Hazardous Storage

Chemical storage cabinets, COSHH cupboards and hazardous substance stores for flammable liquids, acids, pesticides and agrochemicals, petroleum spirit and lithium-ion batteries. Every unit in this range is welded steel with a lockable door, an integral liquid-tight sump and hazard labelling, so hazardous substances are segregated and controlled rather than simply shut in a cupboard. Prices run from £269.00 for a wall-side Bott Verso cupboard to £12,025.92 for a six-shelf lithium-ion charging cabinet.

What UK law actually asks of a chemical storage cabinet

No cabinet is "COSHH certified" — compliance is about how the substance is assessed, stored and controlled, and the cabinet is one part of that. In practice, the duties under the Control of Substances Hazardous to Health Regulations 2002 and DSEAR translate into four things a cabinet has to do:

• Restrict access — a lockable door with an all-metal lock, so it cannot melt out of the door in a fire.
• Resist fire long enough to matter — rigid welded steel, return flanges around doors and joints to block the passage of flame, and door reinforcement so panels do not distort.
• Retain what leaks — an integral liquid-tight sump in the base. The practical benchmark used across UK industry is a sump holding at least 110% of the largest single container, or 25% of the total volume stored, whichever is greater. Check that against your largest container, not against the cabinet's overall size.
• Say what is inside — hazard labelling to BS 5378 or BS EN ISO 7010.

The GPC cabinets in this range are designed against the Flammable Liquid Storage Regulations 1972 as appropriate, HSE guidance notes HSG51 and CS19, and Factory Inspectorate Certificate of Approval No. 1, Parts 3 and 4. The CoSHH security cupboards additionally carry a EN 13501-1 reaction-to-fire classification, and the lithium-ion charging cabinets are classified to EN 1363-1 and EN 14470-1. There is a fuller walk-through in our COSHH cabinet requirements guide and our guide to COSHH symbols.

The range at a glance, by steel gauge and price

Steel thickness is the quickest proxy for where a cabinet sits in the range — 0.9 mm for the general hazardous-materials cabinet, 1.2 mm across the flammable, acid and agrochemical families, and 1.5 mm on the security cupboards.

Range	Body	Orderable sizes	From (inc. VAT)
Bott Verso hazardous substance cupboard	Welded steel, RAL 1023 yellow	5 — 525×350×800 to 1050×550×2000 mm	£269.00
GPC highly flammable cabinets	1.2 mm, stove enamel yellow	4 — 915w × 483d, 915–1830 mm high	£1,268.10
GPC hazardous distribution cages with doors	Mobile, 2 shelves at 1,000 kg UDL each	4 — 1655/1955 × 900 × 600 mm	£1,293.30
GPC acid cabinets	1.2 mm sheet steel	4 — 915w × 483d, 915–1830 mm high	£1,319.76
GPC pesticide & agrochemical units	1.2 mm	4 — 915w × 483d, 915–1830 mm high	£1,319.76
GPC petroleum storage chests	Fully welded, sloping roof	3 — 610/965/1270 mm wide × 630 mm	£1,357.02
GPC CoSHH security cupboards	1.5 mm welded, EN 13501-1	4 — 1200/1800 h × 900/1200 w × 460 d	£1,369.98
GPC hazardous substance security cupboards	1.5 mm welded, EN 13501-1	4 — identical grid to the above	£1,369.98
GPC heavy duty hazardous materials cabinet	0.9 mm, stove enamel yellow	1 — 915 × 483 × 1830 mm	£1,531.56
GPC storage cabinet for hazardous substances	All-welded, adjustable vent	1	£2,404.08
asecos ION-CORE-90 lithium battery cabinet (under bench)	Type 90, EN 14470-1 / EN 1363-1, 8 sockets	1	£4,422.00
asecos ION-CORE-90 lithium battery charging cabinet	Type 90, 4 insulated shelves, 16 sockets	1	£6,113.90
asecos ION-PRO-90 lithium battery charging cabinet	VDMA 24994, 6 shelves, 48 sockets	1	£12,025.92

If you already know you want a standard yellow COSHH unit, go straight to COSHH cabinets. For single-hazard pages see flammable cabinets, acid storage cabinets, pesticide and agrochemical cabinets and lithium battery storage.

What the sizes actually cost

Height is not priced evenly. On the 915 × 483 mm flammable cabinet the four orderable heights run £1,268.10 (915 mm), £1,409.58 (1220 mm), £1,727.88 (1500 mm) and £1,928.82 (1830 mm). Working out the cost of each step:

• 915 → 1220 mm: +£141.48 for 305 mm — £0.46 per mm.
• 1220 → 1500 mm: +£318.30 for 280 mm — £1.14 per mm, 2.4× the rate of the step below it.
• 1500 → 1830 mm: +£200.94 for 330 mm — £0.61 per mm.

1500 mm is the worst-value rung in the ladder. Going from 1500 mm to 1830 mm buys 330 mm more for £200.94, which is less money for more height than the 1220 → 1500 step costs. If 1220 mm is not enough, the 1830 mm cabinet is usually the better buy.

On the CoSHH security cupboards the trade-off is width against height. From the 1200 mm high × 900 mm wide base unit at £1,369.98, adding 300 mm of width costs £722.16 and adding 600 mm of height costs £737.40 — near-identical money for twice the linear gain, so width costs roughly twice as much per millimetre as height. Both second increments are cheaper than the first: the full 1800 × 1200 mm cupboard is £2,575.86, which is 88% above the base unit for four times the usable envelope.

Flammable, acid or agrochemical — what actually differs

The flammable, acid and pesticide cabinets share the same 1.2 mm welded shell, the same 915 × 483 mm footprint, the same four heights, the same all-metal locks and the same adjustable galvanised shelves on 75 mm centres. Those shelves are reversible, so each one can be turned over and used as a tray. What separates them is the specification for the substance class and the labelling supplied.

The price gap is a flat one. At every one of the four heights the acid and agrochemical cabinets cost £51.36–£51.72 more than the flammable cabinet — a constant of about £51.50, which is 4.1% on the smallest cabinet and 2.7% on the largest. Acid and pesticide/agrochemical units are priced identically to each other at all four sizes.

Never share a cabinet between incompatible classes. Acids and flammables in the same sump is the mistake that turns a leak into a reaction. Our guide to flammable storage cabinets versus COSHH cabinets covers the segregation rules, and COSHH cabinet sizes and capacities covers sizing against your own stock list.

One unit in the range solves the segregation problem differently: the GPC storage cabinet for hazardous substances (£2,404.08) has an adjustable vent that meets flammable-storage requirements closed and agrochemical requirements open. It is the only cabinet here that can legitimately change role.

The entry point: where £269 buys you

The Bott Verso hazardous substance cupboard is the range's small-volume answer — welded steel in RAL 1023 safety yellow, reinforced doors opening to 180°, a three-point locking system, sealed steel trays adjustable for height and rated to 75 kg UDL each, labelling to BS EN ISO 7010:2012+A5:2015, and a 10-year guarantee. Five sizes, £269.00 to £859.00.

The value curve runs strongly in favour of the larger units. Measured on external volume, the 525 × 350 × 800 mm cupboard works out at roughly £1,830 per cubic metre and the 1050 × 550 × 2000 mm at roughly £744 — the big cupboard gives you 7.9× the volume for 3.2× the price. If there is any chance the chemical inventory grows, buying the height now is much cheaper than buying a second cupboard later. See also choosing steel cupboards and industrial cupboards for non-hazardous storage.

Lithium-ion is a different problem

Batteries do not leak into a sump; they vent and propagate. The lithium units here are asecos ION-LINE cabinets built around containment and isolation rather than spill retention: Type 90 fire resistance to EN 14470-1 and 90 minutes to EN 1363-1, insulated shelves on the full-height cabinets to slow fire spread, smoke detection with alarm outputs, and a transport base so a damaged cabinet can be moved.

There are three sizes. The under-bench cabinet (8 sockets, £4,422.00) suits a handful of tool packs. The full-height ION-CORE-90 charging cabinet (four shelves at 25 kg, 16 sockets, £6,113.90) suits a department, and the ION-PRO-90 (six shelves at 75 kg, 48 sockets, VDMA 24994 certified, £12,025.92) suits site-scale charging. Compare them on the lithium battery storage page. Background reading: what UK guidance expects of lithium battery storage cabinets and how to charge lithium batteries safely at work.

Petroleum spirit and moving hazardous stock

The petroleum storage chests are top-opening rather than upright, which suits a yard or a bay where an upright cabinet would be in the way. They are fully welded to APEA requirements, suitable for 'Class A' storage and labelled in accordance with the Petroleum (Consolidation) Act 1928, BS 5378 and EC Directive 92/58/EEC, with a hasp and staple for padlocking and a sloping roof — 810 mm at the rear, 610 mm at the front — to shed rain. Three widths at £1,357.02, £1,684.98 and £1,993.14; the width is priced almost linearly at about £0.92–£1.01 per mm. Plan for a forklift: these chests cannot be unloaded by hand.

For moving hazardous stock around a site rather than parking it, the hazardous distribution cages with doors are mobile lockable cages on two fixed and two swivel castors, with two adjustable shelves rated to 1,000 kg UDL each. Steel shelves are £1,293.30 (1655 mm) and £1,358.82 (1955 mm); plywood shelves are a flat £50.04 more at both heights. See load ratings explained if UDL and SWL are doing unfamiliar work in a spec sheet.

Two things worth checking before you order

• The CoSHH security cupboards and the hazardous substance security cupboards are the same cabinet. CSSC and HSSC list the identical four sizes at identical prices — £1,369.98, £2,092.14, £2,107.38 and £2,575.86 — with the same 1.5 mm welded shell, seven-lever lock, Germ Guard anti-bacterial powder coat, spill-retaining galvanised shelves and integral liquid-tight sump. They are two listings of one product, not two options. Order from whichever page you land on.
• The manufacturer's feature text on the acid and agrochemical cabinets describes them as being for flammable liquids. That wording is inherited from the shared GPC family description; the cabinets themselves are the acid and pesticide/agrochemical specifications, as the model codes (ASC and PSC) and the supplied labelling confirm. If the substance class matters to your risk assessment — and it should — specify by model code rather than by the descriptive text.

Beyond the cabinet

Hazardous storage rarely stops at a cupboard. Gas under pressure needs gas cylinder storage — see the UK gas cylinder storage regulations and choosing a propane cylinder cage. Bulk liquids need spill containment, covered in what UK law requires on bunding, spill pallets explained and IBC storage and containment pallets. Drums have their own handling rules in drum storage and storing oil drums safely. For outdoor or secured compounds, see storage cages, and for finish selection in wet or coastal environments, galvanised versus powder-coated steel.

For the legal background to storing hazardous substances, read our guide to the COSHH Regulations 2002: what counts as hazardous, the risk assessment steps and employer duties.

For the fire safety side of storing hazardous and flammable substances, read our guide to the Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order 2005.

Keeping paints and solvents on site? See our guide on how to store paint for home and workplace quantities.