Health and Safety

Inspections

At West Wiltshire District Council we have a section that deals with health and safety inspections locally.

The Health and Safety Section will inspect on a regular basis the following types of premises:

• Banks & Building Societies
• Beauty Parlours
• Boarding Kennels & Catteries
• Builders Merchants
• Cafes
• Clubhouses
• Estate Agents
• Food Shops
• Garden Centres
• Hairdressers
• Hotels
• Motor Car Tyre & Exhaust Sales & Fitting
• Non Food Shops
• Nursery Schools
• Office Activities
• Public Houses
• Recreational Facilities
• Residential Homes
• Restaurants
• Retail Warehouses
• Skin Piercing Premises eg Tatooists, Acupuncturists, Ear Piercers
• Supermarkets
• Takeaways
• Theatres
• Wholesale Warehouses
• Zoos

For all other types of premises the Health and Safety Executive is the enforcement authority - see Useful Contacts

The following is a summary of what an inspector will need to see during an inspection:

• A Health and Safety Law Poster
• An Accident Book (or other means of recording accident details)
• A suitable First Aid Kit
• A current certificate of Employers Liability Insurance

You should also have carried out risk assessments for the following, which he/she will need to see:

• General risk assessment of the premises and work activities
• Any manual handling activities
• The need for any protective clothing or equipment
• Any use of visual display equipment (if you have, for instance, computer operators)
• Any persons exposed to loud noise
• Any use of hazardous substances
• Electrical appliances

If your business employs 5 or more persons then you should have produced a health and safety policy document, a record of your arrangements for the management of health and safety, and a record of the findings of any assessments you carry out.

If you employ or intend to employ any person who is a child (ie under 16 years of age), then you must record the significant findings of the Risk Assessment of their workplace and work activities, and this information must be made available to the child’s parent or guardian before they start work.

If you are self employed you still have the same duty to ensure your own health and safety and that of anyone else (eg customers, representatives, contractors) who might be affected by anything in your workplace, or by your work activities.

Updated May 2008