Public Health Launches New Inspection Results Website - Check it! We inspect it.

You can now view public health inspection results for your favourite beauty & body art businesses online at Check it! We inspect it. The new inspection reporting website adds inspection information for these businesses to inspection information for food businesses, which has been available online for ten years.

“The concept builds on the successful food inspection results website we launched in 2004,” says Dave Young, Director of Health Protection and Investigation. “Today we anticipate that the public has an interest in knowing whether beauty & body art businesses are safe. Does my spa use proper infection prevention steps? Is that piercing needle sterile? This new site makes it even easier to find out about the prevention practices in local beauty & body art settings. It allows the consumer to make an informed decision about where they get a tattoo, piercing or aesthetic service.”

To make it easier to search for inspection results, the website offers search functions and maps. Viewers will be able to see the date of inspection, critical and non-critical infractions, and whether the infractions led to a ticket, court summons, or a closure. Inspection results will remain on the new website for up to two years. The website has also been formatted to fit mobile and tablet devices so that the public can check this information before they go to any food or beauty & body art business in Waterloo Region.

Businesses are invited to display the Check it! We inspect it. sign in their window. These signs have a QR code that you can scan with your smart phone to access the website at the business. The promotional signs are being distributed during inspections throughout 2014.

Each year, Public Health Inspectors complete over 5,750 inspections of businesses that serve food and offer beauty & body art services. They check to make sure these businesses are meeting minimum public health requirements for food safety and infection prevention. Beauty & body art services include tattooing, piercing, electrolysis, manicures/pedicures, waxing, and hair services.

Don’t have access to the Internet? Call 519-575-4400 extension 5417 or drop by a Public Health office to get inspections results.

Interested? Begin your search by checking out http://checkit.regionofwaterloo.ca/portal

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Media Contact: Julie Kalbfleisch, Manager Information and Communications, 519-575-4400 ext. 2270 or jkalbfleisch@regionofwaterloo.ca