COSHH Risk Assessments

[Siblo]

Hello you knowledgeable Bunch,

Not commented in, like, for ever, but come back to lurk every now and again,

But now I need help, or a head shake, or possibly both.

Here goes, When carrying out a COSHH risk assessment, we check the MSDS and look for the hazards, look at our situation to establish controls and likelihood of injury or ill health, we look for further risk reducing measures, different chem, get a robot to do it, ect...

How do we mitigate or quantify the risk of the MSDS changing when new hazards are identified? and how often do we check to see if the MSDS has changed?

The MSDS may change because of legislation, but new risks from a chemical may be identified, or the impact on long term health has only just become apparent.

But most likely, the manufacturer makes a tiny adjustment in the chemical make up of the product to cut costs and a H or P statement changes.

I'm a fan of checking annually, but I'm being advised by "people" I only need to review every 3 years, on the flip side, if an MSDS can be updated at any time, should I check before Each and Every use?

TIA

SIBLO

[WillPool]

Regular intervals, annual is usually fine unless you are aware of changes, or if you are reviewing as part of an incident or similar, if we did it any differently we would be checking daily

Will

[Siblo]

Thanks Will,

Still a lot of old faces popping up here with good advice, (obvs no faces but you know what i mean).

Not my sector, but I have an image of a car body shop, with fillers and paints and lacquers, and thinners and panel wipe and acetone and lots of other stuff,

And they have to check MSDS daily to see if controls are still valid, it's just not viable or practical.

[WillPool]

I used to have an old access database for COSHH. You input the data from the MSDS and it churned out a COSHH RA with control measures all on one page, pictorial PPE the lot, was a good bit of kit but not seen it for sale again and if I still have a copy it will be on one of my old hard drives in the UK

Will

[stephen1974]

We reassess every 3 years but thats on naturally occuring substances and not manufactured products and is more about the physical environment, ie assessing for corrosion or uncontrolled access.

With products i've always recommended yearly, or, when any changes in work practices occur. You should check the MSDS at the same time. Ideally you will have a supplier who has a website you can get their latest msds off of but I apreciate thats not always possible. If you have multiple suppliers, a spread sheet with links to their msds (on their website) is a useful tool.

If you have a really good supplier, they will let you know if the MSDS changes, but they are very few and far between.