Health And The law
Key UK Legislation Affecting Your Business
- Prevention of Damage by Pests Act 1949
- Health & Safety at Work Act 1974;
- The Food Hygiene (General) Regulations 1970;
- Control of Substances Hazardous to Health Regulations 1988;
- The EEC Food Hygiene Directive 1993.
- The Food Safety Act 1990;
Ignoring Pest Control Laws Can Be Costly
- Substantial Fines: Penalties can reach up to £20, 000 per offence.
- Imprisonment: Serious breaches may result in jail time.
- Business Closure: Non-compliance can lead to the shutdown of your operations.
- Unlimited fines in Crown Courts;
- 2 years disqualification from catering.
Food Businesses
All the above legislation applies to food or food related businesses which are required to ensure that:
- Preventative measures must be taken to ensure that food is not contaminated.
- Food rooms must be free from infestation;
- For example:
- Fly screens;
- Removal of waste & rubbish;
- Pest Control.
Non Food Businesses
Pests can cause a hazard to the health, safety and welfare of your staff or to visitors (Health & Safety at Work (etc.) Act 1994).
- For example:
- Risk of disease from bacteria, etc, carried by rodents and insects;
- Risk of fire from rodents chewing power cables;
- Risk of bites from fleas, etc;
- Risk of accidents caused by bird droppings.
- For example:
Employers are required under COSHH Regulations to assess and define the above types of risk and take reasonable measures to minimise them, this is referred to as “due diligence”.
Important
Forest of Dean Pest Control must comply with stringent EC and UK legislation centred on the Control of Substances Hazardous to Health (COSHH) Regulations whilst storing and using poisonous chemicals.
We are obliged to train and re-train our staff frequently and always employ fully qualified technicians.
If you have any further questions, please get in touch and we’ll be happy to help.
