Food and Health & Safety Service Plan 2023-24 - Flipbook - Page 19
BACKGROUND
East Su昀昀olk attracts many tourists particularly during the summer months and the
council supports events which will boost the local economy. We have a diverse range of
businesses operated by and/or associated with ethnic minorities. This includes Chinese,
Bangladeshi, Turkish, Portuguese and Polish. Many of these businesses are takeaways,
restaurants, retail shops and barbers.
Lowestoft Port Health Authority inspects ships under the International Health
Regulations 2005 to ensure ships are controlling health risks. We issue Ship Sanitation
Certi昀椀cates and charge fees for this service.
Health and safety law is regulated either by the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) or
the local authority with the split being determined by the main activity carried out at
the premises. The council generally enforces health and safety law in workplaces where
members of the public have access, such as hospitality, retail, consumer services,
leisure activities, places of worship and residential care homes along with o昀케ces,
warehouses and undertakers. The council enforces health and safety law in around
5,700 enterprises. A signi昀椀cant proportion of these are Micro, Small or Medium-sized
Enterprises (SMEs).
Investigations into health and safety incidents at premises where East Su昀昀olk Council
is the enforcing authority are not foreseeable and can place huge demands on the
Food and Safety Team. In 2022/23 two fatal accident investigations have resulted in two
o昀케cers spending a considerable proportion of their time collecting evidence, producing
reports for, and attending, Coroner’s Inquests and preparing prosecution 昀椀les.
The foodhall at the Su昀昀olk Show.
The Food and Safety Team works with event
organisers and others during planning
and delivery via the Safety Advisory Group
to ensure that persons involved in the
events, and the members of public that
attend them, are protected from risks to
their health or safety. Events attracting
up to 80,000 people include the Su昀昀olk
Show at Trinity Park, Latitude Festival at
Henham Park and First Light Festival in
Lowestoft. Some events only come to the
team’s attention at short notice and require
signi昀椀cant intervention which can have an
impact on the team’s workload.
For easy and 24-hour customer convenience
we provide all of our application and
noti昀椀cation channels online via the East
Su昀昀olk Council website. The Food and
Safety Team provides a 24-hour, sevendays a week, 52 weeks a year cover for
emergencies.
WE ARE EASTSUFFOLK
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