Health and Safety Assessment for Employees Working
in SAPD Laboratories
See notes overleaf
Assessment reference
Employee: .....................................................................................................................
Supervisor: ...............................................................
(If required:
Alternate supervisor)
.........................................................
Description of Work: ........................................................................................................................................
............................................................................................................................................................................
............................................................................................................................................................................
Hazards not in COSHH assessment below (e.g. animals, manual handling, DSE, glass tubing, heat and cold):
............................................................................................................................................................................
COSHH Assessment
Substance
HAZARDS (tick and attach relevant documentation)
Corrosive
Toxic Toxic Carcin- OxidIrritant harmful ogenic ising
Flammable
Other hazards (state)
GCLP=Good Chemical Laboratory Practice
PRECAUTIONS (tick)
GCLP
Lab
coat










Safety Wear Face Fume
Specs gloves Mask cupb'rd
Other*
* Other precautions should be listed under II or III below.
Precautions, control measures and personal protective equipment (Agreed with Supervisor/lab. superintendent):
I  There is no likelihood of a risk to health.
II 
There is no likelihood of a risk to health given (Tick all precautions that apply)
 Good Chemical Laboratory Practice (GCLP)  Good Microbiological Laboratory Practice (GMLP)
 The following precautions from GCLP / GMLP (e.g. tray containment)
............................................................................................................................................................................
............................................................................................................................................................................
............................................................................................................................................................................
Especially hazardous substances/processes needing the following special precautions (beyond GCLP
or GMLP) to avoid a health risk. If you tick here, the Area Safety Co-ordinator must also sign the form.*
III 
............................................................................................................................................................................
............................................................................................................................................................................
Continue on a separate sheet if necessary
Risk Category for Supervision (To be completed by Supervisor - tick box)

Awork must not be started without direct supervision by a named supervisor

Bwork must not be started without the supervisor's advice and approval

Cwork may proceed as workers are trained and competent in the procedures involved

Dwork may proceed as the risks are insignificant and no special supervision is needed.
Validity of Assessment (Tick):
 day  week  month  term  year  other
Start of Work Date:..................................................
...........
Review Date: ..............................................................
Signatures
Supervisor
Date
Alternate
Date
supervisor
Employee
Date
* Area Safety Coordinator
(If precautions "III" box is ticked)
Date
Completing the form
1.
This form is to enable members of academic staff supervising research assistants and technicians in the
Department of Agriculture to meet the health and safety responsibilities of supervisors towards their
staff. A different form is used for students.
2.
Supervisors may ask workers to write out a brief description of the work including procedures and
hazards. The supervisor and the worker will then meet and agree precautions needed.
3.
Precautions needed should conform to existing University controls such as Outside Normal Hours
Working Procedures and Field Work (Area Health and Safety Code p. 8 and p.15).
The hazards/precautions section of the form fulfils the COSHH regulations (Control of Substances
Hazardous to Health) for laboratory workers (Area Health and Safety Code p.12). Information on
chemical hazards in the format required to complete the table is available from the following website
http://www.biosci.rdg.ac.uk/Facilities/coshh.htm
or from your laboratory superintendents or in case of difficulty from the Department's COSHH assessor.
COSHH regulations are frequently satisfied by following Good Chemical Laboratory Practice and Good
Microbiological Laboratory Practice. These Good Practice leaflets may respectively be downloaded from
http://www.fmd.rdg.ac.uk/safety/documents/GoodPracticeLeaflets/GCLP.doc
http://www.fmd.rdg.ac.uk/safety/documents/GoodPracticeLeaflets/gmlp.doc
Further information may also be obtained from the Health and Safety Executive:
http://www.hse.gov.uk/pubns/agindex.htm
Precautions should include personal protective equipment such as laboratory coats to satisfy the
Personal Protective Equipment at Work Regulations 1992.
4.
Supplementary risk assessments are required where hazards involve significant lifting of heavy items
(The Manual Handling Operations Regulations 1992) or where use of VDUs would classify the person as
a user of Display Screen Equipment (Health and Safety Display Screen Equipment Regulations 1992).
See Area Health and Safety Code pp.9-10.
5.
Review Assessments by the Review Date or immediately following an accident or unsafe incident.
6.
If an accident occurs, this form must be produced when the accident is reported and will need to
submitted with the Accident Report Form (where required) to the University Health & Safety Office. (see
Area Health and Safety Code p.7)
7.
Completed forms must be kept in a readily accessible place for five years.
THE UNIVERSITY OF READING, School of Agriculture, Policy and Development.
Head of School: Dr M J Gooding
Area Health and Safety Co-ordinator: Dr Alistair Murdoch (ext 6746) a.j.murdoch@reading.ac.uk
Radiation Protection Advisor: Dr Les Crompton l.a.crompton@reading.ac.uk
COSHH Assessor: Dr Irene Mueller-Harvey (ext 6619) i.mueller-harvey@reading.ac.uk
Laboratory Superintendents:
Crop Protection Laboratories (TOB1: Spurs B and E): Mrs Barbara Pembroke
Animal Science Laboratories (Upper Second Floor, New Building): Dr Les Crompton
Faculty Analytical Laboratory (TOB1: Spur D): Dr Irene Mueller-Harvey
Seed Science Laboratory (Upper First Floor, New Building): Dr Alistair Murdoch and Mrs Caroline Hadley
Centre for Agri-Environmental Research (Upper Ground Floor, New Building): Dr Simon Potts
AJMurdoch, The University of Reading, School of Agriculture, Policy and Development
Adapted from Safety Office Form SO20 and the Plant Sciences COSHH form.
Revised August 2008
FORM-ASSESSMENT OF HEALTH AND SAFETY ASPECTS OF STAFF SUPERVISION