Are you operating within the law?

In terms of health and safety all businesses have a legal responsibility to ensure the health and safety of their employees and other people as well as to protect the environment. As you might expect there are specific types of business activities which have to be registered with the local authority. Such activities include tattooing, pre-school childcare and catering.

You might not be aware that some types of businesses will also need to register their business premises with their local authority for health and safety reasons. This is more likely to be necessary if you are employing staff. The types of premises that require to be registered include offices, shops, wholesale warehouses and launderettes. Once your businesses premises have been registered the local authority will inspect them to ascertain whether or not they are suitable for the business that you are running. At the same time they will also carry out checks in order to identify whether or not you are complying with the health and safety legislation that is relevant to your business.

Some types of business are required to obtain a licence before they begin trading; this includes pet shops, taxi firms and night clubs. In order to apply for a licence the person proposing to run the new business must submit an application and business proposal to the local authority. A background check will be carried out on the person submitting the application. Once a licence has been granted it is usual to expect that it will need to be renewed annually and that your business may be subject to periodic inspections in order to ensure that you are maintaining the necessary standards.

It is worth adding that some businesses are required to register with the Health and Safety Executive as a pose to the local authority. This tends to apply to construction firms, farms and factories.

Ensuring that you comply with health and safety regulations will not only make sure that you are operating within the law but it can also have positive effects for your business. Poor health and safety can mean that accidents are more likely to happen; so complying with health and safety regulations and making sure that work equipment is safe to use should help to avoid accidents which could cost your business a lot of money. Being responsible in terms of your energy consumption will not only help the environment but will also save you money and as anyone who has ever started their own business can attest every little penny helps when you are trying to get your new venture off the ground.

Everyone knows that fires can have devastating consequences both in terms of tragic consequences when there is loss of life or injury involved but also in terms of interruption to businesses. The Fire Authorities are responsible for ensuring the safety of buildings for those that work in and use them.

According to the Fire Precautions (Workplace) (Amendment) Regulations 1999 employers with two or more employees must have the following in position:

The consequences for not complying with the regulations do not only affect the business owner, indeed if a company is found be in breach of the regulations company directors and senior management could face two years in prison.

Most people have heard of the Trading Standards Department and recognise that its role is to enforce legislation which has been put into place in order to promote safe and fair trading for both the consumer and the trader. The Trading Standards Department has a wide remit with more than fifty Acts of Parliament falling under their responsibility. For example if you are setting up or running your own business and plan to run advertising you will need to know what is and what is not acceptable.

When the words Environmental Health Department are uttered most people will automatically think of issues associated with food hygiene however the department also covers environmental protection and occupational health and safety. One aspect of public health and safety that comes under the Environmental Health Department is, quite literally, rubbish. Businesses are required to arrange for the collection, safe storage and disposal of any refuse generated by their business.

As with domestic premises the local authority regulates the development of land and building for business use. For example if you plan to change the primary use of a building in order to run your business from it then you will need to obtain planning permission prior to starting any of the work.