WYS Quiz Questions — Answered
Answer key to the COSHH What's Your Score Quiz
-
If you have overall responsibility for chemical safety compliance for your business, what is your qualification level?
It is important that you understand what the regulations pertaining to chemical safety compliance require. Therefore, it is necessary to have completed specific training courses for chemical safety regulations. By following the requirements of the UK COSHH regulations, you will normally be operating at a chemical safety compliance level of equal to or greater than that of your own country.
-
How are your chemical risk assessments created?
A chemical risk assessment should be specific to both the task and the environment the task is carried out. Therefore, it is absolutely essential that chemical risk assessment is created by someone who has seen the task being carried out at the specific location because people and environmental conditions can change risk factors and safety control measures.
-
Who creates your chemical risk assessments?
If you have 5 or more employees you have to have PROOF that you carried out risk assessment If you have less than 5 employees, if something goes wrong, you must be able to prove you carried out risk assessment, so don't think you are off-the-hook. Although you do not have to create your own risk assessments, anyone one that does, must have tailored it to your specific people and environment. Someone involved in the risk assessment process must have seen the task being carried out at the specific location. Generic risk assessments provided by a third-party provider are simply a NO-NO, no matter what they tell you otherwise. The use of Safety data Sheets in the UK as COSHH assessments (COSHH sheets) is simply illegal practice.
-
What level of training have the people that create your chemical risk assessments received?
Chemical risk assessors must have formal training in chemical risk assessment. The Knights of Safety Academy™ provides training for the COSHH regulations free of charge online.
-
How many chemical risk assessments do you have?
If your number of chemical risk assessments exceeds 50 then you would likely require a management system to keep on top of your compliance. Many times it has happened that without such a system, when someone leaves a company, the documentation and compliance leaves with them.
-
How do you maintain your chemical risk assessments?
Although it is not set in stone, it is a requirement of COSHH that risk assessments are periodically reviewed. We recommend that periods of review are dependent on the potential severity of the task or substance involved, i.n particular, the potential severity before safety controls are in place.
-
What hazards are shown on your chemical risk assessments?
Chemical risk assessments should be task-based and therefore they should include procedure, substance. and task-based hazard information to cover the full risk spectrum of the task. Many risk assessments focus solely on the substance being used and miss some of the most important risks in the environment, like moving vehicles and hot surfaces.
-
What risk rating items do you include on your chemical risk assessments?
Chemical risk assessments under COSHH should be able to show that the risk has been reduced through the process of risk assessment. To do this, it is necessary to show both the risk before and the risk after safety controls have been put in place. Why? Because it shows the person who is reading the risk assessment and carrying out the task, why it is important to put the safety controls in place, and what could go wrong if they don't.
-
How do you manage Safety Data Sheets (SDS) in your business?
It is recommended that you store paper copies of SDS at the relevant locations where tasks are carried out with those specific substances. Remember to keep these up-to-date. More modern practices, budget permitting, use PDA's to provide access to a copy of up-to-date SDS via a software service.
-
How do you acquire and update your SDS library?
It is highly recommended that you use a third-party service to manage the upkeep of your SDS because it is time-consuming and fraught with complications in administration. The Knights of Safety in partnership with The International Association for Chemical Safety provides The International Safety Data Sheet Service™, a free SDS management solution at https://sdsinventory.com.
-
How many chemicals/substances do you currently have?
Although every answer is correct, the greater the number of substances you use or store, the greater the requirement for a management solution/service, otherwise you are running the risk of having out-of-date SOS.
-
Do you have SDS for all your substances?
You MUST have a copy of an SDS for each substance you use, transport or store.
-
Do you know if all your SDS are the latest revision?
You MUST have a copy of the latest revision of an SOS for each substance you use, transport or store. It is the suppliers duty to provide you with one and to keep you up-to-date with each shipment. However, in our experience, don't count on it. We hear many times that revised SOS make it to the point of delivery, but don't make it to the risk assessor. This is why it is important to use a third-party service like https://sdsinventory.com that specialise in SOS acquisition.
-
How do you manage quality control across multiple geographic locations?
It is highly beneficial to control quality centrally and to assure that all training and competency is at least a minimum required standard across your company. As people come and go from your business, you will be able to maintain quality much easier through a central function.
-
What access do your employees have to your chemical risk assessment documentation?
There should be no secrets in safety! Providing access to all employees to your safety documentation empowers each employee and gives rapid access, no matter where, to emergency services should they need it.
-
If you are a UK based company, do you apply COSHH regulations to your overseas locations?
A UK based company should apply the highest level of safety protocols across the board, regardless of a lack of safety regulations in overseas locations. It is also important to abide by local regulations that may exceed the requirements of the UK COSHH regulations. You don't want to get caught out treating people better in one country than another.