If a dangerous substance is present in your workplace, the duty to assess the risk exists. There is no minimum quantity, and being self-employed does not take you out of it.
"It is only good practice." It is not. DSEAR is law: the risks from dangerous substances at work have to be assessed and properly controlled, and that is not guidance or best practice.
"We hardly keep any of it." There is no threshold quantity anywhere in the Regulations. They apply wherever a dangerous substance is present or liable to be present. A small quantity changes what the assessment concludes, not whether you need one.
DSEAR requires risks from dangerous substances at work to be assessed and appropriately controlled. There is no general minimum-quantity exemption, but the measures required must be proportionate to the actual risks. A DSEAR risk assessment does not automatically require hazardous-area zoning. Regulation 7 requires areas to be classified where explosive atmospheres may occur in quantities requiring special precautions to protect workers. The decision should consider the substances and their properties, inventories, potential release sources, likelihood and duration of releases, ventilation, and effective controls. Where a documented assessment establishes that explosive atmospheres are not expected in quantities requiring special precautions, hazardous-area classification may be unnecessary. Other DSEAR duties can still apply.
Petrol, solvents, thinners, paints, alcohol, adhesives, some cleaning products. Brake cleaner in an inspection pit put a vehicle workshop in front of a magistrate.
LPG, acetylene, hydrogen from battery charging, biogas and natural gas.
Wood, flour, grain, sugar, metal and plastic dusts. The HSE lists maize, barley, wheat, oats, rye, soya and sorghum among the explosible ones.
Added to the scope in 2015 and routinely forgotten. Strong acids and alkalis in bulk are caught.
The test is the effect, not the label. A substance that would not worry you in a bottle can behave very differently as a mist or a suspended dust.
The HSE says of motor vehicle repair premises that the hazardous area classification is not simple, and lists spray booths, body preparation areas, inspection pits and paint stores among the places normally considered hazardous. That is an unusually direct admission from a regulator, and it is the honest answer to "can I not just do this myself".
Yes. Where dangerous substances are present at work, DSEAR requires the risks to be assessed and appropriately controlled. It is law, not guidance or best practice. What it does not require is zoning in every case: regulation 7 requires areas to be classified where explosive atmospheres may occur in quantities requiring special precautions, and the assessment decides whether that applies to your site.
Yes. There is no general minimum-quantity exemption: the HSE says the Regulations apply wherever a dangerous substance is present, or is liable to be present, in a workplace. Quantity changes what the assessment concludes. The measures have to be proportionate to the actual risk, and where a documented assessment shows an explosive atmosphere is not expected in quantities requiring special precautions, hazardous-area zoning may be unnecessary.
No. Regulation 4(2) applies DSEAR to a self-employed person as if they were both employer and employee. The duty follows the dangerous substance, not the payroll.
Here we will be straight with you, because a lot of sites are not. The recording duty in regulation 5(4) bites where you have five or more employees. Below that you still have to carry out the assessment, and classify any places where explosive atmospheres may occur in quantities requiring special precautions, but there is no statutory duty to record it. In practice almost everyone records it anyway, because an assessment you cannot produce is very hard to rely on when someone asks.
There is no legal interval, whatever anyone tells you. Regulation 5(3) requires review when the assessment is no longer valid or there has been a significant change. The industry convention is three to five years, and that is a reasonable working rhythm, but it is convention and not law.
No, and one does not cover the other. A fire risk assessment deals with fire and means of escape under the Fire Safety Order. DSEAR deals with fire, explosion and corrosive substances arising from dangerous substances, and it is the only one that can require hazardous-area zoning. Many sites need both, and the two documents should agree with each other.
The duty, the deliverable, and what a good one contains.
Two different regimes, two different documents, and where they overlap.
How a DSEAR assessment is priced and what changes the number.
No charge for the conversation. Most quotes go out the same day.