Absolute Health and Safety Solutions Ltd - Does RoHS affect your business

Its a new piece of legislation and its only weeks from coming into force.

The RoHS Directive stands for "the restriction of the use of certain hazardous substances in electrical and electronic equipment". This Directive will ban the placing on the EU market of new electrical and electronic equipment containing more than agreed levels of lead, cadmium, mercury, hexavalent chromium, polybrominated biphenyl (PBB) and polybrominated diphenyl ether (PBDE) flame retardants from 1 July 2006.

Manufacturers will need to understand the requirements of the RoHS Directive to ensure that their products, and their components, comply.

The term “electrical and electronic equipment” (EEE) is defined in the Regulations, but includes such products as:
Freezers,
Microwaves,
Coffee machines,
IT - Computers, Printers, Fax Machines
Telecoms equipment,
Radios,
TVs,
Light bulbs,
Drills & Hand Tools
Sewing Machines,
Photocopiers
Automatic Dispensers and the list goes on……

As usual we will try and point you in the right direction, keep it simple and don't complicate the issue. Dionics plc have a simple online survey that will help you decide whether you need to comply.

Another Company Premier Farnell Plc have produce a simplified document that will assist quality managers in updating their procedures in house, further details of how they can help can also be found via their main website at Farnell-Newark Inone

The National Weights and Measures Laboratory (NWML) has been awarded the contract to set up the UK’s national RoHS enforcement body. NWML will be delivering RoHS enforcement when the regulations are fully implemented. They have set a dedicated RoHS website up to assist with the implementation.

Like all new legislation the first rule is not to panic, stop review what your doing, formulate a plan and commence implementation. If you choose to use outside coumpanies to assist with any implementation then ensure that they are competent to do so and they will meet the needs of your business.

Further assistance can be found via Business Link you can sign up to be emailed regular updates concerning the legislation relating to your own business for:

- Licenses & Permits
- Basic Regulation Checklists

What ever your plan is it must be - Measurable, Achievable & Realistic exactly as if you were implementing Health and Safety Management System