Workington · COSHH / HSG258
Statutory thorough examination and testing of local exhaust ventilation for Workington workshops and production sites, keeping fume and dust control compliant with COSHH and HSE guidance HSG258.
Workington
Workington is a historic steel and rail-making town of around 25,000 on the Cumbrian coast where the River Derwent meets the Solway Firth, whose works once rolled railway rails shipped across the world.
The signature trade is metals and paper - the metal-processing and engineering, the paperboard manufacturing, and the port and logistics - across the Clay Flatts Industrial Estate and Lillyhall estates, with the bodyshops between them.
Every one of those Workington processes puts fume, dust, mist or vapour into the air, and COSHH requires it controlled at source - which means local exhaust ventilation, thoroughly examined and tested at least every fourteen months. We test the LEV across all of it - from the Clay Flatts Industrial Estate units to the smaller Workington workshops - with capture and face-velocity readings, a clear pass or remedial outcome and system labelling.
By sector
A system that catches fume, dust, mist or vapour at the point it is released is LEV, and for Workington employers and others across Cumbria it is the record COSHH looks for first.
Weld-fume, grinding-dust and metalworking-fluid-mist extraction across the metal-processing and engineering units that succeeded the steel and rail heritage, where metal fume and mist need capture at source.
Fibre-dust, coating-vapour and drying-fume extraction across the folding-boxboard mill, a major employer of the town, where the coating and drying lines need capture proven.
Bulk-handling dust, forklift-exhaust and vehicle-workshop extraction across the Solway port and the Lillyhall distribution units, where materials handling and maintenance each need their own capture.
On-torch extraction, fume arms and downdraught benches across the Clay Flatts Industrial Estate and Lillyhall units. Since the HSE's 2019 reclassification, all welding fume - mild steel included - is treated as carcinogenic.
Spray-booth and prep-bay extraction at Workington 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 Lakes College and the Workington Community Hospital, to the containment their work demands.
On the ground in Workington
We are out under Workington's extraction every week. The proof that matters is the jobs, not a stock photo.
A paperboard mill in Workington had a dust-and-steam extraction over a coating-and-drying line pulling weak because the ducting above it had loaded with fibre and coating residue. We ran the capture checks on the sound sections and logged the fouling. It failed on the restricted duct and the dust breakthrough, and we specified the clean and remedial run. The line ran hot drying, so the fibre-dust housekeeping was logged alongside the airflow.
The test
An HSG258 statutory LEV test goes well beyond a walk-round look. On a Workington system it has to establish three things - that the plant and ductwork are sound, that the hoods still capture, and that the capture still meets the figure the system was designed around.
Ductwork, hoods, filters, fans and dampers checked for damage, blockage and leakage across the Clay Flatts 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 Workington line.
Where exposure is in question - a metals and engineering 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 Workington sites, from the Clay Flatts 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 Workington 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 Workington duty-holder.
Each system tagged with status and next-due date, so compliance is visible on the Lillyhall 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. A metals and engineering bay, a paperboard manufacturing 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 Clay Flatts Industrial Estate and Lillyhall Industrial Estate, the university and hospital labs, and the wider Cumbria.
Metals and engineering, paperboard manufacturing, port and logistics, welding and fabrication, vehicle body and paint, and the labs of the college and hospital - the trades clustered around Clay Flatts Industrial Estate and Lillyhall Industrial Estate and across the wider Cumbria.
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 Clay Flatts Industrial Estate or a smaller Workington workshop needs for their COSHH file.
Yes. A new spray booth or fume-arm install at a Workington 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. 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 Clay Flatts Industrial Estate unit will ask to see.
Yes. We plan testing around production shifts at the Clay Flatts Industrial Estate units, term-time access at the Workington university labs, and normal hours at smaller workshops, so the examination never stops the line.
Phoenix Duct Clean · by the numbers
Stay compliant with COSHH and HSG258. No-obligation quote, UK-wide.