15 Dec The Importance of Regular LEV Testing & Cleaning
Local Exhaust Ventilation (LEV) testing is a critical part of maintaining your building from a health and safety perspective. But in spite of this, many people don’t know the legal requirements surrounding the performance of such tests. To clear things up, we’ve put together this handy guide on LEV testing and provide you with details of how to ensure your building is compliant with industry regulations.
What is Local Exhaust Ventilation Testing?
LEV stands for Local Exhaust Ventilation, and it is a machine that protects workers from unsafe exposure to various fumes, dust, and other vapours that may be dangerous to their health and wellbeing.
Why is LEV Testing Important?
Naturally, LEV testing is crucial because it protects the health of your workers. If you don’t perform regular testing and maintenance, you risk exposing your workers to dangerous levels of harmful fumes and particles, leading to them contracting various occupational diseases. Performing an LEV test cleans the air before your workers become affected by the ill effects of breathing in bad air in the workplace.
How Often do you Need to do LEV Testing?
According to the Health and Safety Act of 1974, LEV testing is required by law. You must carry out LEV testing at least once every fourteen months as per the guidance, so you need to ensure you diarise the necessary dates to ensure your workplace remains compliant with health and safety legislation.
What’s Involved in an LEV Test?
An LEV test is relatively comprehensive, as it conducts a thorough examination of a range of appliances, including filters, ducts, and hoods. The system will read the level of particles and fumes in the air and conduct a sufficient clean if required. As there is a need for a specialist machine to carry out an LEV test, you need to ensure you work with a company that has the required equipment.
What are the Regulations for LEV Testing?
COSHH Regulation 9.2 states the following in regard to LEV testing:
Where the regulation is met through the use of engineering controls, the employer shall ensure that thorough examination and testing of those controls are carried out. In the case of a local exhaust ventilation plant, this will be at least once every fourteen months.
As such, for your workplace to be compliant with COSHH and the Health and Safety at Work Act, you need to ensure you contract a company to conduct LEV testing within the outlined timeframe.
How Do You Get Your LEV System Tested?
The only way to conduct LEV testing in your workplace is to contact a specialist testing firm. At Deduct, we have experience in performing LEV tests in a range of industrial settings and would be delighted to assist with your testing requirements.
Health & Safety Law
The HSE’s Control of Substances Hazardous to Health (COSHH) Regulations 2002 requires that, where certain chemicals and other substances are used in industrial and commercial processes, they should either be contained or safely dispersed through a Local Exhaust Ventilation system. The COSHH regulations also stipulate that those LEV systems should be regularly tested to ensure that they are operating efficiently. Thorough testing and examination of LEV plants must be carried out at least every 14 months (in practice annually) or more frequently for certain processes.
To schedule a test or to ask us any questions relating to LEV testing more broadly, you can get in touch with us through our website or by calling us directly on 0333 772 0089.
