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• Health and safety
• Our role
• Urgent gas cooker warning
• Tattoo and piercing safety
• Fireworks safety
• Escalator safety
• Guidelines and bye-laws for businesses
• Safety and Environmental Advice Service
• Safety at sports grounds
• Contact information

• Related links
• Environmental health
• Health and Safety Executive for Northern Ireland
• Department of Health
• Royal Society for the Prevention of Accidents
• Institution of Occupational Safety and Health
• Chartered Institute of Environmental Health
• Health Protection Agency

Health and safety

Making Belfast a safe place to live, work and visit is an important part of our job.

Officers from our health and safety unit are responsible for:

• raising awareness of health and safety issues
• providing help and advice to business owners, employees and members of the public
• inspecting workplaces
• investigating accidents and complaints
• registering certain types of businesses
• making sure health and safety laws are followed - we share this responsibility with the Health and Safety Executive for Northern Ireland
• enforcing regulations regarding the sale of age-restricted products

You'll find lots of health and safety tips here, including advice about using fireworks and escalators safely.

Information for businesses

Our officers register businesses which provide tattooing, cosmetic piercing, acupuncture, electrolysis or semi-permanent skin colouring, contain cooling towers and evaporative condensers or hold poisonous substances.

They also check these premises for cleanliness and hygiene and then issue owners with a registration certificate.

• health and safety guidelines and bye-laws for businesses

Our Safety and Environmental Advice Service also offers free health and safety information for small businesses.

• read more about our Safety and Environmental Advice Service