Health Enforcement

Immunization of School Pupils Act

If you received an immunization notice for your child, it is because we do not have complete information on file for one of the following reasons:

• You have not reported your child's complete immunizations to Public Health
• Your child is overdue for one or more immunizations
• You have chosen not to have your child immunized (for medical, religious or conscience reasons) but have not provided us with a completed legal exemption form

After registration, you are required to update your child's immunization record with Region of Waterloo Public Health each time your child is immunized.

How to avoid school suspension

Report each new immunization to Public Health. If you do not have a health card or a family doctor, you can call the health unit at 519-575-4400 to book an appointment or be referred to a clinic for your child to receive the vaccine(s).

If you have received a notice, you should:

• Contact Public Health to update your child's record
• Book an appointment with your healthcare provider
• Take your notice to your child's appointment to ensure the correct immunizations are given
• Notify Public Health once the immunizations have been given

For more information about immunizations, visit Ontario's Vaccinations and Immunizations

Infection Control and Reportable Diseases

Our infection control activities and services include:

• Providing education on reportable diseases.
• Responding to infection control complaints and outbreaks of infections common in schools 
• Conducting investigations of animal bite or animal contact cases
• Responding to potential exposure to Rabies virus.

Complete the Animal Bite Form if you or a student have been bitten or scratched by an animal. You can also call 519-575-4400 for reporting diseases or to obtain information on cleaning/sanitation, water quality and safe food handling.

What is inspected?

Public health inspectors check a variety of businesses in Waterloo Region to ensure they are meeting public health requirements. To help you make informed decisions about which businesses you may want to visit, the inspection results are available online.

Inspection results are available for:

• Food service, e.g. restaurants, take-out, caterers
• Food retailers
• Spas
• Salons
• Piercing and tattooing businesses
• Recreational water facilities
• Overnight camps
• Small drinking water systems
  • If your business or organization provides unrestricted access to drinking water for the public and your water is not directly from a municipal supply you could be operating a small drinking water system. These systems need to follow the requirements of Regulation 319/08 under the Health Protection and Promotion Act. Small drinking water systems can include but are not limited to:
    • Motels
    • Bed and breakfasts
    • Restaurants
    • Gas stations
    • Trailer parks or campgrounds
    • Churches, mosques, synagogues, temples or other places of worship

Inspection results are available online on Check it! We inspect it. 

What happens during an inspection?

During an inspection, a Public Health Inspector will:

• Come unannounced to inspect food facilities on a scheduled frequency
• Observe the conditions and practices to ensure compliance with the regulation
• Identify infractions
• Create an inspection report and discuss it with the person in charge
• Provides the time period to make corrections to any issues

When an infraction is found, operators are given 48 hours to correct critical infractions or a longer period of time for non-critical infractions. Inspectors will work with the business to achieve compliance. If the issue is not corrected within the designated time period, the business can be charged.

Call 519-575-4400 to make a complaint or report a complaint online.

Tobacco Enforcement

• Complete an annual inspection at each local secondary school
• Inspect all tobacco vendors annually
• Enforce laws prohibiting the sale of tobacco products to those under 19 years of age
• Inspect tobacco vendors annually to enforce the ban on display and promotion and ensuring appropriate signage is posted

Under The Smoke Free Ontario Act, it is illegal to:

• Smoke within 20 metres of children's playgrounds
• Smoke on sporting areas, spectator areas adjacent to sporting areas and within a 20 metre perimeter of the sporting areas and adjacent spectator areas

Please call 519-575-4400 to be connected to a Tobacco Enforcement Officer to make requests for information or to file a complaint.

For more information, check How the Act Affects Schools on the Smoke Free Ontario Act website.