Making Risk Assessments
Risk Assessments
Risk assessments should include consideration of the processes involved in any activity, including the hazards associated with the use of chemicals. Projects require both a general risk assessment for the work involved, alongside specific risk assessments for individual experiments. Some processes will also require a risk assessment to be made in combination with a standard operating procedure or code of practice.
COSHH Information
The Control of Substances Hazardous to Health Regulations (COSHH) and the Dangerous Substances and Explosive Atmospheres Regulations (DSEAR) require that a suitable and sufficient assessment of the risks to health and other dangers such as fire and explosion, created by work involving these substances, be made prior to the commencement of the work.
Departmental Policy
The Departmental policy on risk assessments can be found here.
The Departmental policy on COSHH and DSEAR can be found here.
Information on including COSHH in Good Laboratory Practice is found here.
Other Sources of Information
The ACS provide a useful and detailed guide for Identifying and Evaluating Hazards in Research Laboratories.
Making Assessments
COSHH assessments should include consideration of the hazards associated with the chemicals being used, and their mixtures, plus the products of chemical reactions, including chemical waste. The potential for spillage should also be assessed and appropriate measures for dealing with spillage identified and put in place. One-off risk assessments are carried out in laboratory books, which include forms for both COSHH and assessment of other hazards. For procedure-based assessments (long term or high risk), templates are provided below for making COSHH and risk assessments associated with a project. These forms have been adapted for use in the Chemistry department from the forms available from the UHSS:
Project COSHH and Risk Assessment Templates are available on the Chemistry SharePoint site. Examples of completed forms are also provided.
You should consult the Safety Data Sheets (SDS) for the materials you are using, and make yourself aware of any known incompatibilities involving the chemicals and solvents you are using. Make sure you know what to do if you have a spillage. Help with finding chemical incompatibilities can be obtained from the following resources:
Bretherick’s handbook of reactive chemical hazards
Pay particular attention to processes that involve the use of, or production of: hydrogen peroxide, perchlorates or perchloric acid, and nitric acid.
Competency
Anyone authorising a risk assessment must have the necessary skills, experience, training and knowledge to manage health and safety and critically assess the work described in the assessment. Those conducting the task(s) in the assessment must have the skills required to complete the task(s) safely. The competencies for each role should be included in the risk assessment. More information can be found in Section C, Part 4 of the policy. The Chemistry Department uses a competency level scale:
- Level 1: Can train others and work without direct supervision.
- Level 2: Can work without direct supervision.
- Level 3: Can work supervised.
- Level 4: Can observe and participate.
Competency level assessments are task and risk assessment based. In broad terms: research group leaders will be Level 1 for areas in which they have expertise (but not others); PDRAs will be Level 2 for many and Level 1 for some; postgraduate students will be Level 2 for some and Level 3 for others (bearing in mind that one objective of training is to learn/acquire/improve competency); A-level students will be Level 4 (at least to begin with). Competency levels will change with time and either improve because of training, or fade because best practices have evolved. The HSE provide a document that summarises the concept of competency with regard to health and safety.
Storage and Maintenance of Safety Documents
A CIS-managed shared research storage (SRS) facility named ChemSafetyRecords is available for the storage of all safety-related documents, including personal health and safety records (PR1), project risk and COSHH assessments, SOPs, and HAVS assessments etc. The storage is visible to supervisors and line managers, who are responsible for maintaining the records of the personnel under their supervision. Most risk assessments, personal health and safety records, risk and COSHH assessments should be reviewed annually.
To access ChemSafetyRecords, supervisors should use their usual CIS account/password and one of the following methods, depending on the platform:
CIFS (Windows): \\srsblue01.mds.ad.dur.ac.uk\ChemSafetyRecords
CIFS (Linux): //srsblue01.mds.ad.dur.ac.uk/ChemSafetyRecords
Linux Desktop Service: /srs/srsblue01/gold3_01/ChemSafetyRecords
Mac (Finder menu -> Go -> Connect to Server…): smb://srsblue01.mds.ad.dur.ac.uk/ChemSafetyRecords
- Note 1: Electronic documentation generated in eNotebooks does not need to go here if it is stored elsewhere.
- Note 2: PR1 forms should still be sent to [email protected] and will appear in ChemSafetyRecords once signed by the SC chair or the DSC.
- Note 3: If several people need to be able to access a document, such as a SOP, the document should be distributed through DUO (Chemistry Safety module) and a copy of the document stored on the ChemSafetyRecords SRS.
For more information on CIS storage, visit the Storage Manager documentation pages.
ChemSafetyRecords is described in the Information Storage section of the safety policy.
H and P codes
The Global Harmonised system of Classification and Labelling of Chemicals (GHS) was accepted by the UN in 2001 with the intention of ensuring consistent, standardised chemical hazard information is available worldwide. GHS has been adopted by the European Union (EU) and implemented as EC 1272/2008 The Classification, Labelling and Packaging of Substances and Mixtures regulations.
Hazard statements are standardised phrases with associated alpha-numerical codes (H codes) used to describe particular hazards (similar to Risk Phrases). The coding relates to a primary hazard, followed by a two digit sequential code and descriptive text, e.g. ‘H221 Flammable gas’. The old orange hazard warning symbols have been superseded by a series of 9 GHS pictograms within a red diamond.
Precautionary statements are standardised phrases with associated alpha-numerical codes (P codes) used to convey advice regarding the handling of chemical substances, e.g. ‘P404 Store in a closed container’.
The ECHA website collects and agglomerates data (e.g. H codes) from many suppliers and is a useful resource for checking up to date information.