Officials in environmental health jobs with Hartlepool Council have played their part in improving safety standards at a number of local businesses.
As part of a joint campaign with the Health and Safety Executive (HSE), officers visited around 85 businesses in the region to pass out advice about how to improve standards, as well as issuing enforcement notices where necessary.
Additional safeguards, such as the testing of lifting equipment, were required at 11 different companies as a result of the inspections.
Jane Kett, principal environmental health officer at Hartlepool Council, said: "We were delighted with the success of the campaign, which reinforced the strong working relationships already developed with our counterparts in HSE."
She added that the inspections had been a good opportunity to give local businesses plenty of guidance on the issue of health and safety.
Earlier this week, the Mid Devon Star reported that environmental health officers in Exeter had no cause to shut down any restaurants in the city last year, despite their inspections involving more than 500 visits to different outlets.
