environmental health service a guide 2019/20 · served to the public is clean. cafes, restaurants,...
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ENVIRONMENTAL HEALTH SERVICE
A GUIDE 2019/20
Environmental Health is about everything that affects the health of the public. What
we eat, where we live and work, the air we breathe and the land we stand on. Our
aim, in everything we do, is to protect public health through proactive inspections,
licensing, complaint investigations and routine sampling. We are committed to work
with partner organisations to achieve this, Public Health England and the Director of
Public Health, East Sussex County Council.
The Environmental Health service for Rother DC is a shared service between Rother
and Wealden DC. The service contributes to the objective of “Stronger Safer
Communities” and “Sustainable Economic Prosperity” in the corporate plan for 2014-
21.
Our mission statement is to “Deliver an increasingly efficient and effective public
health service which strives to and sustain a safe, prosperous community for
businesses, residents and visitors”.
This document is a guide to Environmental Health for members with contact details
and snapshots of our work.
The Head of Environmental Health is Richard Parker- Harding who can be contacted
on 01424 787551 or [email protected]
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CONTENTS
Page
Environmental Health Overview 3
Food Safety 4
Simply Spice 5
Community Protection 6
Piles of rubbish 7
Licensing 8
Noise from a licensed premises 9
Keddle net fishing 10
Pest and Dog Control 11
Housing Conditions 12
Health and Safety at Work 13
New in 2019! 14
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Environmental Health Overview
Contact Details
01424 787550
Food Safety
Hygiene Standards
Food Safety Exported Foods
Food Related Illnesses
Food Hygiene Rating Scheme
Training
Licensing
Alcohol
Animal Welfare Regulated Entertainment
Gambling Taxis
Health and Safety
In work places and where work related activity affect the public, if we are the enforcing authority,
rather than the Health and Safety Executive (industrial
premises)
Accident Investigations if an employee is injured or killed at
work
Safety Advisory Groups (for public events)
Community Protection
Air Quality
Anti Social Behaviour Contaminated Land
Drainage Noise Waste
Public Health
Exhumations
Infectious Diseases Private Water Supplies
Filthy and Verminous Premises Fuel Poverty
Pest and Dog Control (lost, found and strays)
Private Sector Housing
Complaints relating to disrepair
HMO – Mandatory Licensing
Planning Consultations
Overcrowding Reports
Immigration Visits
Fire Safety
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FOOD SAFETY
Environmental Health Officers inspect food businesses to make sure that the food served to the public is clean. Cafes, restaurants, takeaways, schools, care homes, supermarkets, public houses, corner shops are inspected without notice. Officers check the kitchen and any store rooms for cleanliness and watch how food is handled. Basic records must be kept and officers will always look at these. At the end of the inspection the food hygiene rating will be issued. The top score is 5 – very good. Six hundred food businesses in Rother achieved this top rating in April 2019. A rating of 4 is good and 3 generally satisfactory – three hundred and three
businesses were rated 3 or 4 in April 2019.
The poorest performers are rated 2,1 or 0. There were ten businesses in these
categories in April 2019. These businesses are targeted by officers to make sure
they improve into at least a rating of three. Advice and support for food businesses is
available on our website at http://www.rother.gov.uk/article/10447/Food-and-
workplace-safety. We provide food hygiene training courses, for details please go to
http://www.rother.gov.uk/article/10457/Food-hygiene-and-safety-training.
Environmental Health Officers issue export health certificates for any Rother
business that exports foods outside the EU. The detail of the UK’s departure from
the EU may bring changes to this system.
Every day the Environmental Health service is notified of any cases of food related
illnesses by Public Health England. The most commonly reported illness is
Campylobacter, followed by Salmonella and E.coli. Environmental Health Officers
contact the individuals affected to advise them how to prevent further spread of the
illness. Sometimes a person may not be allowed to work until fully recovered.
The service investigates complaints about food businesses. The service can be
contacted at http://www.rother.gov.uk/article/10478/Contact-Environmental-Health
The food and safety team is managed by Una Kane 01424 787542 or
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Simply Spice
Rother District Council successfully prosecuted the owner of Simply
Spice, High Street Rye for food hygiene offences in February 2018. When the
Environmental Health Officer inspected she found poor conditions, prawns
defrosting in a dirty bucket, cooked rice kept at room temperature, exposing
customers to risk of food poisoning. Sacks of onions and other foods were found
in a pile on the floor, and rotten tomatoes in the fridge.
The standard of cleaning was poor, the walls and ceiling were yellow with
grease, food debris had carbonised onto the cooker, cleaning cloths and mops
stored outside, were all dirty. The food safety management system which every
food business must have was not in use.
The food business operator was interviewed formally and served with legal
notice to improve. Despite assurances given during the interview, conditions did
not improve sufficiently. The food business operator was told that Rother DC was
to prosecute him for food hygiene offences. Days later the business closed.
The Environmental Health Officer located the food business operator at an
address in London and the prosecution began. At the first hearing of the
prosecution the food business operator did not attend so Rother DC applied for,
and was granted, a bench warrant for his arrest.
Officers were delighted to be contacted by the Metropolitan Police when they had
arrested and detained the missing defendant. Hastings Magistrates Court found
food business operator guilty and imposed fines totalling £6140. Officers were
concerned that these fines would not affect the behaviour that led to the
appalling conditions, and took the unusual step of asking the court to prohibit
the offender from running, owning or operating a food business again. Hastings
Magistrates agreed and a Prohibition Order was imposed.
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COMMUNITY PROTECTION
One of the greatest threats to public health in 2019 is from air
pollution. Officers monitor air quality at different locations within
Rother to check levels of pollutants that can cause disease –
nitrogen dioxide, particulates and ozone. Rother residents can
sign up for update texts on the air quality in their locality with
Sussex Air Alert http://www.sussex-air.net/AirAlert/
This photograph shows the air quality monitoring station on the De La Warr Road in
Bexhill. In 2018 air quality in Rother met all national standards. The air quality report
for 2018 can be read at http://www.rother.gov.uk/article/12796/Monitoring-air-quality
Sometimes the threat to public health can lie beneath our feet. Land can remain
contaminated from past use. Tanneries, coke plants and factories left behind heavy
metals, oil leaks, buried waste, chemicals and occasionally, disease causing
bacteria. Potential purchasers of land contact the Environmental Health service to
check development sites. If contamination is discovered any substances harmful to
public health or the environment must be removed or treated on site to make safe
and the land returned to beneficial use.
The Community Protection team work to support neighbourhoods by investigating
complaints of noise, smoke, dust, odour, artificial light and private drainage. Many of
these issues can be resolved informally between neighbours. When this isn’t
possible officers can issue enforcement notices requiring the removal of rubbish,
cessation of noise/smoke/artificial light. A mediation service is available to all Rother
residents, free of charge, when neighbourhood living becomes stressful. Full details
at http://www.mediationeastsussex.co.uk/neighbourhood_mediation.php
Complaints of anti social behaviour alleging damage to the environment are
investigated by Environmental Health. Allegations of harassment of people are
investigated by Sussex Police.
To contact the Community Protection team go to
http://www.rother.gov.uk/article/10478/Contact-Environmental-Health
The manager of the Community Protection team is Catherine Beaumont 01424
787329 or [email protected]
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Piles of rubbish
The Environmental Health department is regularly contacted by residents
angered and upset by others who pile waste onto private ground. Sometimes
household bins overflow attracting flies and rats in other cases waste has been
purposefully piled up.
In these two particular cases the Environmental Health Officer served legal notice on
the landowner to have the rubbish removed and to take precautionary steps against
vermin. The result;
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LICENSING
A variety of businesses and services that are used by the public are licensed by
Rother DC to make sure that they are safe. Public houses, entertainment venues,
betting shops, taxis, caravan parks, street collections, pleasure boats, cosmetic
piercing, tattooists, scrap metal dealers, keddle net fishing, pet shops, kennels,
catteries, dog breeders are all licensed. Each licence has conditions which set down
the rules for safety and health.
Every business that supplies or sells alcohol has specific times at which they may
operate. The sale of alcohol is often combined with entertainment which may give
rise to local disturbance. There must always be a balance between the trade of a
business and residents rest and enjoyment of their own property. Where disputes
arise officers will visit and speak to all concerned. Elected members form a General
Licensing Panel which can be asked to adjudicate on specific cases.
Taxis (hackney carriages), private hire vehicles, drivers and operators are licensed.
Particular tests have to be passed before licenses will be issued, for example,
knowledge test, medical checks and criminal records checks for all drivers. Vehicles
must pass a vehicle compliance test. All complaints are investigated and penalty
points may be given to drivers. Details of all licensed driver vehicles and operators
are made available (and updated monthly) at
http://www.rother.gov.uk/article/13198/Hackney-Carriage-and-Private-Hire-Public-
Registers
Gambling related harm is a public health issue. It has been proven that those with
problem gambling also suffer from poor mental health and/or substance misuse.
Machines called fixed odds betting terminals are often the cause of violent reactions
of users. In 2018 officers inspected betting shops to check they were complying with
their licence conditions, especially to protect the vulnerable from gambling related
harm and to prevent crime and disorder in the locality.
To make a complaint to the licensing team go to http://www.rother.gov.uk/licensing
The manager of the licensing team is Catherine Beaumont 01424 787329 or
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Noise from a licensed public house
A family living in a village contacted the Environmental Health service when they
could no longer live with the noise from the local public house. Patrons sat in the pub
garden, on a raised decking area which was level with the family bedroom windows.
The family reported shouting swearing and music until closing hours, preventing the
young family from sleeping. Officers visited to talk to both the family and the public
house. An action plan was agreed with the licence holder to manage the behaviour
of the patrons, restrict the use of the outdoor area to 23:00, and to keep all doors
and windows shut during entertainment.
An evening visit was made to the family and officers heard the noise of patrons from
inside the family bedrooms with the windows closed. It was clear that no effort was
being made to control patrons behaviour. The level of noise was intrusive and
unacceptable. The licensee was invited to the Town Hall to attempt a resolution to
the problem. While the licensee accepted there were problems they would not act,
citing lack of funds as the reason.
The matter was brought to the General Licensing Panel for a review of the premises
licence in May 2018. Elected members decided that the outside area could not be
used after 22:30 Friday to Saturday and 22:00 Sunday to Thursday.
The public house continues to trade. No further noise complaints were received from
the family throughout the hot summer of 2018.
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Keddle Net Fishing
One of the activities that the Environmental Health department licenses is an on line
shore fishing technique using keddle nets. The licences are issued under the terms
of a lease signed in 1986 between HM Queen, the Crown Estate Commissioners
and Rother DC. The licences restrict the size of the nets used on six stands between
Pett Level and the Mary Stanford lifeboat house. Nets are fixed to posts which are
staked into the beach to catch fish. Any salmon or trout must be returned to the
water and the use of engines on boats is prohibited for this traditional fishing method.
When the Environmental Health Officer made contact with the fishermen to renew
the five yearly licences in 2018, there was concern about a consultation recently
received from the Inshore Fisheries and Conservation authority. The consultation
stated that they “were seeking to address any historic issues with keddle nets with a
view to preventing any future activity”. The Environmental Health Officer was able
to provide the fishermen with the details of the 1986 lease and unique licensing
scheme. The tradition continues.
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Pest and Dog Control
The control of rats and mice is central to public health. Rats and mice can carry a
variety of diseases including Salmonella and E.coli. When found in a household they
must be dispatched, the house thoroughly cleaned and where necessary disinfected,
and the structure repaired to prevent their re entry. Wasp colonies establish
in/outside homes in the late spring or a swarm may arrive suddenly making rooms
uninhabitable or barring entry. A wasp sting is painful to most people but for some it
can trigger an anaphylactic shock.
Rother residents can book pest control treatments on line at
http://www.rother.gov.uk/article/1054/Pest-control
Rother DC is responsible for the collection and safe keeping of stray dogs. If a
resident losses their dog or takes care of a lost dog they must contact Animal
Wardens on 01424 490034. Rother DC has byelaws to control dog fouling and
watches known “hot spots” to check that residents “scoop the poop”.
The pest and dog control team is managed by Una Kane 01424 787542 or
Rother DC were contacted by
over 1600 domestic
households for advise and/or
to treat pests in 2018
Rats are the most common
pest
As part of the treatment the
pest control officer investigates
the sources of rat infestations
Rother’s pest control officers
treated 433 wasp nests in the
summer months
Income generated £17,000
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Housing conditions- a typical housing complaint
Each year the Environmental Health department receive many calls concerning
dampness and mould in privately rented accommodation. These conditions can
cause illness especially in the young and elderly. Most cases of dampness and
mould are caused by poor ventilation and/or inadequate use of the heating system.
One such case which was particularly severe involved a family in a third floor flat.
The main reason for these conditions was the inadequate insulation allowing mould
to grow on the ceilings and the lack of ventilation in both the bathroom and kitchen.
The Environmental Health Officer visited and requested that the landlord was requested to improve the ventilation and insulation. When he revisited 28 days later no work had been carried out. An enforcement notice was served and it expired without the landlord taking action.
A civil penalty of £1250 was imposed on the landlord, citing the seriousness of the
hazards, the harm to the occupants, the landlords’ culpability and previous history.
The work was completed and the incidence of mould is now a thing of the
past.
Information and guidance for landlords is available at
http://www.rother.gov.uk/article/11698/Landlords-Section
Private sector tenants can find information and contact details to make a complaint
at http://www.rother.gov.uk/article/11699/Tenants-Section
The manager of the private sector housing team is Catherine Beaumont 01424
787329 or [email protected]
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HEALTH AND SAFETY AT WORK
The basics of health and safety at work for business are that employers are
responsible for the safe operation of each part of the business. Employers must
protect people from harm; employees, contractors and members of the public visiting
the business. Serious accidents at work must be reported so an Environmental
Health Officer may investigate the matter.
In 2018 officers visited care homes throughout the district to check that employees
were safely lifting and handling those in care. This was to ensure the dignity and
safety of both clients and employees.
Fear of violence at work is recognised as a national health and safety issue in
particular workplaces. Visits were made in 2018 to petrol station shops to check on
arrangements for lone workers.
Advice for employers can be found at http://www.rother.gov.uk/article/10530/Health-
and-safety-at-work---the-basics-for-business
Traditional Sussex bonfires and firework displays are held throughout the district. Some of these events are held on Council owned land and attract very large numbers of visitors. These events can pose crushing, burning risks in crowds. The Environmental Health service intervenes with organisers before events to prevent injuries to members of the public. This may be advice, a meeting to review arrangements and/or a site visit. The highest risk events will have Safety Advisory Groups to bring together the event organiser, regulators and emergency services to provide advice for the event.
Battle Bonfire
Health and Safety at work team manager Una Kane 01424 787542 or
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NEW IN 2019!
A star rating scheme is being introduced for businesses that board, breed and/or sell
animals. Kennels, catteries, dog breeders, pet shops, horses kept in stables for
riding, home boarding/day care for dogs, performing animals – all of these
businesses are being inspected in 2019 and will be given star ratings.
The new scheme sets out new standards for size of kennel/cattery units, enrichment
activities for cats and dogs, observations by business to ensure the animals in their
care are safe and well. When the inspections are complete the star rating will be
placed on the Rother website so the public are informed.
Queries on kennels and catteries – Una Kane 01424 787542 or
Queries on home boarding of dogs, day care for dogs, pet shops, riding stables,
performing animals – Catherine Beaumont 01424 787329 or