If your business uses cleaning chemicals, solvents, fuels, paints, pesticides or any substance carrying a hazard pictogram, the law expects you to store it safely. A COSHH cabinet is the standard way to do that — but not every metal cupboard qualifies. This guide explains what a compliant COSHH cabinet must do, what the regulations actually say, and how to choose the right unit for your workplace.
Are there COSHH cabinet regulations?
Not in the way most people expect, and this is worth clearing up first because it shapes everything below. There is no British Standard that a cupboard must meet to be called a COSHH cabinet, and no regulation that specifies its steel gauge, its colour or its sump size. The Control of Substances Hazardous to Health Regulations 2002 place duties on you, the employer: assess the risk from each hazardous substance, prevent exposure where you can, and control it where you cannot — which in practice includes storing substances securely so they cannot leak, react, be misused or be taken by someone untrained.
So when people search for "COSHH cabinet regulations", the honest answer is that the regulations govern the control measure, not the product. A cabinet is simply the accepted way of delivering that control, and a cabinet is compliant when it does the job your risk assessment says needs doing. That is a more useful test than any specification sheet, and it is also why two businesses can legitimately buy very different cupboards for the same chemical.
What is a COSHH cabinet?
A COSHH cabinet — also called a hazardous substance cabinet, a COSHH cupboard or a chemical storage cabinet — is a steel storage unit designed to hold substances hazardous to health: corrosive, flammable, toxic, irritant or harmful materials identified under COSHH. Its job is to contain leaks and spills, keep incompatible chemicals apart, restrict access, and clearly signal the hazard inside.
COSHH cabinet requirements at a glance
A compliant cabinet should meet five core requirements:
- Lockable — doors must lock so access is limited to trained, authorised staff.
- Rigid, non-corrosive construction — typically heavy-duty powder-coated or galvanised steel that resists impact and the substances stored.
- Integral sump (spill bund) — a welded, leak-proof tray in the base that captures spills before they spread, or reversible shelves that double as spill trays.
- Clear hazard labelling — exterior signage showing the relevant CLP/GHS pictogram for what is actually inside.
- Suitable location and ventilation — sited away from heat, ignition sources, food and escape routes, with ventilation where volatile vapours are a concern.
There is a related search that puts this well: "which of the following is not a requirement for a COSHH cabinet?" The answer is almost always the colour. Everything on the list above is a genuine control; yellow paint is a convention.
What should go in a COSHH cabinet?
Anything carrying a CLP hazard pictogram that is not better stored elsewhere: cleaning chemicals and disinfectants, solvents and thinners, paints and adhesives, aerosols, small containers of fuel and oil, acids and alkalis, pesticides and agrochemicals, laboratory reagents, and workshop consumables such as brake cleaner and degreaser. Our guide to COSHH symbols and their meanings decodes the pictograms if you are unsure which class a container falls into.
Four things should not go in one, and these are the errors we see most often:
- Gas cylinders. Compressed gases need ventilated storage, normally outdoors in a cage — never a sealed indoor cupboard. See the gas cylinder storage regulations guide and our gas cylinder cages.
- Lithium-ion batteries. A thermal-runaway risk, not a COSHH risk. They need purpose-built lithium battery storage, as the UK guidance guide explains.
- Drum-scale quantities. A 205-litre drum belongs on a bunded pallet or in a drum store, not a cabinet — see spill containment and storing oil drums safely.
- Incompatible substances together. Concentrated acids beside flammable solvents is the textbook example. That needs separate cabinets, not separate shelves.
What size sump does a COSHH cabinet need?
The sump is the single most important feature. The widely used UK benchmark is that it should retain at least 110% of the volume of the largest container stored, or 25% of the total volume of everything held, whichever is greater. Above roughly four or five identical containers it is the 25% test that governs rather than the 110% one — which is the calculation most people miss, because they size the cabinet against the biggest bottle and then fill it with twenty more.
One practical warning: a sump half-full of old spillage, rainwater or general debris has lost the capacity you paid for. Cleaning it out is part of keeping the control measure real rather than theoretical.
Do COSHH cupboards need to be locked?
Yes. Restricting access is a fundamental control under COSHH, and an unlocked cupboard fails it however good the steel is. Keys or combination access should be held only by people trained to handle the substances inside — and not left sitting in the lock, which is the most common finding on an otherwise compliant store. Where theft or deliberate misuse is a genuine risk, a security cupboard with a multi-lever lock, concealed hinge fixings and full-length hinges is the step up.
Do COSHH cabinets have to be yellow?
No — colour is a convention, not a legal requirement. The law requires clear hazard signage; the colour is a widely adopted visual shorthand. That said, the coding is well understood across UK industry and worth following for quick identification:
- Yellow — flammable liquids such as solvents and fuels.
- Red — general chemical and health hazards.
- White — corrosive substances, including acids and alkalis.
- Green — pesticides and environmental hazards.
Whatever the colour, the cabinet must carry the correct pictograms for what is actually stored inside. A red cabinet correctly marked for corrosives is compliant; a yellow one with no signage and an open door is not.
Fire-resisting or fire-rated? The distinction that costs thousands
This is the part of the subject where buyers most often get what they did not intend, so it is worth being precise.
Most UK flammable storage cabinets are fire-resisting by construction: welded seams, a return flange around doors and joints to resist the passage of flame, vertical door reinforcement, and all-metal locks and handles that will not melt under fire attack, built to the HSE guidance in HSG51 (storage of flammable liquids in containers) and CS19. That is the specification the great majority of COSHH installations use, and for most workplaces it is the right one.
A type-tested fire-rated cabinet to BS EN 14470-1 is a different thing. Those cabinets are furnace-tested and classified as Type 15, 30, 60 or 90 according to how many minutes they hold the internal temperature down in a fire, and they cost several times as much. If your fire risk assessment, your insurer or your DSEAR assessment specifically calls for a 30-minute or 90-minute rated cabinet, a flame-resisting HSG51-style cupboard will not satisfy it — and the two are easy to confuse, because both get marketed as "fire resistant cabinets".
Ask which one your assessment requires before you buy, and if the answer is a rated cabinet, insist on seeing the test classification.
Segregating incompatible substances
One cabinet does not suit every substance. Incompatible chemicals — concentrated acids and flammable solvents being the classic pairing — must be stored separately to prevent dangerous reactions, heat or the release of toxic gas. In practice that means dedicated cabinets: a flammables cabinet for solvents and fuels, an acid or corrosive cabinet for aggressive liquids, and a separate unit for pesticides and agrochemicals. Always read the safety data sheet for each substance and follow its storage and segregation advice. Our flammable cabinet vs COSHH cabinet guide covers the most common mix-up in detail.
Where should a COSHH cupboard be located?
Position matters as much as the cabinet itself. Site units in a well-ventilated area, away from direct heat and ignition sources, clear of high-traffic routes, and never blocking or adjacent to a fire-escape route. Keep them away from food preparation and welfare areas. Where the substances give off volatile vapours, choose a cabinet suitable for connection to local exhaust ventilation, or one with an adjustable vent. Outdoor and yard storage — normal for petrol, Class A liquids and gas cylinders — needs a weather-resistant, ventilated solution rather than a sealed indoor cabinet.
Capacity limits for flammables
Fire-safety and building rules often restrict how much highly flammable liquid can be kept in a single working area before it must move to a dedicated store — a figure of around 50 litres in one indoor area is commonly cited as a practical trigger. If you hold larger volumes you will likely need a larger flammables cabinet or a separate store. Your fire risk assessment and DSEAR assessment should set the exact limits for your site; do not treat a rule of thumb from an article as a permission.
Signage, labels and keeping it compliant
Signage is the requirement people most often skip and the cheapest part of the job. The pictogram on the door has to match what is actually inside, which is why better cabinets ship with a label set for the customer to fit rather than pre-printed at the factory. When the contents of a cupboard change, the labels change with them.
Beyond that, a COSHH cabinet is work equipment like any other. Check the doors, hinges and locks; keep the sump clean and dry; keep the key controlled; and review the contents against your assessment when substances are added or dropped. None of that is expensive, and all of it is what an inspector looks at.
Which standards apply?
The key references are the COSHH Regulations 2002, the Dangerous Substances and Explosive Atmospheres Regulations (DSEAR), the CLP Regulation for hazard classification and labelling, HSG51 and CS19 for flammable liquid storage, and BS EN 14470-1 where a type-tested fire rating is required. The Health and Safety Executive provides the authoritative overview on its COSHH pages, including how to carry out a COSHH risk assessment — the starting point for deciding what storage you actually need.
What does a compliant cabinet cost?
Prices in this market span more than tenfold, and knowing which band you are in prevents both over-buying and false economy. Light-commercial welded steel cupboards with three-point locking and correct labelling start at around £269 and cover most offices, kitchens, small workshops and single-team stores. Heavy-duty single-class cabinets built to HSG51 and CS19 — flammable, acid, agrochemical, petroleum — run from roughly £1,268 to £2,076. Full-height, double-width security cupboards for chemical stores rooms reach around £2,576. Below that range sit thin-gauge retail lockers and clip-lid boxes, which are fine for a shelf of domestic cleaning products and not much else.
If your budget points at the cheapest band and your risk assessment demands the middle one, the assessment wins. But the reverse is also true: a modest cupboard that is correctly sited, locked and labelled beats an expensive one propping a fire door open.
Choosing the right COSHH cabinet
Bring it together in five steps: (1) list your substances and read each safety data sheet; (2) group them into compatible classes and plan a cabinet per class; (3) size each cabinet's sump against the largest container and the total volume; (4) decide indoor or outdoor, fixed or mobile, and whether you need venting; (5) confirm signage, locking and location suit the substances and the site.
At KC Supply our COSHH cabinets and cupboards range covers compliant flammable, acid, pesticide, petroleum and general hazardous storage, plus CoSHH security cupboards — all sump-bunded, lockable and built to the requirements above — and the wider hazardous storage range adds gas cylinder cages, lithium battery cabinets and spill containment. The COSHH cabinet sizes and capacities guide works through sizing, and if your contents are not hazardous at all, metal storage cabinets is the better starting point. Our team are former engineers — send us your substance list and we will point you to the right compliant cabinet.
This guide is general information, not a substitute for your own COSHH and DSEAR risk assessments. Always follow the safety data sheet for each substance and current HSE guidance.