Health and Safety and Licensing Team Report
For immediate release
PR 233
16 August 2006
Changes to licensing legislation which moved responsibility from magistrates courts to local authorities, has seen Great Yarmouth Borough Council’s Health and Safety and Licensing Team facing a greater burden of duties according to a report that is about to be published.
The Health and Safety Enforcement Service Plan 2006/7 will be presented to the Council’s Cabinet next week. It explains the Health and Safety and Licensing team’s duties, its achievements over the last year and its aims for the next year.
The additional burden of considering applications for licences, from anyone selling alcohol, the majority of food retailers and those seeking entertainment licences, meant that targets for mandatory inspections were not met.
The Council has responsibility for 2,729 premises, mostly restaurants, caters and retailers. It carries out routine inspections, answers complaints, and investigates incidents including noise nuisance and workplace accidents.
In 2005/6 671 premises were due for routine inspections; the team carried out 217 an increase of 43 on the previous year.
“The extra work entailed in meeting the requirements of the new licensing laws put us under a great deal of pressure,” explained Commercial Manager Derryth Wright.
“We had two officers dealing solely with licensing issues, which meant that a significant increase in the number of complaints and requests for service had to be answered by fewer staff than normal.
“Despite this, of the 230 requests received we managed to respond to 82 per cent of them within our target time of five days.
“These requests included 89 accidents to employees and members of the public, which included some that are likely to end in prosecutions during the current year.
“To combat our limited resources our officers have undergone extra training this year to help them keep up to date with changing legislation and advances in technology. Specifically, they attended workshops on new falls from height legislation, and on how to use equipment that can test the slip factor of different floor surfaces.
“Over the next year we are dramatically changing they way in which we programme routine visits to commercial premises.
“In April we introduced a highly innovative approach which has received praise at national level. It is in line with the Health and Safety Commissions Fit 3 programme.
“This looks at three aspects fit for work, fir for life and fit for tomorrow.
“Under the old scheme an officer could be looking at up to 30 things in a 90-minute inspection. This has now been tailored to look at the type of business and identifying the type of risk they potentially present.
“A calendar has been produced to target different industries at times of the year when it is of most help to them, for example June was caravan sites, and July was hotels.
“Over the next two years we will be monitoring this approach closely to evaluate our results, which will then be fed into national research to ascertain improvements in service.”
For further information contact Commercial Manager Derryth Wright on 01493 846547.
Issued by:
Liz Dann
Press Officer
Great Yarmouth Borough Council
01493 846513