Tanning salons, nail bars and coffee shops across the north-east are to be targeted by health and safety officers this year.
Aberdeenshire Council’s health and safety team have announced their top priorities for the coming months, which include top-of-the range barista machines, sun beds, nail salon chemicals and propane gas canisters as items of interest.
Team manager Graham Robertson will tell councillors tomorrow that his teams will be targeting premises using such items for special visits.
Mr Robertson said that these programmed inspections of “higher risk activities and premises” are carried out as a preventative measure. In total, 265 businesses will be visited as part of the “proactive” campaign.
But last night, questions were raised over the need for the “overzealous” checks.
A spokesman for Taxpayer Scotland said: “With budgets tight, many people will seriously wonder whether trudging round cafes and restaurants policing the operation of coffee machines is the best use of their hard-earned cash.”
And one tanning salon manager said her business was already subject to strict public health legislation, due to its identified links to cancer.
She said: “They do seem to give us a bit of bad press – we have to stick by guidelines and keep records.
“Our beds now use 0.3 tubes which are better for the skin. We’re also covered by Sunbed Association rules.”
She added that repeated inspections of tanning premises could make customers “think twice” and damage the business.
The bill for this year’s health and safety programme – including staffing costs – is expected to run to more than £285,000.
Councillor Brian Topping, a member of a cross-party parliamentary safety group, said he believed the checks were necessary.
“I fully appreciate people have differing views on health and safety,” he said. “It’s not all about being Big Brother, but about making people aware of health and safety.
“You can get individuals or businesses who cut corners. I don’t think it’s Big Brother, I think it’s the council being positive and supportive.”
The owner of a north-east coffee shop said he broadly supported the measures, adding: “It’s an important safety issue.
“I have no problem in more regular inspections, only the financial implications such as the loss of sales while the machine is out of use.”
Members of the infrastructure services committee will discuss the proposals tomorrow.
