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Health and Safety at Work is regulated by the Local Authority and the Health and Safety Executive. There are specific regulations on which authority regulates which work activity, but there can sometimes be grey areas.
Local authority responsibility
- Retail shops
- Pubs
- Restaurant/cafés
- Offices
- Beauty therapy businesses
- Nail bars
- Tattooists/piercers
- Hairdressers and barbers
- Children’s nurseries/playgroups (not provided by or on school premises)
- Residential homes for the elderly (not nursing homes)
- Builders’ merchants
- Warehouse/storage facilities
- Sports facilities/clubs
- Gymnasia
- Visitor/tourist attractions
- Petrol stations
- Car washes at petrol stations
- Hotels and temporary accommodation
- Car show rooms (not service or repairs)
- Tyre and exhaust fitters.
For advice, or to make a complaint about a work activity listed above and regulated by the local authority, contact our environmental health team on:
Health and Safety Executive responsibility
- Construction and demolition sites and work by domestic builders/roofers/scaffolders
- Any form of manufacturing site/factory
- Standalone hand car washes
- Work by a contractor (gas, electric, water, telecommunications) in domestic premises
- Nursing homes
- Delivery services
- Schools and other educational establishments
- Garages offering mechanical repairs/servicing/body shop
- Dry cleaners
- Doctors
- Dentists and other medical premises
- Chemical sites
For advice, or to make a complaint about a work activity listed above and regulated by the Health and Safety Executive contact them on:
- Call 0300 003 1647
- Visit the HSE website
A to Z guide
If you are still unsure whether the Local Authority or Health and Safety Executive regulates the work activity you are enquiring about, view the A to Z guide which lists many work activities and their regulating authority
Potholes
If your complaint relates to potholes in roads or uneven pavements you will need to report this to Essex Highways
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