The Dangerous Substances and Explosive Atmospheres Regulations 2002 (DSEAR) came into force in 2003.

DSEAR requires that a risk assessment be carried out if you are using substances that are flammable, oxidising, explosive or otherwise combustible.

The DSEAR assessment is in addition to the assessment you may already have made under the Control of Substances Hazardous to Health Regulations 2002 (COSHH).

The reason for having to make two assessments of hazardous substances is that COSHH covers those substances that are hazardous to the human body and DSEAR covers those that could propagate a fire or explosion. Even if you only have small quantities of flammable substances, you will need to prove that a flammable atmosphere does not exist. This is done by calculation of the Lower Flammability Limit of vapours present in your factory and measurement of the actual concentration.

ParaChem offers a combined COSHH/DSEAR assessment service which we guarantee to be suitable and sufficient and meets the requirements of both sets of Regulations.