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What’s the Difference Between COSHH Training and General Health & Safety Training?
These two often get bundled together in people’s minds, but they cover genuinely different legal ground, under different regulations. Here’s the real distinction.
The short version
- COSHH training is specific to hazardous substances — chemicals, fumes, dusts, biological agents — under the Control of Substances Hazardous to Health Regulations 2002.
- General health & safety training is much broader, covering everyday workplace risks — manual handling, fire safety, workstation setup, general hazard awareness — under the Health and Safety at Work etc. Act 1974.
- Most workplaces need both, not one instead of the other — they’re not interchangeable.
What COSHH training specifically covers
COSHH (Control of Substances Hazardous to Health) is a dedicated set of regulations focused entirely on substances that can harm health — cleaning chemicals, fumes from cooking oils or machinery, dusts, and biological agents. COSHH training teaches how to identify hazardous substances, read safety data sheets, use protective equipment correctly, and follow safe handling and storage procedures specific to what your workplace actually uses.
What general health & safety training covers
General workplace health & safety training is much wider in scope — it covers the broad legal duties every employer and employee has under the Health and Safety at Work etc. Act 1974, including things like manual handling awareness, fire safety basics, safe use of equipment, workstation and display screen guidance, accident reporting, and general hazard spotting. It’s the foundation-level course almost every workplace benefits from, regardless of what substances (if any) are involved.
Which one does your workplace need?
If your business uses any hazardous chemicals or substances at all — and that’s a lower bar than people assume, covering everything from industrial cleaning products to everyday kitchen degreasers — you need dedicated COSHH training on top of general health & safety awareness, not instead of it. A kitchen, for example, genuinely needs both: general H&S for the everyday risks of the workplace, and COSHH specifically for the cleaning chemicals and other substances used in it.
Why the distinction actually matters legally
They sit under different regulations with different specific duties, so completing one doesn’t satisfy the legal requirement for the other. An employer who’s provided general health & safety training but never addressed COSHH specifically hasn’t met their full legal duty if hazardous substances are genuinely present in the workplace.
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Frequently asked questions
Does my kitchen need COSHH training if we only use standard cleaning products?
Yes — most standard commercial cleaning and sanitising products used in a kitchen fall under COSHH, since they carry hazard classifications even when used correctly. It’s a lower bar than people expect.
Can one course cover both COSHH and general health & safety?
They’re usually offered as separate, focused courses precisely because they cover different legal ground — GFH offers both, and most workplaces genuinely benefit from completing both rather than treating one as a substitute.
Who in a business actually needs COSHH training?
Anyone who could be exposed to a hazardous substance as part of their work — which in a typical kitchen usually means most or all of the team, given how universal cleaning chemicals are.