COSHH assessments: smart search and SDS upload

Find a substance

1. 1

   Open COSHH from the sidebar and switch to the Built-in catalogue tab.

2. 2

   Search for the substance — brand names and nicknames work.

   Results are labelled by where they come from: Your library, Reviewed, or Built-in.

3. 3

   No match? Click Add manually or upload the SDS (next section).

Upload a Safety Data Sheet

In the Site Book app: More → COSHH library lets you add a substance by hand — tap Add safety detail for the full field set, including the SDS review-due date — or tap Upload SDS to have the data sheet read for you automatically. View SDS reopens the original PDF, and editing an existing substance saves the whole record. A Built-in catalogue tab searches the same substance catalogue as the website, with a read-only detail view for each result.

1. 1

   Click Upload SDS and drop the manufacturer's PDF (max 10MB).

2. 2

   Wait a moment while it reads the PDF and extracts the safety data.

3. 3

   Review the extracted fields — each carries a High / Medium / Low confidence badge.

   Product name, manufacturer, health effects, exposure routes, PPE, workplace exposure limits, first aid, handling and storage, fire measures, disposal, and hazard/precautionary statements.

4. 4

   Click Add to my COSHH library to save it for reuse.

Record the site-specific assessment on a project

Each project has its own COSHH assessment page: select the hazardous substances used on this project and record the site-specific assessment for each (quantity and use, location, who's exposed, site controls, residual risk). It feeds every document that includes a COSHH section, and you don't need to open the RAMS wizard to fill it in. Click Save COSHH assessment when you're done.

In the signed-in mobile app, open the project, choose Project menu → COSHH → Add, then search for a substance or tap Upload Safety Data Sheet. When you upload a PDF, wait for Extracted, choose the matching catalogue substance, review the extracted notes and assessment, then tap Add to project. Substance choices and saving stay unavailable while the PDF is being read, so the project record always includes the extraction you reviewed.

A session refresh in the mobile app keeps your selected substance and notes for the same account and project when the app can verify that scope. If an older server cannot provide that scope, or access changes while a PDF is being read or a save is pending, its late result cannot change the current form; check your access and start that action again.

Open it from the project's Documents section — the COSHH Assessment card — or, on a phone, from the Project menu under More in this project. On a Business or Site Control team you need to be an account owner or admin to save changes; team members see it read-only.

In the Site Book app, the project's COSHH screen lists the substances on the register — tap one to read its hazards, exposure routes and controls, then Edit notes to update the project notes and site-specific assessment, or Remove from project (owner/admin only, like the website).

Generate the project's COSHH document

From your project, generate the COSHH document: it collects the substances assessed on this project, records who prepared and approved it, and produces the PDF. Substances marked Not yet assessed need their assessment completed first — open the substance in your COSHH library (sidebar → COSHH) and fill in its safety detail.

In the signed-in mobile app, open the project's Documents tab, choose Generate document → COSHH Assessment, review the project substances, and enter the assessor and approver. Project owners and admins can generate from a project created by a teammate; their draft stays on their device. When a default document approver is configured, their name appears read-only with a Team-page hint; a missing profile name appears as a warning. Add at least one substance to the project COSHH register before starting the document. If the connection drops after Submit, return to Resume COSHH generation and tap Check generation result. The app keeps the original request and checks its result with the same key; it does not start a second generation automatically. A completed result opens the exact generated version, even if the document later gains a newer version.

Substances on the project also surface in the RAMS wizard as its COSHH step, so the paperwork stays consistent.

Generated PDFs are frozen snapshots. If you later edit a substance in your COSHH library (sidebar → COSHH → Your library), only the issued documents that actually print what you changed are marked Review due: editing the manufacturer, the hazard or precautionary statements or the fire-fighting measures flags the COSHH assessment and the Emergency Plan, while renaming the substance flags every document that lists it. Review and regenerate those before treating them as current. Editing the SDS version or its issue and review dates changes no document, so nothing is flagged.