Environmental Health Specialist III - Food & Lodging
About The Position
This position performs routine inspections, visits, and critical violation visits to ensure that food and lodging facilities, swimming pools, institutions, childcare centers, schools, tattoo artists, and lead investigations are meeting standards as mandated by state laws and rules in order to reduce the incidences and threat of foodborne illness, lead hazards, and other communicable disease. This position investigates environmental health-related complaints, nuisances, and reports of food-borne illness and contaminated food in order to prevent the spread of communicable diseases. It also conducts plan review for new construction of swimming pools, tattoos, childcare centers, and may aid with conducting plan review in food service establishments. This position is responsible for performing lead investigations and annual monitoring activities within the childhood lead poisoning prevention program and will perform quality assurance activities in conjunction with the state QA requirements for swimming pools, childcare and schools, and tattoo facilities. The primary purpose of this position is to conduct state-mandated inspections of facilities under the jurisdiction of Buncombe County Health and Human Services (BCHHS) Environmental Health division and to perform specialized programmatic functions to ensure compliance with public health laws and rules.
Requirements
- Bachelor’s degree or postgraduate degree in environmental health from a program accredited by the National Environmental Health Science and Protection Accreditation Council; or bachelor’s degree or postgraduate degree in another field with a minimum of 30 semester hours or 45 quarter hours in the physical, biological, natural, life, or health sciences; or bachelor’s degree in public health AND two (2) years of Environmental Health experience in Food, Lodging, and Institutions in North Carolina.
- Registration is required by the N.C. State Board of Environmental Health Specialist Examiners under the provisions of Chapter 90A of the General Statues of North Carolina.
- Required to attend and pass the centralized training provided by the North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services.
- Must be able to pass state authorization evaluations and test for specific program areas in order to perform duties.
- Must pass the REHS exam and NEHA within the timeframe established by the Board.
Nice To Haves
- Most work-related skills will be developed through in-service and on-the-job training.
- Educational requirements in accordance with Chapter 90A must be obtained each calendar year to renew registration in order to maintain Registered Environmental Health Specialist status.
Responsibilities
- Enforce compliance with state, local, and federal environmental and public health laws and regulations.
- Investigate environmental-related complaints, health-related nuisances, and reports of food-borne illness and contaminated food in order to prevent the spread of communicable diseases.
- Perform routine inspections, visits, and critical violation visits to ensure that food and lodging facilities, swimming pools, institutions, childcare centers, schools, tattoo artists, and lead investigations are meeting standards as mandated by state laws and rules in order to reduce the incidences and threat of foodborne illness, lead hazards, and other communicable disease.
- Conduct plan review for new construction of food service establishments.
- Conduct plan reviews for swimming pools and childcare centers.
- Perform lead investigations and annual monitoring activities within the childhood lead poisoning prevention program.
- Perform continuous quality improvement activities to achieve program standards with the Voluntary National Retail Food Regulatory Program.
- Seek corrective actions where needed and educate managers, operators, and staff of various facilities and establishments on safe handling processes and sanitation procedures.
- Keep accurate and detailed inspection records as mandated by the state that include the violation observed, food code citation, and method of correction.
- Assist the EPI team and other staff in the event of a food-borne outbreak.
- Seek legal remedies under the advice of the program supervisor and division director to abate health nuisances or prosecute individuals for failure to comply with public health laws and rules.
- Participate in On-Call rotation to respond to Environmental/Public Health Emergencies.
- May conduct quality assurance activities for public swimming pools, children’s environmental health, and tattoo programs in alignment with Buncombe County Environmental Health policies.
- Perform other related duties as assigned.
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What This Job Offers
Job Type
Full-time
Career Level
Mid Level
