When should a COSHH risk assessment be reviewed and revised?

When should a COSHH risk assessment be reviewed and revised? Review it regularly, and review it immediately if there is reason to think the existing assessment is no longer valid or if the work changes significantly in a way that may affect exposure. Revision comes after that review: if something is no longer right, amend the affected parts. You do not automatically need to start the whole assessment again.

That is the useful answer for a small building firm. A review is not an annual signature added to paperwork that nobody has checked. Nor does every new tin, tool or person mean rewriting the document from page one. The job is to notice when the assessment may no longer describe the work, check it properly and change what needs changing.

Review or revise a COSHH risk assessment? The difference matters

The words are often used as though they mean the same thing, but the distinction makes the process much clearer.

A review asks whether the assessment is still suitable for the work as it is being done now. You are checking the substance, task, people, exposure and controls against what is actually happening on site.

A revision changes the assessment where that review finds something out of date or no longer valid. The HSE’s COSHH FAQ is helpful here: a review does not mean repeating the entire assessment every time. If most of it still reflects the job, leave those parts alone and amend the parts that do not.

That saves time without turning the assessment into a paper exercise. The question is not “Is this document old?” It is “Can we still rely on what this document says?”

Use the HSE’s immediate-review tests

The HSE gives two clear reasons for an immediate review.

The first is any reason to suppose the original assessment is no longer valid. Its examples include evidence from examining and testing engineering controls, or reports from supervisors about defects in control systems. In everyday site language, new evidence has told you that an assumption in the assessment may be wrong.

The second is a significant change in the circumstances of the work, especially a change that may affect a worker’s exposure to a hazardous substance.

Those tests are broader and more useful than a made-up checklist. They catch the changes that matter without pretending every site works to the same timetable. Reasons to stop and review could include:

• a control is damaged, performs differently or is no longer available;

• the product, quantity or way it is used changes;

• the task moves into a different space with different ventilation;

• the sequence, duration or people exposed change materially;

• monitoring, health information or reports from the job cast doubt on the existing assessment.

These are practical prompts, not a new list of legal triggers. Bring each one back to the HSE tests: does it give you reason to doubt the assessment, or has the work changed significantly in a way that may affect exposure?

A regular review interval should fit the work

There is no honest universal answer such as “all COSHH assessments last for a year”. The HSE says the first review date and the time between later reviews depend on the type of risk, the work and the employer’s judgement about how likely change is.

That means the interval needs a reason behind it.

For a short, stable job using a familiar product in a familiar way, the next meaningful review point may be tied to a change in the task rather than an arbitrary diary date. For repeated or longer-running work, a planned check can catch gradual changes that nobody would otherwise treat as a single trigger. Work that changes often deserves closer attention than a process that genuinely stays the same.

Write down the review point you have chosen and why it makes sense for that work. More importantly, do not let the planned date overrule what is happening on site. If evidence suggests the assessment is no longer valid today, a review date months away is irrelevant.

When should a COSHH risk assessment be reviewed and revised on a real job?

Imagine a small firm refurbishing an occupied house. The assessment covers a dusty preparation task, the extraction equipment being used and the controls agreed before work starts.

Part-way through the job, the task moves from an open room into a smaller enclosed space. The product has not changed and the document is only a few days old. It would still be a mistake to wave the original assessment through simply because it is recent. The work circumstances have changed, and that change may affect exposure.

The review should focus on the difference. Does the original description still match the space? Are the controls still suitable for the way the task will now be carried out? Does the change affect who could be exposed? If the answer reveals a gap, revise those parts and brief the people affected before relying on the assessment for the changed task.

Now take the opposite case. The job, product and controls are unchanged, and the available evidence gives no reason to doubt the assessment. A proper review may conclude that no amendment is needed. Recording that conclusion is more useful than rewriting sound content merely to make the document look new.

The point is judgement anchored to the real job: review what is current, revise what is wrong.

What to check during the review

A practical review can stay short if it follows the assessment rather than becoming a second form. Work through the facts that could change its conclusion:

1. The task: Is the work still being done in the way the assessment describes?

2. The substance: Is it the same product or process-generated substance, used in the same form and amount?

3. Exposure: Are the same people potentially exposed, for roughly the same kind of work and in the same surroundings?

4. Controls: Are the specified controls present, usable and working as assumed?

5. Evidence: Has anything from checks, reports, monitoring or the workforce given you reason to doubt the original assessment?

6. The conclusion: Is the assessment still suitable, or which parts now need amending?

Keep the outcome plain. Note what prompted the review, what was checked, whether anything changed and what was communicated to the people doing the work. That creates a useful trail without claiming that a particular layout or set of fields is prescribed by the HSE.

An up-to-date safety data sheet can inform the review, but it is not a substitute for the assessment. The HSE makes that distinction clearly: supplier information is general, while your COSHH assessment has to reflect the particular task and working environment.

Avoid the two easy shortcuts

The first shortcut is treating “review regularly” as a fixed expiry date. A calendar reminder can help, but it cannot see a changed work method, a failed control or new evidence. The assessment may need attention before the reminder appears.

The second is assuming that a review must become a total rewrite. That creates unnecessary work and can bury the important change inside a fresh-looking document. Review the whole assessment with a critical eye, but revise the parts that no longer reflect the situation.

Both shortcuts miss the same point: the value is in the decision, not the age or length of the document.

Keep the COSHH record connected to the job

The Site Book helps sole traders and small construction firms create COSHH records alongside RAMS, Construction Phase Plans, inductions and related site paperwork. It does not remove the need for a competent review. The person responsible still needs to check that the document reflects the work before it is used or shared.

If you need a starting point, use the free COSHH template. To keep COSHH work with the rest of the job paperwork, see the COSHH feature. The free first project lets you build and review a real job pack before deciding whether the £39 monthly Pro plan suits the firm.

Whichever route you use, keep the rule simple: review regularly, act immediately when validity or significant change is in doubt, and revise only what the new situation makes necessary.

Create your first free job pack, then review it against the real work before you share it.