Whitefield · COSHH / HSG258
Statutory thorough examination and testing of local exhaust ventilation for Whitefield workshops and production sites, keeping fume and dust control compliant with COSHH and HSE guidance HSG258.
Whitefield
Whitefield sits on the A56 between Bury and Manchester, wrapped around Junction 17 of the M60, a town of around thirty thousand people whose name is thought to come from the bleachfields where woven cloth was once laid out on the grass to whiten. It gave the brass band world one of its greatest names in Besses o' th' Barn, playing in the area since 1818, and it still carries the mark of its cotton and finishing trades.
Its working economy now runs on light manufacturing, food production and the fabrication and motor trades, much of it grouped in the modern units at Park 17 Industrial Estate on Moss Lane and the workshops off Bury New Road, all within half a mile of Junction 17 of the M60.
Wherever a Whitefield 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 Park 17 Industrial Estate on Moss Lane units down to the smallest Whitefield workshop, measuring capture and face velocity and issuing a plain pass-or-remedial result with every hood tagged.
By sector
A system that catches fume, dust, mist or vapour at the point it is released is LEV, and for Whitefield employers and others across Greater Manchester it is the record COSHH looks for first.
Oil-mist and coolant-mist extraction on CNC machining centres and turning shops in the Park 17 units off Moss Lane and the light-industrial premises hard by Junction 17 of the M60, where the town has traded on making and moving goods since its cotton days.
Steam canopies and flour-dust control in Whitefield's bakeries and food producers, from the Kara bakery goods handled on Park 17 to the ovens and confectionery lines of Bury New Road institutions like Slattery.
Fine-dust extraction and downdraught tables at Whitefield cabinet shops and joinery works, where hardwood and MDF dust is captured at the tool before it reaches the lungs.
On-torch extraction, fume arms and downdraught benches across the Park 17 estate and the Moss Lane and Bury New 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 Whitefield bodyshops and the motor trade clustered around Bury New Road and Radcliffe New Road. 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 science departments of Whitefield schools such as Philips High School and the technical training rooms of local colleges, to the containment their work demands.
On the ground in Whitefield
We are out under Whitefield's extraction every week. The proof that matters is the jobs, not a stock photo.
An independent MOT garage in Whitefield had capture velocity on its tailpipe extraction reels reading under benchmark, with a filter well overdue for changing. I took benchmark readings, visualised the capture at each hood and dealt with an unsealed joint. The LEV passed on re-test across the exhaust extraction points, and I handed over full test documentation. Staff were setting up around me and happily worked alongside while I got on with it.
The test
A statutory LEV test to HSG258 is far more than a look round. On a Whitefield 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 Park 17 Industrial Estate on Moss Lane 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 Whitefield line.
Where exposure is in question - a precision engineering and manufacturing 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.
For the great majority of Whitefield sites, from the Park 17 Industrial Estate on Moss Lane 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 Whitefield 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 Whitefield duty-holder.
Each system tagged with status and next-due date, so compliance is visible on the the workshops off Bury New 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 precision engineering and manufacturing bay, a food and drink production bench and a lab fume cupboard can each sit on a different interval - we set the right one for every system.
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 Park 17 Industrial Estate on Moss Lane unit will ask to see.
Yes. A new spray booth or fume-arm install at a Whitefield 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.
precision engineering and manufacturing, food and drink production, woodworking and joinery, welding and fabrication, vehicle body and paint, and laboratory fume cupboards - the trades clustered around Park 17 Industrial Estate on Moss Lane and the workshops off Bury New Road and across the wider Greater Manchester.
Yes. We plan testing around production shifts at the Park 17 Industrial Estate on Moss Lane units, term-time access at the Whitefield university labs, and normal hours at smaller workshops, so the examination never stops the line.
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 Whitefield, but a Park 17 Industrial Estate on Moss Lane fabrication shop and a Stand Lane canopy are kept as the separate jobs they are.
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 Park 17 Industrial Estate on Moss Lane production line we can usually fit the re-test around your shifts. We will not pass a system that does not control exposure.
Local knowledge
Whitefield began as farming and hand-loom weaving country before the Clegg brothers and other cotton manufacturers built the trade that gave Besses o' th' Barn its band, and that instinct for making and finishing goods still runs through the town. Today it shows in the machine shops, food producers and fabricators packed into Park 17 off Moss Lane and the units strung along Bury New Road beside Junction 17 of the M60. Every one of them carries a duty to control the mist, fume and dust its work throws off. We test and certify local exhaust ventilation to the standard COSHH sets, so the extraction reads true against its design figures.
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