HomeHealth 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
- ensuring that duty-holders in non-domestic premises manage asbestos
- enforcing regulations regarding the sale of age-restricted products.
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. Our Safety and Environmental Advice Service also offers free health and safety information for small businesses.
The duty to manage asbestos at work
Asbestos is the biggest occupational health killer, responsible for more than 90 deaths each year in Northern Ireland. Although these deaths are from past exposures, when asbestos was widely used and not regulated, it is vital that we protect workers now to prevent them dying from asbestos-related illness in the future.It's estimated that more than 50,000 non-domestic premises, including schools, offices, shops, and factories still contain some form of asbestos. Many occupiers don't know that asbestos is present in their buildings. It isn't possible to know with absolute certainty whether a material contains asbestos unless it is analysed.
Duty-holders in non-domestic premises must manage asbestos in those premises. The duty-holder may be the owner, occupier, landlord or tenant depending on contractual arrangements.
The duty to manage asbestos includes identifying the presence of materials that contain asbestos, their location and condition, and the development of an asbestos management plan, which must then be implemented.
Duty-holders and workers can adopt a presumptive approach, assuming that the material they are working on contains asbestos unless it obviously does not (for example if it is solid wood or brick).
Where the presumptive approach to asbestos management is adopted then arrangements should be in place to make sure that no one begins any work without being told that the materials could contain asbestos. In these circumstances the presence of asbestos should be confirmed by sampling so that decisions can be made about whether a licensed asbestos contractor is required to do the work. All presumed asbestos material is required to be maintained in good order.
If you're concerned about asbestos in the workplace you can contact our Health and Safety Unit on 028 9027 0428 or email envhealth@belfastcity.gov.uk for further advice and information.
Some work activities come under the remit of the Health and Safety Executive (HSENI). The Health and Safety Executive Northern Ireland have a specific Asbestos Advisory Service that you can contact free on 0800 0320 121 or email asbestos@detni.gsi.gov.uk
For more information about asbestos visit the HSENI website
