Small businesses carry the same COSHH duties as large ones, usually with far less time and no dedicated safety person. The legal duty does not shrink with your headcount. If you have fewer than five employees you do not have to write the assessment down, but you still have to carry it out, control exposure, and keep it current.
The duty is the same. The resource is not. So how does a busy owner stay on top of it without losing the week to paperwork?
Why COSHH Is Harder When You Are Small
Most small businesses have no full-time safety manager, so COSHH lands on an owner or an office manager alongside everything else they already do. Substances get tracked in a spreadsheet or a drawer of safety data sheets. Those sheets quietly go out of date when suppliers reissue them, and nobody is watching for it. Reviews slip because there is no reminder. Then a client asks for your COSHH paperwork, or an inspector visits, and it takes a scramble to pull it together from three different places.
None of that is carelessness. It is what happens when a real legal duty meets a very full day and no spare pair of hands — the same pattern behind many of the common COSHH mistakes that still catch businesses out.
The cost of disorganised records
- Contract risk: Clients increasingly ask for COSHH paperwork before renewing. If you cannot produce it quickly, the contract is at risk.
- Enforcement exposure: The HSE can issue improvement notices and fines where COSHH duties are not being met. Size is not a defence.
- Outdated assessments: A supplier-revised safety data sheet can change the hazard profile of a substance overnight. An assessment based on the old sheet may no longer be sufficient.
What the Bundle Gives You
The Small Business Bundle is Sevron's answer, and it is free to get started. It puts the parts of COSHH that usually get scattered into one place.
- A free SDS account, free to keep, working as your own inventory you can reach around the clock.
- Access to one of the UK's largest SDS databases, with millions of sheets from more than 7,000 manufacturers via the Sevron SDS search, so you are not chasing suppliers one email at a time.
- SPOT AI, Sevron's COSHH assessment tool, which turns a safety data sheet into a compliant assessment in around 60 seconds through a simple five-step wizard.
- Free health and safety training through the Knights of Safety Academy, with more than 70 courses — see our overview of the Academy for what that community offers.
- Records that are organised and audit-ready, with SDS management and assessments kept together rather than spread across folders.
Instead of a spreadsheet that tells you nothing, you get a system that keeps your COSHH in order and tells you when something needs attention.
How Sevron keeps your SDS library current
When a manufacturer reissues a safety data sheet, the database is updated. Because your account links to that library rather than storing static files, you are not left managing version control manually. If a sheet changes, you can see it before your next assessment review, not after an inspector asks.
How SPOT AI Saves the Afternoon
The part that usually swallows an afternoon is turning a safety data sheet into a usable assessment. SPOT AI does the heavy lifting, reading the sheet and producing a compliant COSHH assessment in around 60 seconds through a five-step wizard you finish and own. It does not remove your judgement. It removes the blank page and the manual copying that makes the job feel endless.
For a business with twenty substances and no safety manager, that is the difference between COSHH being a weekend job and a short task — the same workflow we described for a low-hazard product like washing up liquid, where the assessment is brief but still required.
Who It Is For
The Bundle is built for smaller businesses, the ones with the same duties as everyone else but not the same resource. If you handle cleaning chemicals, workshop substances, salon products, or anything that carries a hazard pictogram, COSHH applies to you, and the Bundle gives you a free, purpose-built way to manage it rather than wrestling a spreadsheet.
It is the entry point to Sevron's Accelerated Compliance approach, getting you certified, competent and compliant. For a fuller picture of what good COSHH looks like end to end, the Ultimate Guide to COSHH Compliance walks through the framework the Bundle is designed to support.
Getting Started
Getting going takes minutes, not days. Picture the salon, the small garage or the cleaning firm: same duties as everyone else and none of the spare capacity. A client emails on a Thursday asking for the COSHH file before they will renew the contract. Instead of losing the evening to a drawer of paper, the owner opens one place, pulls the assessments and current sheets, and sends them inside ten minutes.
To get there, you create your free account on the Small Business Bundle page, add the substances you hold, and pull their safety data sheets from the database. SPOT AI turns each sheet into an assessment you finish and own, and everything stays in one place as things change. No long setup, and no cost to begin.
Start free, and get your COSHH in order.
Watch the demo to see how it works, or book a free call if you would rather talk it through.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is the Small Business Bundle really free?
Yes, it is free to get started, with a free safety data sheet account you can keep on the Small Business Bundle page. You can upgrade to fuller plans as your needs grow.
Do small businesses really have to do COSHH?
Yes. COSHH applies whatever your size. With fewer than five employees you need not write it down, but you must still assess and control exposure, and keep that assessment current when substances or working practices change. Our COSHH guide hub explains the duties in plain language.
What does it include?
A free SDS account, access to one of the UK's largest SDS databases through SDS search, the SPOT AI assessment tool, and free Knights of Safety Academy training, all in one place.
How fast is an assessment with SPOT AI?
Around 60 seconds from a safety data sheet, through a five-step wizard you finish and own. It removes the manual copying and the blank page, not your judgement.
Can I move my existing spreadsheet across?
Yes. You can bring the substances you already hold into the platform, pull their current safety data sheets from the database, and use SPOT AI to produce assessments for each one. It is a practical way to replace a static spreadsheet with a system that stays current.
Same duty as the big firms, without the scramble. Start free with the Small Business Bundle.
Safety & Compliance Experts
The Sevron team brings decades of combined experience in health and safety compliance, risk assessment, and workplace safety solutions.
Reviewed by
Dale Allen
CEO & Founder
