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HSE LEV Trainer Adviser Briefing Day I was fortunate to book the last available place on the last available briefing of this session in the UK. This is an almost identical version of the briefing which has been delivered to 400 HSE Inspectors from all over the UK. The course provides a general overview of the main requirements of the new ‘HSG258 Controlling airborne contaminants at work: a guide to local exhaust ventilation’ and is aimed at LEV specifiers, designers, installers, trainers and advisers. The speakers emphasised that the session was not a training course and was more about raising awareness of the new guidance requirements.
There were a mix of delegates mainly from LEV supply and installation companies. I was the only Higher Education representative present at this particular session, although colleagues from HE may have attended previous sessions. I attended to improve knowledge in this area and to be able to develop a briefing for our LEV supervisors and staff users. There were two speakers, both Occupational Hygienists who were from the HSL. The lead speaker had provided a condensed version of some of the practical aspects of the briefing to an audience at the September 2008 USHA Cambridge Conference. The morning session focused on hood types and some theory on capture velocities, wake effect and problems of LEV. £100million in the UK last year was lost revenue due to occupational asthma and HSE are committed to reducing this. The afternoon examined the legal aspects and the main criteria for employers and suppliers. Immediately after lunch we had hands-on practical demonstrations of Tyndall beams, vein anemometers and smoke tubes. When examining the importance of commissioning data and manuals the speakers used the analogy of paying £20K for a car, you would want a detailed manual; in contrast LEV systems often have only a few pages of A4 text. A supplier challenged the analogy and explained that a manual has to be custom produced for each system and this increases the cost to the employer when purchasing. Delegates representing purchasers of LEV were unanimous that they would rather pay extra to ensure they get a comprehensive manual to assist achieving compliance with COSHH requirement. There is an intention by HSE to undertake more enforcement of none-compliant LEV throughout 2009 and 2010. The 400 HSE inspectors attending this session were also provided with Tyndall beams lamps, smoke tubes and anemometers to assist their inspections. A desktop LEV rig used in the briefing is planned to be available for purchase in approximately one year at a cost of £1500. Each delegate, after signing a disclaimer on use, received a copy of the presentation on a CD to enable training of staff. USHA members can get more information at the HSE LEV website here: http://www.hse.gov.uk/LEV/
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