Tynemouth · COSHH / HSG258
Statutory thorough examination and testing of local exhaust ventilation for Tynemouth workshops and production sites, keeping fume and dust control compliant with COSHH and HSE guidance HSG258.
Tynemouth
Tynemouth is a North Tyneside coastal town at the mouth of the Tyne, in a borough of around 209,000, with its clifftop priory and the working North Shields Fish Quay.
The heavy work is marine and offshore - the marine, subsea and offshore engineering of the Tyne, the fishing and fish processing of the Fish Quay, and the fabrication and welding - across the West Chirton Industrial Estate and Royal Quays estates, with the bodyshops between them.
Each of those Tynemouth 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 West Chirton Industrial Estate units to the one-bench Tynemouth 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 Tynemouth employers and others across Tyne and Wear it is the record COSHH looks for first.
Weld-fume, grinding and paint extraction across the marine, subsea and offshore-engineering units of the Tyne, where metal fume and coating vapour need capture at source.
Steam, smoke and mist extraction across the North Shields Fish Quay processing trades, where organic dust and vapour need capture proven.
Grinding, machining and fume extraction across the engineering and fabrication units, where metal dust and fume need capture at source.
On-torch extraction, fume arms and downdraught benches across the West Chirton Industrial Estate and Royal Quays units. Since the HSE's 2019 reclassification, all welding fume - mild steel included - is treated as carcinogenic.
Spray-booth and prep-bay extraction at Tynemouth 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 North Tyneside General Hospital, to the containment their work demands.
On the ground in Tynemouth
We are out under Tynemouth's extraction every week. The proof that matters is the jobs, not a stock photo.
A boatyard fibreglass fabrication shop in Tynemouth had severe styrene-vapour bypass from a deeply cracked exhaust plenum chamber on the main extraction wall. We ran a full face-velocity matrix check and a smoke-containment visualisation test. It failed on the structural plenum breach, and we handed the engineering requirements to a contractor for the structural reconstruction. The coastal location and high sea-salt air had accelerated the corrosion on the external discharge louvres.
The test
A statutory LEV test to HSG258 is far more than a look round. On a Tynemouth 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 West Chirton 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 Tynemouth line.
Where exposure is in question - a marine and offshore 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 Tynemouth sites, from the West Chirton 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 Tynemouth 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 Tynemouth duty-holder.
Each system tagged with status and next-due date, so compliance is visible on the Royal Quays 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 marine and offshore engineering bay, a fishing and fish processing 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 West Chirton 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.
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 West Chirton Industrial Estate or a smaller Tynemouth workshop needs for their COSHH file.
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 Tynemouth, but a West Chirton Industrial Estate fabrication shop and a Front Street canopy are kept as the separate jobs they are.
Yes. A new spray booth or fume-arm install at a Tynemouth 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 West Chirton Industrial Estate units, term-time access at the Tynemouth university labs, and normal hours at smaller workshops, so the examination never stops the line.
Marine and offshore engineering, fishing and fish processing, engineering and fabrication, welding and fabrication, vehicle body and paint, and the labs of the college and hospital - the trades clustered around West Chirton Industrial Estate and Royal Quays and across the wider Tyne and Wear.
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