HSE guidelines explain that Local Exhaust Ventilation (LEV) solutions must be tested and inspected every 14 months

TExT Regulations and Guidance

HSE guidelines explain that Local Exhaust Ventilation (LEV) solutions must be tested and inspected every 14 months to ensure that equipment is “working as effectively as originally intended to help protect employees’ health”, and if an inspector visits your site you may be expected to produce evidence of Thorough Examination and Testing (TExT).

COSHH Regulation 7 states that, "every employer shall ensure that the exposure of his employees to substances hazardous to health is either prevented or, where this is not reasonably practicable, adequately controlled". COSHH Regulation 9 goes on to specify the maintenance, examination and testing requirements of control measures, and states "where engineering controls are provided to meet the requirements of regulation 7, the employer shall ensure that thorough examination and testing of those controls is carried out... in the case of local exhaust ventilation plant, at least once every 14 months".

Who's Responsibility is TExT?

Both HSE guidance and COSHH regulation explain that it is the responsibility of the employer to ensure equipment has been regularly tested, and if during a HSE inspection you are unable to provide evidence of Thorough Examination and Testing, they may take action. We appreciate that this can be worrying for a site manager, especially if the equipment has been hired and you have not been given any product history.

Here at RVT Group, we have a rigorous maintenance programme in place for all of our equipment and we ensure that every LEV unit undergoes a Thorough Examination and Test between each hire. Furthermore, we produce a certificate which details the date of when the product was last tested and passed. By having this testing and certification in place, this will enable our customers to feel confident and reassured that our LEV equipment will perform safely and efficiently.

RVT’s TExT System

• Maintenance Checks – Once the unit has been returned to our warehouse and cleaned, we conduct a visual inspection to ensure that all individual parts are present and to ascertain if any damage or wear has occurred on site that could affect control performance.
• Electrical Testing - Our engineers inspect any switches, plugs and cables that are part of the unit to ensure that they have not been damaged. Then, Portable Appliance (PAT) Testing is carried out, defined by the HSE as ‘the examination of electrical appliances and equipment to ensure they are safe to use.’
• Performance Testing - Our engineers will then move onto performance testing, which decides whether a unit is still performing to the highest technical standards.
• Final Checks and Certification - Finally, our engineers will put the finishing touches to the unit. The labels and plant numbers are all checked against brand guidelines to ensure that a unit can be tracked and easily identified. A certificate is also printed to signify that the unit has passed a full inspection and attached to the unit itself. The entire process, including test results and any maintenance that occurred is then uploaded to the company’s CRM system, allowing our engineers an in-depth insight of our individual units’ performance history.

Peace of Mind and Quality Assured

Our TExT certificates confirm that the product was verified as performing effectively and safely at the time of certification. We are confident that our products are robust and reliable and will perform as expected throughout the duration of your hire, however once the product is in use, it is the responsibility of the parties hiring the product to ensure that the unit is performing correctly before each use. When conducting your regular maintenance checks, if you have any concerns that the unit has stopped performing as it should, stop using the product immediately and contact RVT technical support.

For more information, please call 0808 178 3286 or email us at customerservices@rvtgroup.co.uk.

To view our specialist hazard control equipment, click here.

If you would prefer to watch a video explaining TExT, click here.