The Sonoma County Department of Health Services has an Environmental Health and Safety division actually oversees and provides a lot more resources than I ever realized. In addition to water and natural resources, it provides information, services, and guidelines for many other environmental and occupational issues.
There's a Food Safety Program, which oversees food/water guidelines during a power outage; food/water safety after a flood; and Hazard Analysis Critical Control Point (HACCP) plans. Under the Food Safety Program there's also food facility inspections, food facility operating permits, food handler cards, food safety manager certifications, food truck/cart permits, and farmer's market food permits.
The pool and spa sector deals with public pool and spa operating permits (new construction/major upgrades, minor upgrades, or no upgrades required), as well as safety and compliance info. In addition, there's the maintenance of public pools and spas, which deals with water chemistry, safety requirements, equipment, and proper disposal of pool and spa water.
There's a solid waste department, cannabis permits, environmental drilling permits to determine existence of contamination in soil or groundwater, ocean water quality, freshwater quality, and childhood lead poisoning prevention program.
I was most surprised to learn there was a body art sector, which oversees space permits, Hep B concerns, sterilization and infection prevention, as well as blood borne pathogen training. I didn't realize this fell under environmental health, but it makes complete sense now. This might have been my favorite blog so far because I was able to see what's relevant to my life and my county and to actually see what the DHS Environmental office provides.
There's a Food Safety Program, which oversees food/water guidelines during a power outage; food/water safety after a flood; and Hazard Analysis Critical Control Point (HACCP) plans. Under the Food Safety Program there's also food facility inspections, food facility operating permits, food handler cards, food safety manager certifications, food truck/cart permits, and farmer's market food permits.
The pool and spa sector deals with public pool and spa operating permits (new construction/major upgrades, minor upgrades, or no upgrades required), as well as safety and compliance info. In addition, there's the maintenance of public pools and spas, which deals with water chemistry, safety requirements, equipment, and proper disposal of pool and spa water.
There's a solid waste department, cannabis permits, environmental drilling permits to determine existence of contamination in soil or groundwater, ocean water quality, freshwater quality, and childhood lead poisoning prevention program.
I was most surprised to learn there was a body art sector, which oversees space permits, Hep B concerns, sterilization and infection prevention, as well as blood borne pathogen training. I didn't realize this fell under environmental health, but it makes complete sense now. This might have been my favorite blog so far because I was able to see what's relevant to my life and my county and to actually see what the DHS Environmental office provides.
I also didn't know the wide span of services provided under the environmental health sector and was surprised to see tattoo shops are one of the areas regulated as well. I'm interested to know how emergency preparedness and disaster plan varies between counties. It's a critical component in environmental health.
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