Wolverhampton · COSHH / HSG258
Statutory thorough examination and testing of local exhaust ventilation for Wolverhampton workshops and production sites, keeping fume and dust control compliant with COSHH and HSE guidance HSG258.
Wolverhampton
Wolverhampton is a Black Country city of around 263,000 people, and it still works metal - from electroplating and anodising to aerospace and structural steel.
The trades cluster on the estates - metal finishing, plating and anodising, the aerospace and advanced-engineering units around i54 and Pendeford, structural steel and sheet-metal fabrication, and the lock, tool and general-engineering shops the city was built on.
Wherever a Wolverhampton 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 i54 units down to the smallest Wolverhampton 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 Wolverhampton and the rest of Black Country it is the evidence COSHH expects you to hold.
Lip and slot extraction over plating, anodising and coating tanks - corrosive acid mist and chromic fume where capture at the tank edge is the whole control.
On-torch extraction, fume arms and downdraught benches across the structural-steel and sheet-metal units. Since the HSE's 2019 reclassification, all welding fume - mild steel included - is treated as carcinogenic.
Machining, grinding and fume extraction on the aerospace component lines around i54, where fine dust and mist need capture proven.
Spray-booth and prep-bay extraction at Wolverhampton bodyshops. Two-pack paints release isocyanates - the leading cause of occupational asthma - so booth airflow is examined to its design figure.
Dust and mist extraction on the grinding, polishing and machining benches of the city's historic metal trades.
Fume-cupboard face-velocity testing for the University of Wolverhampton and New Cross Hospital, to the containment their work demands.
On the ground in Wolverhampton
We are out under Wolverhampton's extraction every week. The proof that matters is the jobs, not a stock photo.
An automotive plating and anodising plant in Wolverhampton had the lateral lip extraction on a hot chromic-acid tank half-blocked with crystallised chemical crust, and the slot velocity had dropped away. We measured the slot velocity at 100mm intervals along the tank edge and found the capture falling off badly toward the centre. It failed on restricted airflow - the crystallisation had choked the inlets. In an atmosphere that corrosive, every probe came straight out and got washed down with deionised water the moment it was used.
The test
A statutory LEV test to HSG258 is far more than a look round. On a Wolverhampton 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 i54 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 Wolverhampton line.
Where exposure is in question - a metal finishing and plating process, say - sampling confirms whether control is actually protecting the people at the process.
The duty
COSHH Regulation 9 makes it plain: any LEV controlling exposure to a hazardous substance has to be thoroughly examined and tested at intervals no greater than fourteen months, and the resulting records kept for at least five years.
For the great majority of Wolverhampton sites, from the i54 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 Wolverhampton 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 Wolverhampton duty-holder.
Each system tagged with status and next-due date, so compliance is visible on the Pendeford 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 metal finishing and plating bay, a welding and fabrication 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 an i54 unit will ask to see.
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 an i54 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 i54 or a smaller Wolverhampton workshop needs for their COSHH file.
Metal finishing and plating, welding and fabrication, aerospace and advanced engineering, vehicle body and paint, lock and tool making, and the labs of the university and hospital - the trades clustered around i54 and Pendeford and across the wider Black Country.
Yes. We plan testing around production shifts at the i54 units, term-time access at the Wolverhampton 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 Wolverhampton, but an i54 fabrication shop and a Cleveland Street canopy are kept as the separate jobs they are.
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