Is there an official COSHH assessment template?

No. The regulations require the significant findings to be recorded where five or more people are employed, but do not specify a form. Any layout that shows the thinking and lets somebody else follow it is acceptable.

What should a COSHH assessment form include?

The work named specifically, the substance and its hazards, who is exposed and by what route, the controls in order of prevention before protection, what the person doing the work must do, spill and first-aid arrangements, and the author, date and version.

Does a COSHH assessment need a risk score?

No. COSHH does not require scoring, and a numerical score can hide the judgement rather than show it. What matters is that the record makes the decision and its reasons clear.

Can I use the same COSHH assessment on every job?

Only where the work is genuinely the same. The assessment is about the task, the quantity, the duration, the space and the people — change those and the assessment needs revisiting.

COSHH Assessment Template — What Each Section Needs

Why there is no official form

Regulation 6 asks for an assessment that is suitable and sufficient, and for the significant findings to be recorded. It does not specify a layout, a length or a scoring system.

That is deliberate. A form that suited a paint sprayer would be wrong for a groundworker, and one detailed enough for both would be too long for either. What matters is that the record shows the thinking happened and lets somebody else follow it.

The practical consequence: a template is worth using because it stops you forgetting a part, not because it makes the record valid.

A blank form you can use

Here it is, free and with nothing to sign up for. Print it, or save it as a PDF from the print dialogue — it is laid out to be filled in on a clipboard, and it carries its own sources and the date it was produced.

Fill it in yourself
One sheet per substance per job. It costs nothing, it belongs to you, and the thinking is where it should be — with the person who knows the work.
Or let HubTrack do the filling
The same shape, with the hazards, the exposure limit and the sources already in it from the published lists — and every assessment kept together, findable when a client asks. You still make the judgements; the typing goes away.
Register your interest

Free COSHH tools · hubtrack.ai

COSHH assessment

This is a blank record, not an assessment. Filling it in does not by itself make an assessment suitable and sufficient — that depends on the thinking behind the answers.

1 · The work

TaskWhat is actually being done

Site / location

How long, how oftenDuration per shift, and how many shifts

Indoors, outdoors, confined?

2 · The substance

Name on the tin, and what it is

Supplied, or generated by the work?Dust, fume, mist and vapour have no supplier

Hazard classificationPictograms, hazard statements

Workplace exposure limit8-hour TWA and 15-minute STEL, where there is one

3 · Who is exposed, and how

WhoIncluding people nearby, and whoever clears up

RoutesBreathing · skin · eyes · swallowing — tick only what applies

Anyone more at risk?New or young workers, pregnancy, existing conditions

4 · Controls, in this order

Can it be avoided or swapped?Prevention first — a different product, a different method

Engineering controlOn-tool extraction, water suppression, ventilation

How the work is organisedFewer people, less time, keeping others back

PPE — last, not firstState the type and whether face-fit testing is needed

5 · What the person doing it must do

In their wordsThe instruction that actually reaches the gang

HygieneWashing before eating, changing, laundering

6 · If it goes wrong

Spill or leak

First aidFrom sections 4 to 6 of the safety data sheet

7 · Who wrote it, and when

Assessed by

Date

Version

Review byOr sooner, if the work or the substance changes

The parts a record usually has

The work, named: What task, where, how long, how often. "General site work" is the commonest reason an assessment fails to be sufficient.
The substance: The trade name and what it actually is, with its hazard classification and any workplace exposure limit.
Who is exposed: Including people nearby who are not doing the task, and whoever cleans up.
The routes: Breathing, skin, eyes, swallowing. Ticking all four by default is a sign nobody thought about it.
The controls: In order — prevention, then engineering control, then how the work is organised, then PPE. See the seven steps.
What the person must do: The instruction that reaches the gang, in words they would use.
Spills and first aid: What to do when it goes wrong, from sections 4, 5 and 6 of the safety data sheet.
Who, when and which version: Author, date and a version, so the next person knows if they are reading the current one.

The difference between filling it in and doing it

A blank template invites a particular failure: the substance's own data copied into the boxes, and nothing said about the job. You end up with a sheet that describes solvent in general and never mentions that the work happens in a basement with no ventilation for four hours at a time.

The test is simple. Read the finished record and ask whether it could belong to any other firm doing any other job. If it could, it has not been assessed — it has been transcribed.

The parts that make it yours are the quantities, the durations, the space, the people, and the controls you actually have. Those are also the parts no template can pre-fill.

Choosing a template

Most free templates on the internet are fine. The ones worth avoiding share two traits: a risk score that multiplies numbers to produce a figure nobody can act on, and a pre-filled control list where every row ends in gloves and goggles.

Scoring is not required by COSHH and it hides the judgement rather than showing it. And a template whose default answer is PPE inverts regulation 7, which puts personal protection last precisely because it protects one person, only while worn, and only if it fits.

One more practical point: whatever shape you pick, use the same one everywhere. A firm with four layouts across six jobs cannot review anything, which is the argument for a register holding them all in one place.

Questions people ask

Is there an official COSHH assessment template?: No. The regulations require the significant findings to be recorded where five or more people are employed, but do not specify a form. Any layout that shows the thinking and lets somebody else follow it is acceptable.
What should a COSHH assessment form include?: The work named specifically, the substance and its hazards, who is exposed and by what route, the controls in order of prevention before protection, what the person doing the work must do, spill and first-aid arrangements, and the author, date and version.
Does a COSHH assessment need a risk score?: No. COSHH does not require scoring, and a numerical score can hide the judgement rather than show it. What matters is that the record makes the decision and its reasons clear.
Can I use the same COSHH assessment on every job?: Only where the work is genuinely the same. The assessment is about the task, the quantity, the duration, the space and the people — change those and the assessment needs revisiting.