Filtermist’s sales and engineering teams recently undertook a day long Local Exhaust Ventilation (LEV) awareness course to help ensure customers are protecting their workforce and complying with CoSHH (Control of Substances Hazardous to Health) Regulations.
LEV systems are designed to capture contaminated air at source. As the manufacturer of Filtermist oil mist filters and the UK distributor for Absolent filtration units, Filtermist is keen to raise awareness of the importance of not only fitting an effective LEV system, but of using and maintaining it correctly.
UK Sales Office Manager Ian Woodward comments, “Filtermist has a dedicated team of LEV engineers who have all undertaken P600 qualifications. We also wanted our wider team to have a better understanding of LEV best practice so they can advise customers if necessary.
“Our installation and service engineers are out on the road every day visiting customers’ sites so the more informed they are about LEV, and in particular CoSHH requirements, the better. HSE attributed 12,000 UK deaths to work-related respiratory disease last year – we want to help bring this number down and education is key.”
The course was facilitated by Bill Cassells, a former senior LEV inspector for HSE, through his company Oxyl8 Training. It covered a range of topics including work related illnesses, different types of ventilation, CoSHH regulations, LEV system design and who is responsible for what.
System suppliers, employers and employees all have legal and moral obligations under CoSHH to ensure exposure to harmful substances is minimised and controlled.
Ian continues, “Filtermist recommends that its oil mist filters are serviced every 12 months or 2000 hours in use to ensure optimum performance is maintained. CoSHH regulations require most LEV systems to be tested by a competent person at least once every 14 months, but there are some exceptions to this rule and some applications require monthly or six monthly testing.
“As well as oil mist removal, in the UK Filtermist also provides a comprehensive centralised extraction systems service which includes effective extraction of dust, fume and smoke. This service provision is increasing following the recent acquisition of subsidiary company Multi Fan Systems which offers VOC Abatement, Production Waste Extraction and Evaporative Cooling. It is vital that all of our engineers are up to speed with CoSHH requirements to help protect people from work-related health issues and employers from costly HSE visits.”
Find out more about LEV systems and CoSHH requirements by visiting hse.gov.uk/lev or call 01952 209967 to book an LEV Test from one of Filtermist’s P601 certified engineers.