Torquay · COSHH / HSG258
Statutory thorough examination and testing of local exhaust ventilation for Torquay workshops and production sites, keeping fume and dust control compliant with COSHH and HSE guidance HSG258.
Torquay
Torquay is the heart of the English Riviera in Devon, in a Torbay unitary area of around 139,000, the birthplace of Agatha Christie and neighbour to the highest-value fishing port in England at Brixham.
The work spans hospitality and hi-tech - the electronics and photonics of the Torbay cluster, the marine and fish processing of Brixham, and the engineering - across the Yalberton Industrial Estate and Yalberton Tor estates, with the bodyshops between them.
Wherever a Torquay process releases fume, dust, mist or vapour, COSHH puts the duty on you to control it at source, and the extraction that does so is LEV - subject to a thorough examination and test at least every fourteen months. We work across the range, from the Yalberton Industrial Estate units down to the smallest Torquay workshop, measuring capture and face velocity and issuing a plain pass-or-remedial result with every hood tagged.
By sector
Any system that draws fume, dust, mist or vapour off at source counts as LEV, and across Torquay and the rest of Devon it is the evidence COSHH expects you to hold.
Solder-fume, solvent and chemical extraction across the electronics and photonics units of the Torbay hi-tech cluster, where fume and vapour need capture at source.
Steam, smoke and mist extraction across the marine and fish-processing trades of the Brixham quay, where organic dust and vapour need capture proven.
Machining, grinding and fume extraction across the engineering and manufacturing units, where metal dust and mist need capture at source.
On-torch extraction, fume arms and downdraught benches across the Yalberton Industrial Estate and Yalberton Tor units. Since the HSE's 2019 reclassification, all welding fume - mild steel included - is treated as carcinogenic.
Spray-booth and prep-bay extraction at Torquay 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 South Devon College and Torbay Hospital, to the containment their work demands.
On the ground in Torquay
We are out under Torquay's extraction every week. The proof that matters is the jobs, not a stock photo.
A photonics-manufacturing cleanroom in Torquay had a fume extraction point over a fibre-coating bench failing its capture check because a filter in the local exhaust had loaded and choked the flow. We measured the face velocity at the hood and checked the filter differential. It failed on the low capture from the loaded filter, so the solvent vapour was not being drawn off cleanly until it was changed. Cleanroom gowning and strict contamination controls were observed throughout the test.
The test
Under HSG258 a statutory LEV test is no visual once-over. For a Torquay 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 Yalberton 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 Torquay line.
Where exposure is in question - an electronics and photonics 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.
Across most Torquay sites - the Yalberton Industrial Estate plant and the smaller units alike - it is the fourteen-month interval that trips people up, because a lapsed test leaves the system non-compliant from that date whatever its real condition. We run the examination, mark every hood with its result and next-due date, and produce the report your insurer or an HSE inspector will look for, and any failed point comes back with its reading, its cause and the fix rather than a bare red tag.
How it runs
Full visual and structural check of every hood, duct run, filter and fan across the Torquay 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 Torquay duty-holder.
Each system tagged with status and next-due date, so compliance is visible on the Yalberton Tor 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. An electronics and photonics bay, a marine and fish processing 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 Yalberton Industrial Estate or a smaller Torquay workshop needs for their COSHH file.
Yes. We plan testing around production shifts at the Yalberton Industrial Estate units, term-time access at the Torquay university labs, and normal hours at smaller workshops, so the examination never stops the line.
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 Yalberton 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.
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 Torquay, but a Yalberton Industrial Estate fabrication shop and a Harbourside canopy are kept as the separate jobs they are.
Electronics and photonics, marine and fish processing, engineering and manufacturing, welding and fabrication, vehicle body and paint, and the labs of the college and hospital - the trades clustered around Yalberton Industrial Estate and Yalberton Tor Industrial Estate and across the wider Devon.
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 Yalberton Industrial Estate unit will ask to see.
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