Guide
LEV TExT report: what a thorough examination gives you
Updated
The report is what you are buying. An inspector reads it, your insurer may ask for it, and it tells you whether the extraction is protecting anyone.
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What an LEV thorough examination, test and inspection is for
A thorough examination and test answers one question: is the system still achieving the control it was designed to achieve? That can only be answered against a stated intended performance. A report with no benchmark is a set of readings, not a verdict.
HSE guidance is that the examiner needs information about intended performance. That might be an initial appraisal or commissioning report, or for simple standalone systems the supplier's standard operating data (hse.gov.uk).
What a usable report contains
- Identification of the system, the processes it serves and every hood or extraction point examined.
- The intended performance the system is being judged against, and where that figure came from.
- Measured results at each point, with the instruments used and their calibration status.
- A clear statement of whether adequate control is being achieved, point by point rather than only overall.
- Defects found, with what needs doing and how urgently.
- The date, the examiner, and a record you can retain for the 5 years COSHH regulation 9(4) requires.
Reading the verdict
- Adequate control demonstrated
- Every point examined performs as intended. File it, diarise the next examination inside the applicable interval, and keep up the routine checks that regulation 9(1) requires between tests.
- Adequate control with observations
- The system works but something is degrading: a filter near end of life, a damper drifting, a hood used differently from how it was designed. These are the cheap fixes if you do them now.
- Control not demonstrated
- One or more points are not achieving the intended performance. Exposure control is in doubt from the date of the test, not from the date you get round to it, so this normally means acting on the process as well as booking the repair.
What happens after a fail
- Deal with exposure first. That may mean stopping the affected process, moving the work, or relying on suitable respiratory protection while repairs are arranged.
- Get the remedial work specified. The examiner reports; the fix is separate work and is usually quoted separately.
- Re-test after the repair, and check at quote stage whether that visit is included or chargeable. It is one of the most common surprises on an LEV bill.
- Keep the failed report. The 5 year record covers examinations, tests and repairs, and the trail of what you did about a failure is the part that shows a duty taken seriously.
If you have no commissioning data at all, say so when you ask for quotes. Establishing a benchmark is real extra work, and a tester who has been told in advance will price it rather than discover it on site.