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There are many ways of ensuring that workers are not exposed to hazardous substances at work. Preventing exposure is at the top of the hierarchy of controls laid out in the COSHH Regulations, and personal protective equipment (PPE) very definitely at the bottom. Regulation 7 of COSHH says, "So far as is reasonably practicable, the prevention or adequate control of exposure of employees to a substance to health, except to a carcinogen or a biological agent, shall be secured by measures other than the provision of personal protective equipment." The General ACoP goes on, "For all hazardous substances, the employer must give first priority to trying to prevent exposure." Preventing exposure can be achieved by changing the process so the substance is no longer used or generated or by substitution with a substance of no or lower risk. Unfortunately, although some legislators and employers take preventing, as opposed to controlling, exposure seriously, too many UK workers still have to rely on PPE to control exposure to chemicals.

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