On site
What is COSHH on a construction site?
COSHH requires employers to assess and control exposure to hazardous substances. On site the dominant exposures are dusts generated by the work rather than products brought onto it.
Respirable crystalline silica from cutting concrete, stone and brick is the substance that causes most harm, and it is produced by the work rather than supplied in a container with a data sheet.
Control is by on-tool extraction and water suppression before respiratory protection, which is the same hierarchy that applies everywhere and is the same one skipped everywhere.
Where respiratory protection is used it needs face-fit testing to the individual, and a mask that has not been fit-tested is providing considerably less protection than its rating suggests.
What goes wrong in practice
- Masks issued without face-fit testing.
- Dry cutting where extraction or suppression was available.
- Assessments covering supplied products but not the dusts the work generates.