Thursday 30 August 2012

Control of Substances Hazrdous to Health (COSHH)



Care must be taken when considering hazardous substances at work. They can enter the body in a number of ways. They can be absorbed through the skin or instilled through the eye sockets, they can also be inhaled, swallowed or injected.

They can take many forms including solids, liquids, gases and vapours. Their nature varies too. some are corrosive, others are dangerous to the environment, explosive, toxic/very toxic, flammable/extremely flammable, oxidising or even a biohazard. Some substances may posses more than one of these natures.

How we use these substances can change how they might affect us and when we mix substances we can also change their nature and their ability to cause harm. Take bleach for example, mixing it with other substances can have the following affects:

Ammonia
Ammonia can be found in many places such as general cleaning products, glass cleaners, urine (litter trays) and paint. Mixing bleach with ammonia creates chloramines resulting in toxic gas.

Acids
Acids can be found in vinegar, glass cleaners, some dishwasher detergents and rinse aids, toilet cleaners, drain cleaners, calcium removers, stone and brick cleaners etc. Mixing bleach with acids can produce chlorine gas.

Things get worse if this chlorine gas is mixed with water, these produce hydrochloric and hypochlorous acids, which can be absorbed.

Oven cleaners
Mixing bleach with some oven cleaners can produce hydrogen peroxide.

Don’t panic. Bleach is perfectly safe if it is used appropriately. Substances such as this, when held in above domestic quantities, are regulated for by COSHH. You can learn more about this, and other hazards, on the IOSH Managing Safely course.

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