When to Review a COSHH Assessment

Good practice in hospitality is to review COSHH assessments at least once a year, in line with the annual review most businesses already do for their food safety management system and fire risk assessment. An annual review is enough to catch the steady drift that happens as products get swapped, suppliers change, and new equipment arrives. Tie the COSHH review to a date you will not forget, such as the start of the financial year or the anniversary of opening, and record the date you carried it out. The review date is one of the quickest checks an inspector makes, and an assessment with no review history reads as one that has been ignored.

When you review an assessment, record what you checked and what changed, even if the answer is that nothing changed. A short note that the substances, uses, and controls were reviewed and remain valid, with the date and the name of the person who did it, is enough to show the system is alive. Where you did make a change, keep the previous version so you can show how controls have developed over time. If you manage COSHH digitally, this history is captured automatically, which makes it far easier to demonstrate continuous management than a folder of undated paper. The goal is the same as for your food diary: a record that shows ongoing, genuine management rather than a one-off exercise.