LEV Servicing

HOW WE CAN HELP WITH LEV SERVICING

Benefits of servicing your LEV system

You must, by law, get your Local Exhaust Ventilation (LEV) system thoroughly examined and tested by a competent LEV engineer at least once every 14 months (dependent on the process).

But regular LEV servicing is also essential to keep your systems in good working order. LEV systems are designed to remove harmful substances, such as dust, fumes, and vapours, from the working environment, thus safeguarding the health and well-being of employees and ensuring compliance with health and safety regulations. If these systems are not kept in proper working order, this can pose risks to your workforce and productivity.

Why is LEV Servicing Important?

Workforce Safety & Productivity

If you have an LEV system on your premises, then you are likely to have an understanding of its importance to the health and safety of your employees. Not keeping up with routine LEV servicing can make your system less efficient and jeopardise the health of those on your premises.

The cost of running an LEV system is likely to offer good value by comparison to not only the days missed off work, but also potential legal fees if your business is seen to not be taking the necessary precautions to protect the workforce.

A healthy workforce also means higher productivity. According to HSE figures, 31.5 million working days were lost due to work-related ill health in 2022/23.

Less Down Time For Your LEV System

Regular servicing from an expert LEV engineer can highlight potential issues early. This lowers the risk of expensive downtime during which manufacturing, and production processes cannot continue.

More Likely to Pass a Thorough Examination and Test (TExT)

You must, by law, get your LEV system thoroughly examined and tested at least once every 14 months (dependent on the process). A system that has been properly maintained with a recommended quarterly servicing programme is far more likely to be in good working condition when it undergoes its mandatory TExT.

Continued Warranty & Insurance Cover

If your system is not serviced regularly, your warranty will be invalidated. There is now also a strong suggestion that your insurance company may not cover you if you are found to be in material breach of the law. More information about this can be found in COSHH Regulation 9.

Our advice is that LEV servicing is undertaken on a quarterly basis. In addition, visual and qualitative checks should be carried out in between. We can provide BOHS approved training to your team so they can be confident to carry out these regular checks and report anything that doesn’t look right.

What Checks Should be Carried Out During LEV Servicing?

Many companies offer LEV servicing, but not all LEV services are the same

We have put together a list of the main checks that a competent LEV servicing engineer would be expected to carry out when it comes to your regular LEV service.



Visual checks - During a service visit, a competent service engineer will inspect your system for any visual damage. This will include dents, tears and leaks. In addition, all the fixings should be checked from the inlet to the discharge.



Component checks - A competent LEV servicing engineer will also check the components of the system. They will ensure everything is working efficiently and effectively as originally logged in the commissioning documents. They will consider whether any components need changing or cleaning imminently. This will include filter efficiency checks and examinations of the system components. Should the report recommend new parts or system cleaning, then the work can be scheduled and completed by one of our expert engineers when it is convenient for you, thus reducing any inconvenience. This will prevent unexpected breakdowns which can be expensive and potentially lead to production downtime.



Ducting checks - Ducting will be inspected to ensure there are no blockages affecting the way your system runs. This is not only a safety risk due to the reduced efficiency of your LEV system, but the build-up of materials such as flour dust, wood dust, rubber or diesel soot could also result in a fire. The build-up of heavier materials like metals released from grinding could lead to the duct collapsing. As well as these sudden, drastic consequences of blockages, there are longer term issues too. Blockages can create additional resistance in the system that leads to mechanical failure over time and consequent repair bills. An example of this is if a fan has to work harder to ensure the necessary airflow. Not only will this result in higher energy consumption and electricity bills, but it will also mean the fan is more likely to fail and require replacement.

High Level Cleaning

Ducting checks during a routine LEV service may highlight the need for high level cleaning.

When high-level surfaces and ducts are left to build up dust and other dirt it can present a number of problems for a building and its occupants. These could include a reduction in air quality and heightened fire risk, as well as contributing to general uncleanliness and poor presentation of your premises. In areas where food is prepared, hygiene standards could be driven unacceptably low.

Furthermore, some insurance companies will not authorise damage payments from fires caused by infrequent duct cleaning. This makes the need for regular duct cleaning even more vital for many businesses.

High level cleaning requires extra health and safety considerations and specialist equipment when compared to more routine cleaning. It is important to apportion some budget annually for the cleaning of high-level surfaces and ducts.

Every job will be different but we will provide you with a competitive quote based upon your work environment, considering, for example, the substances you work with, inspection hatches and general accessibility. If you have high-level surfaces or ducts that need professional cleaning, then contact our friendly team for help today.

Vent-Tech LEV Servicing Packages

Whatever the dust and fume extraction needs of your company, we can create a bespoke LEV servicing plan for you.

So you can concentrate your time and effort on your business and leave the LEV to Vent-Tech.

If you take out one of our LEV servicing packages, we will contact you directly to arrange servicing dates meaning you can be confident that you will remain HSE compliant at all times.

We can provide you with replacement parts if something needs replacing and advise you on improvements to your system as processes change over time.

If this sounds like something that would be useful to you them feel free to get in contact with us to discuss it.

Remedial LEV Services

The recommended quarterly LEV service is a great way to pinpoint areas of wear and tear on your LEV system and get them fixed before they turn into more costly and time-consuming problems further down the line. Whether your servicing is done in-house or by us, our expert engineers can offer nationwide remedial works to prolong the efficiency and longevity of your system.

Why Choose Vent-Tech for LEV Servicing?

It is recommended to have any LEV servicing carried out by a competent person or team.

This means that the LEV engineer you ask to service your LEV system should hold the BOHS qualifications P601, P602 and P604 and ideally the Certificate of Competence (Control). This will enable them to not only diagnose problems, but also to propose solutions. Any reputable LEV engineer will be happy to show you proof of qualifications.

Vent-Tech engineers are fully BOHS qualified so you can be certain your servicing will be fully compliant with HSE guidance and carried out to as very high standard.

Our team has experience of servicing dust and fume extraction systems across a wide variety of industries for over 20 years, meaning that there are few situations we have not come across, and even if we do, our strong commitment to research and development means that we can solve even the most unique of issues.

On top of this, we store all your LEV documents in our password-protected LEV Vault so you have instant access to all your documents and the peace of mind of knowing that everything is in one secure place and easily accessible 24/7.