The Control of Substances Hazardous to Health Regulations 2002 apply in almost every workplace, from cleaning cupboards to welding bays. This quiz checks the essentials in a few minutes, with the regulation behind each answer.
What COSHH covers
COSHH covers substances that are hazardous to health in any form: chemicals and products containing them, dusts, fumes, vapours, mists, gases and biological agents. Wood dust, welding fume, cement and many cleaning products are all in scope. Lead, asbestos and radioactive substances are not, because they have their own regulations.
The employer has to assess the risk before the work starts (regulation 6), prevent exposure where reasonably practicable, for example by using a less hazardous product, and otherwise control it adequately (regulation 7), with personal protective equipment as the last resort. Control measures must be maintained, examined and tested: local exhaust ventilation at least every 14 months (regulation 9). Where needed there is exposure monitoring and health surveillance (regulations 10 and 11), information and training (regulation 12) and plans for accidents and emergencies (regulation 13).
Who needs COSHH training
Anyone who may be exposed to a hazardous substance, and the supervisors who plan that work. Training should be given when people start, when the substances or the process change, and as a refresher when checks show controls are not being used properly. Typical audiences are cleaners and caretakers, maintenance staff, construction and manufacturing workers, laboratory staff, hairdressers and care workers.
Good training is practical: reading a label and a safety data sheet, recognising the hazard pictograms, knowing which gloves or respirator to use and how to check them, what to do after a spill or a splash, and why reporting a broken extraction hood matters. Employees also have a duty: to use the controls properly and report defects (regulation 8).
Using the quiz in a session
Play it after the explanation of your own COSHH assessments, so the answers connect with the products people use. Put a real safety data sheet and a couple of labelled containers on the table and refer to them as the answers come up. The questions on hazard pictograms and on face fit testing usually start the most useful discussions.