Buying Local Exhaust Ventilation (LEV) – Your views please

Research undertaken by HSE and feedback from stakeholders has suggested that businesses, particularly small businesses, can find it difficult to buy extraction or LEV that protect workers from harmful substances. HSE is exploring a number of ways to help SMEs buy extraction systems that are both effective and provide value for money.  One of the ways that they are looking to provide this support is by developing a simple tool that guides employers through the process of buying LEV. At a recent meeting of the HSE Small Business Trades Association Forum, BWF was asked for its views on: – whether a tool (perhaps a checklist or something similar) is something that SMEs would use to help them buy LEV;
– even if SMEs don’t necessarily use extraction systems we would be very interested to hear about how they go about buying other pieces of relatively complex machinery or kit;
– what tools they use to help them choose something appropriate and where would they look for help? Views on what the tool could be (checklist, flow charts, cartoon strip etc how it could be accessed and what level of detail it would need, would also be appreciated. Please send your views/comments by email to Michael Lee at the BWF who will collate comments received and forward a response to HSE. Your help would be much appreciated.