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There are two main types of nuisance that your business can cause:

• statutory nuisance
• common law nuisance

What is a statutory nuisance?

Nuisances caused by certain activities set out in legislation are called statutory nuisances. A statutory nuisance can be caused by:

• noise and vibration
• smoke, fumes or gases
• dust
• steam
• odours
• kept animals
• waste deposits, for example with the risk of vermin
• poor state of premises
• foul, stagnant or obstructed water
• insects coming from your business premises
• artificial lighting

Your local council can serve you with an abatement notice if your local environmental health officer finds that a statutory nuisance exists or is likely to occur or recur.

An abatement notice can require you to:

• stop causing a nuisance or impose restrictions on your operations to prevent any further occurrence
• carry out works or take other steps to restrict or remove the nuisance

An abatement notice is a legal document and if you do not comply with it you could be prosecuted.

Individuals can also bring a statutory nuisance case to court.

What is a common law nuisance?

If you cause a nuisance that causes harm to people or damages property you may be causing a private nuisance and could be sued by individuals or organisations. You may have to attend a court hearing and pay compensation or damages.

If the nuisance is affecting a public space or a large number of people, you may be causing a public nuisance. You may have to pay compensation or damages. Your local council may also take action against you to restrict your activities or prosecute you.

If the nuisance occurs because of a structural defect on your premises, action may be taken against you as the owner of the premises, even if you're not the person responsible for causing the nuisance. Action may be taken against you if the person responsible for causing the nuisance cannot be found. You can also be found liable if the nuisance has not yet occurred but is likely to occur.

You may have to pay compensation for any damage caused if you create a public or private nuisance. If you cause a statutory nuisance your local council may make you carry out, or pay for, work to stop or reduce the nuisance.

How to avoid causing a nuisance

Make sure that your business activities are not:

• damaging, or likely to damage, people's health
• preventing or interfering with people's rightful use and enjoyment of land
• interfering with public space and public land

If you identify any nuisance you should take all reasonable steps to prevent or minimise it. To avoid causing a nuisance, you should:

• check your site for waste or evidence of vermin regularly
• check noise, odours and other emissions at the boundary, and in the locality, of your site - do this during different operating conditions and at different times of the day
• ensure operations are managed in a controlled and consistent manner, and in accordance with all relevant permits, licences and registered waste exemptions
• keep your site clean
• tell your staff why they need to avoid creating a nuisance, and how they can do this

You should ensure that nuisance events do not become persistent and regular as this is more likely to result in legal action.

Try to maintain good relations with your neighbours. Give neighbours early warning of any particular activities that you plan to carry out, such as building work or installing new plant.

Notify your local council's environmental health department and your local Northern Ireland Environment Agency (NIEA) office in advance of any event that is likely to generate a nuisance that may cause complaints.

Display details of a contact person for your site so that local residents know who to contact with any concerns and you can deal with them quickly.

How to deal with complaints about nuisances

If you receive a complaint make sure you:

• keep a record of the complaint
• investigate the complaint, for example check the activity operation and the boundary of the site
• deal with it promptly and appropriately, and tell the complainer what actions you have taken
• record the results of investigations and any resulting actions
• use the information to improve your procedures and prevent further complaints

You may want to inform your local council environmental health department and your local NIEA office of any complaints, depending on the nature of the complaint and what your permits, licences or registered waste exemptions require.

If a complaint is made to your local council, an environmental health officer will assess if you have caused a statutory nuisance. If a complaint is made to NIEA, officers will assess if you have breached your permit conditions.

Ask your local council's environmental health officer and NIEA to inform you of any concerns or complaints they receive. You may be able to deal with these complaints before formal action is taken.

Noise and vibration caused by your business activities could be considered a nuisance. If you fail to deal with a nuisance problem you could face legal action and a fine. Your local council could restrict or stop your business activities. You should find ways to limit noise and vibration to avoid causing a nuisance.

Permit and exemption noise conditions

If you have a pollution prevention and control permit, a waste management licence or a waste exemption, it may contain conditions that control emissions, such as noise and vibration. You must comply with all of the conditions in your permit, licence or exemption. If you don't comply, your regulator (either the Northern Ireland Environment Agency or your local council) can take enforcement action against you, such as issuing you with an enforcement notice or a suspension notice for breach of a condition - see environmental permits and licences - an overview.

Prevent your burglar alarm from causing a nuisance

If your business is in a designated alarm notification area you must:

• register your burglar alarm with your local council
• provide details of a person who holds the site's keys
• make sure the key holder knows how to use the alarm system

You could be fined if you don't register. Contact your local council to find out if your business is in an alarm notification area.

Prevent your burglar alarms from causing a nuisance by making sure that:

• you have a maintenance contract and a callout agreement
• the alarm automatically shuts down after no longer than 20 minutes

Good practice to limit noise and vibration

You should avoid or minimise noisy activities, particularly at night. Pay particular attention to noise and vibration created by your traffic movements, reversing alarms and deliveries. If you operate a night shift, move materials into the work area during the day or early evening.

Switch off radios and loudspeakers unless necessary.

Keep noisy activities and equipment away from areas where noise may cause a nuisance, such as your site boundary. You can use existing buildings to shield the noise source.

Use solid panelled fencing around your site instead of wire fencing. This can help to screen the source and reduce the level of noise from your site.

If possible, landscape your site boundary with mounds or raised borders to further reduce noise nuisance to your neighbours.

Ensure your buildings have adequate soundproofing and shut your doors and windows to reduce noise.

Stand outside your site boundary and listen for noise that neighbours may consider to be a nuisance. This is especially important when installing or moving equipment.

How to stop your vehicles and machinery causing a nuisance

Service your vehicles and machinery regularly. Correctly maintained equipment will make less noise and will be less likely to break down.

Fit noise-reducing devices, such as silencers and baffles, to your machinery, or contain machinery within enclosures.

Use mains-generated electricity instead of diesel generators.

Reduce noise from your vehicles by:

• setting up a one-way driving system on your site to minimise the use of vehicle reversing alarms, and consider using broadband reversing alarms that use white noise
• imposing speed limits on your site
• turning off engines when they are not in use
• checking brakes are properly adjusted and tyres correctly inflated
• not revving engines unnecessarily
• only using horns in emergencies
• replacing exhaust systems as soon as they become noisy
• replacing vehicles with quieter models or electric or gas-powered alternatives

When you replace vehicles or machinery, consider buying quieter alternatives. New equipment can introduce a noise problem. You should carry out a noise assessment before you install a new piece of equipment.

Loudspeakers

You must not use loudspeakers or public address (PA) systems in a public place for any kind of advertising, except from a vehicle selling fresh food, for example ice cream vans. In this case you may use a PA system only between the hours of midday and 7pm.

If you want to use loudspeakers or a PA system outside of these hours, you must have consent from your local council. You must specify the time, date, location and duration of use in your application and submit it 21 days before it is needed.

Odour, dust or smoke from your business activities could be considered a nuisance. If you fail to deal with a nuisance problem you could face legal action and a fine. Your local council could restrict or stop your business activities. You should find ways to limit the amount of odour, dust and smoke you create to avoid causing a nuisance.

Permit and exemption conditions for smoke, dust or odour

If you have a pollution prevention and control permit, waste management licence or a waste exemption, it may have conditions that control emissions, such as smoke, dust or odour. You must comply with all of the conditions in your permit, licence or exemption. If you don't comply, your regulator (the Northern Ireland Environment Agency (NIEA) or your local council) can take enforcement action against you, such as issuing you with an enforcement notice or a suspension notice for breach of a condition - see environmental permits and licences - an overview.

How to avoid odour nuisances

Certain odours can be considered a nuisance. To determine whether an odour is a statutory nuisance, or whether it is in breach of permit or licence conditions or your registered waste exemption, a council environmental health officer or NIEA officer will assess:

• its intensity
• its character - easily recognised odours are often a greater nuisance
• its source and the prevailing weather conditions, such as wind direction and speed
• the time and duration of its release
• the intensity of its effect - how annoying, intrusive or offensive it is
• whether the odour would be expected in that location
• what measures are required to stop the cause of the nuisance

Assess whether odours are likely to be emitted from your site and the most likely sources, and put appropriate control measures in place. Make this a part of your routine site inspections.

Control or stop the odour at its source. You should be able to demonstrate that you follow good practice in your operations and that you have used the most effective means to prevent an odour nuisance.

How to avoid dust and smoke nuisances

Do not use bonfires to burn waste - you could be committing an offence. Instead find ways to reuse, recover, recycle or correctly dispose of your waste.

If you must burn waste, follow legal requirements to avoid committing an offence - see burning waste.

Keep equipment that reduces dust and smoke emissions, such as filters and cyclones, in good working order. Make sure that where dust is collected it is emptied on a frequent basis and disposed of correctly.

Make sure boilers, especially oil or solid fuel units, are operating efficiently and do not emit excessive smoke - see preventing air pollution.

You can plant shrubs and trees in belts around the edge of your premises to help screen out dust and smoke pollution, but this should not be used in place of suitable process control or specialised equipment.

You must ensure that any waste produced, stored, transported or disposed of by your business does not harm the environment. This is known as your duty of care, and you must ensure that you:

• store and transport your waste appropriately and securely to prevent it from escaping
• check that your waste is transported and handled by people or businesses that are authorised to do so
• complete waste transfer notes to record all waste you transfer and keep them as a record for at least two years

See duty of care for business waste.

If you fail to deal with a litter problem, your local council could issue you with a fine.

Street litter control notices

If it can be proved that certain litter problems have been caused by your business, your local council can issue a street litter control notice against you. This notice forces your business to clear the litter and introduces specific measures to prevent the recurrence of littering.

If you do not comply with your street litter control notice, you can be prosecuted. Alternatively, the council may issue you with a fixed penalty notice.

Outdoor advertising

If you want to advertise your business using outdoor signs, you must ensure that you do not cause a litter nuisance. Your outdoor advertisements must:

• be kept clean and tidy
• be kept in a safe condition
• be displayed with the permission of the owner of the site
• not obscure official road, rail, waterway or aircraft signs or make hazardous the use of these types of transport
• be removed carefully when required

Depending on the type of advertising your business wants to use, you may need advertising consent from your local council planning section. You do not need consent to display signs in the following areas:

• enclosed land - such as bus or train stations and sports stadiums
• inside your own building

Some other signs can be displayed without consent, provided they conform to certain conditions and limitations. This includes signs relating to hotels, bed and breakfasts, and houses.

You may need consent to display the following advertisements:

• posters
• illuminated signs
• gable-end advertising
• shop-front fascias

For more information, download .

Artificial lighting from your business could be considered a nuisance. If it is, your local council could serve you with an abatement notice and you could be liable to pay a fixed penalty or prosecuted if you do not comply. You must find ways to avoid causing a nuisance from artificial lighting.

How to avoid causing an artificial light nuisance

Plan the lighting for your site to ensure lights only come on when they are needed. A lighting plan can reduce your energy costs as well as reducing the risk of nuisance to your neighbours.

You should:

• position lights so you only need to use the minimum number of lights
• dim or switch off lights when they are not required
• use baffles, shields and louvres to reduce obtrusive light
• use lights that switch off automatically when natural light is available or when they are not required, for example using motion detectors

Angle your lights downwards or use light fittings that reduce light shining upwards. The ideal angle of lighting is less than 70 degrees from the vertical. Lights that shine upwards are more likely to cause a nuisance, waste money and create light pollution.

Check that security lights do not produce excessive glare which could affect drivers or neighbours. Only use the amount of lighting you need. Lights that are too strong can create dark shadows, which could encourage theft or vandalism on your site. Consider using security lights that are activated by movement. However, check that they are only triggered by humans and not animals.

Construction activates on building sites involve heavy machinery and works which can cause a nuisance. You should find ways to minimise noise, vibration and pollution during construction works.

Types of building site nuisances

Some common types of building site nuisances include:

• vibration
• dust and smoke
• light pollution
• noise pollution
• large vehicle movements
• unplanned road and pavement closures

When can construction machinery be operated?

Building, demolition and excavation machinery can operate between:

• 7am and 7pm from Monday to Friday
• 8am and 1pm on Saturdays

Local council control of construction nuisances

If your building site activities cause a nuisance, your local council could serve you with an abatement notice.

Your construction site could face restrictions on the:

• type of plant or machinery you use and the activities you can undertake
• hours when you can work
• levels of noise, artificial lighting or dust

If you do not comply with these restrictions the council can stop your construction operations and you could also be fined.

If you are planning construction work and know that it is likely to cause a nuisance, you can apply for prior consent from your local council.

Your local council will outline restrictions on possible construction nuisances before the work starts. You can apply for this consent at the same time as seeking approval under building regulations. This may save you time later on.

Join a construction best practice scheme

You can apply for best practice accreditation such as the . This can help you to put procedures in place in your company or on individual construction sites to limit nuisances.

You can .