing of local exhaust ventilation for Saffron Walden workshops and production sites, keeping fume and dust control compliant with COSHH and HSE guidance HSG258.
Saffron Walden
Saffron Walden is a historic Essex market town of around 16,000 people, named for the saffron crocus once grown in its surrounding fields and home to the largest surviving ancient turf maze in England.
Its working economy runs from the food and hospitality of the market square to the light industry, engineering and trades clustered on Shire Hill and Ashdon Road.
Each of those Saffron Walden 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 Shire Hill units to the one-bench Saffron Walden workshops, taking capture and face-velocity readings and leaving a clear pass or remedial verdict with the hoods labelled.
By sector
A system that catches fume, dust, mist or vapour at the point it is released is LEV, and for Saffron Walden employers and others across Essex it is the record COSHH looks for first.
On-canopy and in-duct extraction for the pubs, cafes and restaurants around the market square and Hill Street. Grease-laden air has to be pulled clear of the cooking line and moved cleanly to the fan, or it settles as fire load.
LEV and dust extraction for the joinery and cabinet workshops on the town's industrial estates. Fine hardwood dust is a proven cause of nasal cancer and occupational asthma, so capture has to happen at the tool.
Tailpipe and bay extraction for the garages and MOT stations around Shire Hill and Radwinter Road. Diesel exhaust emissions are a recognised carcinogen, so fumes are drawn off before they fill the workshop.
On-torch extraction, fume arms and downdraught benches across the Shire Hill and Ashdon Road units. Since the HSE's 2019 reclassification, all welding fume - mild steel included - is treated as carcinogenic.
Spray-booth and prep-bay extraction at Saffron Walden 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 Saffron Walden County High School and Addenbrooke's Hospital, to the containment their work demands.
On the ground in Saffron Walden
We are out under Saffron Walden's extraction every week. The proof that matters is the jobs, not a stock photo.
A furniture spray shop in Saffron Walden had lost control at the paint line, with the spray booth affected by a worn fan impeller. We carried out a full thorough examination and test - velocity readings, smoke visualisation and a filter check - then cleared debris from the ducting and re-checked. All points passed on re-test once the ducting was cleared, and we issued a signed LEV report.
The test
A statutory LEV test to HSG258 is far more than a look round. On a Saffron Walden 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 Shire Hill 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 Saffron Walden line.
Where exposure is in question - a commercial kitchens 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.
On most Saffron Walden sites - the Shire Hill units and the smaller workshops alike - it is the fourteen-month clock that bites: let it lapse and the system is non-compliant that day, however well it seems to run. We examine it, tag each hood with its status and next-due date, and hand over the report an HSE inspector or insurer will want. Where something fails you get the reading, the cause and the remedy - never just a red sticker.
How it runs
Full visual and structural check of every hood, duct run, filter and fan across the Saffron Walden 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 Saffron Walden duty-holder.
Each system tagged with status and next-due date, so compliance is visible on the Ashdon Road 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 commercial kitchens bay, a joinery and woodworking bench and a lab fume cupboard can each sit on a different interval - we set the right one for every system.
Yes - the industrial estates and workshops around Shire Hill and Ashdon Road, the university and hospital labs, and the wider Essex.
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 Shire Hill production line we can usually fit the re-test around your shifts. We will not pass a system that does not control exposure.
commercial kitchens, joinery and woodworking, vehicle servicing, welding and fabrication, vehicle body and paint, and college and hospital laboratories - the trades clustered around Shire Hill and Ashdon Road and across the wider Essex.
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 Shire Hill unit will ask to see.
Yes. A new spray booth or fume-arm install at a Saffron Walden 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. We plan testing around production shifts at the Shire Hill units, term-time access at the Saffron Walden university labs, and normal hours at smaller workshops, so the examination never stops the line.
Local knowledge
Saffron Walden takes its name from the saffron crocus, grown in the surrounding fields through the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries; the spice trade made the town rich and still colours its coat of arms. That heritage of careful, specialist work carries into how local air quality is handled. Extraction systems here are tested against real airflow figures rather than assumptions, so the fume, dust and vapour raised by welding, spraying and machining is drawn away from the people breathing it.
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