Health business

Health business

To ensure the safety of the community, certain businesses must be registered with Council and adhere to the Public Health & Wellbeing Act 2008.

This includes:

  • hairdressing
  • beauty treatments such as waxing, facials etc
  • tattooing
  • ear and body piercing
  • manicures
  • pedicures and
  • colonic irrigation.

Council's Environmental Health Unit ensure these premises are registered under the Public Health and Wellbeing Act 2008 and comply with the Health Guidelines for Personal Care and Body Art Industries. The Environmental Health Unit must also investigate any complaints made within Campaspe and regularly inspect these types of businesses.

If your business involves skin penetration and you are unsure if you need to be registered with Council, contact our Environmental Health Unit to discuss your concerns.

Read on for information on how to:

Setup a new health business

Depending on the type of activity conducted at your business, there will be different requirements to set up a new business. For example, the rules a hairdresser must follow will be different from those applying to a tattooist. That’s because there is a greater risk of infection at a tattoo parlour, where the skin is pierced, than at a hairdresser that only cuts hair.

Before opening a new Health Premises or buying an existing premise you should contact one of our Environmental Health Officers to discuss your proposal and the requirements.

For more information, download Guidelines for opening a health business(PDF, 109KB) or contact Council’s Environmental Health Unit on 1300 666 535 or 5481 2200.

Transfer a business registration

If you are considering purchasing an established business, the premises registration must be transferred from the name of the existing licensee to the name of the proposed purchaser. You must follow these steps to legally operate the business:

  1. Speak with the Environmental Health Unit to determine if the business is currently registered with Council.
  2. Send a formal request in writing to Council detailing the business name, address, prospective purchaser and date of settlement. We recommend you do this through your solicitor. The request should be received by Council at least two weeks prior to settlement.
  3. Once this request is received, a consent form will be sent to your solicitor to complete. The current proprietor must complete the form to allow the Environmental Health Officer to release information about the business.
  4. An inspection will be conducted (if requested) with the current proprietors of the business. This inspection is worthwhile for the purchaser as it will identify any work that needs to be done on the premises.
  5. Following the inspection, a report will be issued to both the current and prospective owners, detailing any issues that need addressing under the Public Health and Wellbeing Act 2008 and Regulations 2009. An application for Transfer of Registration will also be sent at this stage to the prospective purchaser’s solicitor. This form must be completed by both the proposed purchaser and existing licensee and returned to Council with the relevant fee. This should be within 14 days of settlement.
  6. It is up to both parties to discuss who will complete any required works on the premises. If the current proprietor is to complete the works, they should be completed before the settlement date. Once the work is done and the application form and fee is received, a new Certificate of Registration in the name of the purchaser will be sent to the new proprietors.

Note: The business will remain registered in the current proprietor’s name until the application and relevant fee are received by council.

If the transfer fails to proceed, the fee for the transfer inspection must still be paid.

For more information please contact our Environmental Health Unit on 5481 2200 or [email protected]

Other resources

The following resources will be helpful when considering establishing or buying an existing health business:

Fact sheet - Purchasing a business(PDF, 897KB)

Fact sheet - Health premises(PDF, 450KB)

Guidelines - Opening a health business(PDF, 109KB)