If you apply professional pesticides — herbicides, fungicides, anything that controls weeds or pests — you have legal duties to record what you do and to manage the risk to people. Get this right and it's routine; get it wrong and it's a serious compliance problem. Here's what UK grounds-maintenance businesses need to know about spray records and COSHH.
This is general guidance, not legal advice. Check the current HSE and HSE/CRD pesticide guidance for your situation.
You must keep records of professional pesticide use
In the UK, professional users of plant protection products are required to keep records of the products they apply, and to retain them for at least three years. As a rule of thumb, for every application record:
- Product name and approval/MAPP number.
- Rate and total quantity used.
- Area / site treated.
- Date (and time) of application.
- Operator who applied it.
- Conditions — weather, wind, temperature.
Some contracts and assurance schemes ask you to record more (target weed/pest, equipment, buffer zones). When in doubt, record more rather than less.
Why the weather belongs in the record
Spraying in the wrong conditions risks drift onto people, water and non-target areas — and is a common cause of complaints and enforcement. Wind speed and direction, temperature and rainfall all affect whether it's safe and effective to spray. Recording conditions at the time of application isn't just box-ticking; it's evidence you sprayed responsibly. Software that shows live spray-suitability guidance ("good for spraying / borderline / too windy") at the point of recording helps operators make and document safe decisions together.
Certificates: PA1, PA6 and competence
Anyone applying professional pesticides generally needs the appropriate certificate of competence — commonly PA1 (the foundation unit) plus an application unit such as PA6 (handheld/knapsack) or others for the equipment used. Keep certificates on file with their holders, and track expiry so nobody sprays on a lapsed ticket. A compliance tracker that reminds you before certificates expire keeps you covered.
COSHH: assess the risk before you use it
The Control of Substances Hazardous to Health Regulations (COSHH) require you to assess the risks of the chemicals you use and put controls in place. For grounds maintenance that means:
- A COSHH assessment for each hazardous product, based on its safety data sheet.
- The right PPE and handling, storage and disposal procedures.
- Information and training so operators understand the risks.
Keep your COSHH assessments and product safety data where the people using the chemicals can actually find them — ideally linked to the products in your system.
Safe storage and handling
Professional pesticides must be stored securely — in a suitable, signed, bunded store, away from people, food and water, with access limited to trained staff. Keep an inventory, and don't keep more than you need.
Make compliance a by-product of doing the job
The businesses that stay compliant don't treat records as separate paperwork — they capture them as part of the job. A statutory spray diary on the crew's device, with weather guidance built in and a COSHH library to hand, means the record is made at the point of application, certificates are tracked with reminders, and you can produce three years of records in seconds if anyone asks.
SwardOps includes a spray diary with weather guidance, a COSHH library, and certificate-expiry reminders. Start a free 30-day trial to see it.