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The Control of Substances Hazardous to Health Regulations, known as COSHH, are the most important piece of UK legislation on chemical hazards at work. COSHH applies in Great Britain and an equivalent law applies in Northern Ireland. COSHH was enacted in 1988, and began to come into force in October 1989. The Regulations were amended in 1994 and again in 1999. The main impact of the 1999 amendment was to prohibit the supply of eight chlorinated solvents in certain applications, such as degreasing. The new set of COSHH Regulations, rather than another amendment to the existing law, came into force in March 1999.

Changes under COSHH 1999

COSHH 1999 imposes exactly the same duties on employers as COSHH 1994, except:

• new or revised Maximum Exposure Limits will be published in EH64 and approved, after consultation, by the Health and Safety Commission rather than the Secretary of State
• schedule 8 (the list of substances and processes defined as carcinogenic) will be revised
• the definition of a substantial concentration of dust, and the required frequency for monitoring hazardous substances will be transferred from the Code of Practice
• UK armed forces will have right of appeal against a medical decision to suspend from work.

COSHH applies to virtually all UK workplaces, including offshore oil and gas installations, but not crews on board sea-going ships. By 'substances hazardous to health' COSHH means biological organisms and dusts, as well as chemical substances or mixtures of substances. It includes substances used at work, like solvents, as well as those generated by work, like fume from solder flux. COSHH does not cover lead or asbestos, which have separate sets of regulations, or substances which are hazardous only because they are radioactive, asphyxiants, at high pressure, at extreme temperatures, or have explosive or flammable properties. The main legal duties of employers under COSHH are contained in Regulations 6-12 which cover risk assessment, prevention or control of exposure, use and maintenance of controls, monitoring exposure, health surveillance, and provision of information and training.

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