Environmental Services - Out of Hours Emergencies
You can contact a Duty Environmental Health Officer outside of
normal working hours via the Council’s Out of
Hours telephone number on 01225 477477.
This Service provides an emergency response only and all other
enquiries should be made during office hours.
When you ring the Out of Hours telephone number you will be
put through to a Call Centre Operator who will take the details of
your complaint. Complaints which may require an emergency
response will be passed to a Duty Officer for
assessment. The Duty Officer will contact you for
further information and decide whether immediate action is
necessary.
If it is judged that your complaint can be dealt with during
normal working hours, or if you specifically request that your
complaint is just noted at the time, the details will be logged and
emailed to the Environmental Protection Team for action on the
next available working day.
What does the Out of Hours Service deal with?
The Service will deal with any environmental health
emergency. It is impossible to be prescriptive, however, the
following list provides a general guide:
Matters which typically require an emergency
response:
These will usually be matters where there is a likelihood that
enforcement action will be immediately required to address the
problem.
- an intruder or vehicle alarm which has been sounding
for a prolonged period
- a food poisoning outbreak
- a serious health and safety incident within a workplace
- serious cases of noise nuisance e.g. a rave
- a pollution incident e.g. chemical spillage
Matters which do not typically require an emergency
response:
- an ongoing complaint which is already being investigated by an
Officer in the Environmental Protection Team, unless there has been
a serious deterioration in the situation.
- requests for advice
