Health Information Sheets

To help you access information on common environmental health issues, the City of Albany has prepared a range of information sheets. Together with various posters and brochures, they cover a wide range of environmental health topics and answer frequently asked questions.

If you want information on a subject not covered by an information sheet, please contact an environmental health officer at the City on 9841 9333.

The FoodSafe program has been developed in Western Australia as an in-house training program to deliver basic food hygiene information to food handlers. Information on the program can be obtained from the City of Albany. To be FoodSafe accredited, all employees in the business must demonstrate good food hygiene practices on a daily basis.

Those food shops wishing to develop their own food safety program are encouraged to obtain the FoodSafe Plus toolkit to learn about HACCP (a risk based assessment program). In five easy-to-follow modules, the toolkit shows proprietors how to put in place the implementation and monitoring practices that are essential to reduce hazards associated with the storage, handling, processing and sale of food.

Food poisoning is an unpleasant experience and damaging to a firm's reputation. The City of Albany encourages all food outlets to be Foodsafe or Foodsafe Plus accreddited.

A food premises and vehicles information pack has been prepared by the City of Albany to provide information to proprietors, architects or builders who are seeking approval to operate, upgrade or construct a food outlet or vehicle that meet the public health requirements.

People wishing to provide produce (including cakes, jams, etc) to a food stall at a market, fete, carnival or other event are also advised that their produce must meet certain conditions and food labelling guidelines.

Some neighbourhood stores freeze chilled food, particularly meat products, to extend the product's shelf life and to meet customers' needs. Customers should be aware that this practice invalidates the use-by date shown on the product and does not provide accurate information for the purchaser on the quality of the product.

This information pack provides information for those people who wish to produce food from their home for sale to the public.

Sanitisers are chemical agents designed to kill bacteria and other microorganisms. They are critical ingredients in keeping work areas clean.

The Noise information sheet summarises the conditions that apply to 'specified equipment' as described in the Environmental Protection (Noise) Regulations 1997.

General information is provided in the Noise Overview information sheet concerning the standards applying to neighbourhood noise, power tools, construction sites, intruder alarms, music and party noise.

More detailed information sheets are also available on Musical Instruments, Intruder Security Alarms and the Housing Industry Association Recommendations for Noise Control on Building Sites, as these are common sources of complaint.

This information pack provides information for those who wish to establish or who currently operate a hairdressing establishment in the City of Albany. 

With water becoming recognised as a valuable commodity, water tanks are becoming more and more popular within both residential and rural areas.

Mosquito control in your own back yard is as important as mosquito control in public areas. Millions of mosquitos breed in back yards in water-holding objects such as buckets, tyres and unused water tanks. Effective control throughout the community will lead to a drop in the number of mosquitos. The information in this brochure can also be applied to controlling midges. 

Rats pose a major health risk to the community. They carry and transmit many diseases, contaminate food and food preparation areas with their fur, droppings and urine, cause damage to buildings and create foul odours with their colonies.

Unfortunately syringes, from both medicinal and illegal usage, are often dumped in public places. This information sheet advises on safe disposal.

All asbestos cement products can be removed safely without posing a risk to the public or workers provided safe work procedures are followed.

Information sheets are available from the City of Albany for developers wanting to establish or upgrade a caravan park or camping ground, or those park users wanting to place a rigid annexe or a park home on a caravan park facility.

This information pack provides guidelines for people who wish to establish temporary accommodation on a block during the construction of a dwelling.

Wood smoke is a pollutant that can adversely affect our health and cause a haze in the skies, particularly on cold windless days.

Certain restrictions on the numbers and location of poultry have been set in the City of Albany Animal Local Laws. Refer to the information sheet for a summary of these conditions.

 The City of Albany Animal Local Laws also address the issues of numbers of pigeons, loft construction and flight times. Refer to the document for a summary of the requirements.

In an endeavour to protect the safety and wellbeing of the public, any venue where an event or function will be held, including temporary public buildings such as marquees, is inspected to ensure it meets the required standards and has adequate exits, lighting, ventilation and sanitary facilities.

Under the provisions of the Public Building Regulations it is necessary for some public buildings to have an emergency evacuation plan. This information is presented to help organisations prepare an emergency evacuation plan for their building.

In an endeavour to protect the environmental quality of the local harbours and other water bodies in the Albany area, the City of Albany has adopted the practice of assessing all applications for on-site effluent disposal on health and environmental grounds. This information pack provides information about the requirements for septic systems.

Greywater is household wastewater that comes from the bath, shower, bathroom washbasins, washing machine, laundry trough and kitchen sink. Greywater needs to be properly managed to minimise health risk and degradation of the environment. Fact sheets from the Health Department of WA give valuable information about grey water disposal and approved greywater disposal systems.

Modern aerobic treatment units are robust, reliable units, which under normal domestic operating conditions are capable of producing a very high quality effluent. This high quality effluent can be irrigated onto a properly landscaped disposal area.

Standards have been developed to help minimise dust and sand nuisances from cleared land and building sites. Land needs to be cleared and filled to undertake development but there are obligations on developers to minimise the inconvenience their actions cause to neighbouring landowners.

Tattoos, body piercing, branding, cutting and scarification are all types of body art and can also be defined as skin penetration. Regulations provide for proper hygiene and control of infectious diseases.

For further information on a wide range of up-to-date information and helpful fact sheets, visit the Department of Health’s Population Health A-Z directory of health topics.