Issued in 2002, the Control of Substances Hazardous to Health (COSHH) is a set of regulations governed by the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) in the UK. According to the HSE website, “COSHH is the law that requires employers to control substances that are hazardous to health.”
A leading goal of COSHH is to limit or reduce workers’ exposure to hazardous substances. COSHH does that through several mandates, such as:
Discovering health hazards of substances
Providing proper training for employees
Planning for emergencies
COSHH covers various substances, including biological agents, chemicals, dusts, and fumes. You can see a list of the different substances covered here. COSHH applies in every workplace in the UK, as all businesses have some amount of exposure to at least one type of hazardous substance.
However, COSHH only covers some possible hazardous substances since some, like lead, have their own regulations.