Your responsibilities for health, safety and the environment

Do I need to license or register my business?

If you have employees or if customers and the public have access to your premises as part of your business, you may have to register with the HSE or with your local authority.

Businesses which must register with the HSE include:

• manufacturers based in factories
• engineering workshops
• car-repair businesses
• some farms

Businesses which must register with their local authority's environmental health department for health and safety purposes include:

• those which have employees in an office or shop
• restaurants and other catering businesses
• hotels
• launderettes
• car tyre or exhaust fitters
• wholesale warehouses

These lists are not comprehensive. There's a flowchart you can use to check whether you need to register for health and safety and who to contact. Use the HSE flowchart to check whether you need to register and who to contact on the HSE website. If in doubt, it's best to phone your local authority, or the HSE Infoline on Tel 0845 345 0055.

Get information on health and safety issues affecting businesses in Northern Ireland at the HSENI website or contact the HSENI Enquiry Line on Tel 0800 0320 121.

You may also require a licence if your business poses certain types of environmental risk. For example if your business:

• collects or transports waste on behalf of others, you must register with your environmental regulator
• produces emissions into the air, you may need a permit from your local authority or the Environment Agency
• discharges wastewater from your premises into rivers, streams, lakes, ponds, canals, estuaries, the sea or groundwater, you must obtain consent from the Environment Agency
• discharges trade effluent into the sewerage system, you must get consent from your water company

This list is not comprehensive. You can get advice on the requirements likely to affect your business on the NetRegs website, or contact the Environment Agency Helpline on Tel 08708 506 506.

Businesses in Scotland should contact the Scottish Environment Protection Agency on Tel 01786 457 700; businesses in Northern Ireland should contact the EHS for Northern Ireland Environment Protection Enquiry Line on Tel 028 9054 6614.

Subjects covered in this guide

• Introduction
• Comply with key health and safety rules
• Comply with key environmental rules
• Who ensures that health and safety and environmental law is being complied with?
• Do I need to license or register my business?
• Make sure your business is properly insured
• Substances covered by health, safety and environmental law
• Activities covered by health and safety laws
• Maintain high standards of occupational health
• Health, safety and the environment in specific sectors
• Checklist: protecting health, safety and the environment
• Here's how my business approaches health and safety issues

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