Health and Safety

Charnwood Borough Council's Commercial Group aims to provide a safe and healthy environment for people at work. We enforce health and safety legislation in certain types of work places in the Borough - currently over 2,300 premises.

We:

• Inspect workplaces
• Investigate accidents and cases of ill health
• Enforce good standards, usually by providing advice, but sometimes by ordering improvements to be made and, if necessary, by prosecution
• Distribute health and safety information (e.g. leaflets and regular newsletters)
• Answer queries

Our committments for each year are detailed in an annual Health and Safety Intervention Plan and will include any campaigns that we will be involved in, and any action that we take will be in accordance with our Health and Safety Enforcement Policy. Details are also published on the Commercial Group's standards and performance.

We promote the principles of sensible risk managment and have produced a Charnwood Borough Council Health and Safety Handbook to assist businesses in complying with health and safety regulations. We also produce an annual health and safety newsletter that is distributed to all businesses on our database.

We work in close liaision with the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) who also enforce health and safety in different types of premises.  They have established a one stop point of information on the basics that every business will need to know to help them comply with health and safety laws.  The site Health and safety made simple will guide you through some simple steps and provide you with some of the correct documentation.  This ensures that when we inspect you will be on the right track.  The HSE have also produced a simple toolbox that will also provide you with the correct information to comply with health and safety legislation.

There are a number of smaller to medium sized businesses in our borough and to help them the Institution of Occupational Safety and Health (IOSH) have produced some guides called 'Safe Start Up' based on sectors such as hairdressers, building trades and florists.  These are free guides which outline what specifically for your busimness you need to do for health and safety.  The guides can be found at http://www.iosh.co.uk/books_and_resources/safe_start_up.aspx

The Commercial Group also register the following skin piercing activities under the Local Government (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act 1982;

• Acupuncture
• Tattooning
• Ear Piercing
• Electrolysis

All premises within Charnwood where cooling towers and evaporative condensers are situated must register with the Commercial Group.

We are also responsible for regulating all the private water supplies within the borough of Charnwood to ensure that everyone has a safe drinking water supply which complies with chemical and microbiological standards set out in the Private Water Supply Regulations 2009.  Further information can be found on our separate web page where a link is available on the left hand side.

If You Have a Problem

You can contact us:

• If you would like advice on any health & safety matter
• If you, as an employee, think your employer is exposing you to risks or is not carrying out legal duties, and you have pointed this out without getting a satisfactory response

• Report a Health and Safety Problem