Information, Instruction & Training for Employees
An employer who undertakes work that may expose any of his employees to substances hazardous to health must provide that employee with information, instruction and training.
The information, instruction and training provided by the employer must be suitable and sufficient for the employee to know the risks to health created by such exposure and the precautions which should be taken.
The employer should provide information to employees that includes at least the following:
- the nature and degree of risks to health which can arise from exposure, including any factors that could increase risk (e.g. smoking);
- the control measures adopted, the reasons for these and how to use them properly;
- (where appropriate) the reasons for any personal protective equipment or clothing, and the jobs where these are necessary;
- (where appropriate) exposure monitoring procedures, including arrangements for access to results and notification if a maximum exposure limit is exceeded;
- (where appropriate) the role of health surveillance, who must attend for health surveillance procedures, and arrangements for employee access to individual health records and the collective results of health surveillance.
In addition, the employer must provide employees at the workplace concerned with information on the results of any exposure monitoring at the workplace and the collective results of any health surveillance undertaken there.
Moreover, as regards any substance specified in Schedule 1 of the Control of Substances Hazardous to Health (COSHH) Regulations, the employer must immediately inform the employees (or their representatives) if the results of exposure monitoring show that the maximum exposure limit has been exceeded.