COSHH resources
COSHH fails in two common ways. The first is paperwork that exists so an auditor can see a folder. The second is a chemical inventory nobody trusts, so people search for the safety data sheet five minutes before they open the container.
Neither is fixed by buying more software. Both are helped by resources that make the right assessment and the right safety data sheet easy to find when the job is about to start.
What good looks like in practice
A useful COSHH setup answers three questions without a scavenger hunt:
- What are we using? A live inventory, not a spreadsheet last updated after the last inspection.
- What does it do to people? The assessment in plain language, matched to how the substance is actually used on this site, not copied wholesale from the supplier’s worst case scenario unless that scenario is real here.
- What do we do about it? Controls that fit the task, with PPE as the last line rather than the first slide in the induction pack.
Software can help with inventory, safety data sheet libraries and assessment workflows. It cannot invent competent judgement about exposure, or replace talking to the people who do the job. If a tool’s main output is a PDF that never leaves the shared drive, you have bought a printer with a login.
What this shortlist includes
The chemical safety list covers COSHH assessment tools, safety data sheet management, and related chemical safety products that cleared the same test as everything else on the site: a working safety person would be glad to be sent it.
You will also find regulator guidance and professional resources elsewhere on the site where they earn a place, and HSE material comes first when it is the authoritative home for the requirement. A link is listed once, in the list it is best known for.
What gets rejected
Same rules as the rest of the site. Full detail on How we list. For COSHH specifically, that usually means:
- “Free COSHH templates” that are a lead form for a consultancy call.
- Libraries that look comprehensive until you need a substance your site actually uses.
- Anything that treats COSHH as a one off form rather than something that changes when the process, the substance, or the people change.
Training mills and card schemes are out of scope here. Competence matters; selling the badge is not what this list is for.
UK shaped, not US shaped
COSHH is a UK regulatory frame. Plenty of good chemical management products are built for OSHA HazCom or global GHS workflows and still help a UK site, especially on safety data sheet control. Read the entry for what the tool actually does, not for the flag on the marketing site. Where a listing is clearly UK built or UK oriented, that is noted, because procurement and support often care.
I work in high hazard industry. That biases what I notice. Tell me what is missing for warehouses, labs, construction, or healthcare and I will look at it.
How to use the list
Start from the chemical safety list. Ignore position: below any Ad slot, order reshuffles daily and means nothing. Read the one line descriptions, which were written here, not copied from the vendor.
Used by us means I have tested the thing in a real scenario. Absence of that badge is normal. It is not a demotion.
No affiliate links. No commission. One labelled Ad slot can sit at the top, and paying does not create a listing.
If you want the editorial method in full, or to suggest something: How we list and add your tool.
Questions
- Is COSHH software required by law?
- No. COSHH requires suitable and sufficient assessment and control. Software is one way to manage assessments and safety data sheets; a well kept manual system can still be compliant. Buy software for the job it does, not for a compliance sticker.
- SDS management or COSHH assessment, which first?
- If people cannot find the current safety data sheet, fix that first. Assessment quality collapses when the inventory is wrong. Many products do both, so start with whichever gap is hurting you on site.
- Why are some free tools not listed?
- Free is not the test. Lead generation forms, dead links and content written for search engines fail the test even when the price is zero. Free tools that are genuinely usable can and do appear.
- Can vendors request a listing?
- Yes, through the add your tool form. Free to submit, editorial decision, and separate from any paid Ad slot.