Roperhurst attended the recent HSE roadshow in Bradley Stoke which focused on the importance of LEVs within industry. Local exhaust ventilation (LEV) can remove airborne contaminants before people breathe them in. The statistics presented by the HSE make for sober reading:
Thousands of workers in Britain contract occupational lung and other diseases, including cancer, each year. They develop them because they breathe in too much dust, fume or other airborne contaminants at work. The HSE estimates that only around 40% of LEVs are tested for effectiveness of design and operation.
This means that 60% of LEVs are possibly inadequate, added to a potentially huge number of processes which should have some form of LEV but which have no extraction at all.
This puts employees at risk of cancer, asthma and other diseases, and employers at risk of fines, personal liability and even imprisonment.
The HSE’s publication HSG258 provides help and guidance to companies who want to protect their employees, but don’t know where to start. HSG258 explains what an LEV is, the importance of correct design and the importance of thorough examination and test (TexT).
Roperhurst’s Phillipe de Wilde said: “This course highlights the need to get specialist advice as soon as possible. The onus is on the employer to source the right advice, and there are undoubtedly a lot of cowboys out there. Companies need to feel confident that the supplier they use has the experience and qualifications to give them the solution they need.”
Roperhurst has been designing and installing LEV solutions for more than 30 years, and our staff have more than 100 years experience in this area. Our work includes the design and manufacture of solutions to extract fume and dust, including filtration and/or scrubbing as appropriate.
We are based in Barry, South Wales (about 8 miles from Cardiff), and offer nationwide service for the design, installation, commissioning and COSHH testing of LEV systems.