Position Summary:

The Environmental Public Health Specialist position involves professional and technical responsibilities to promote community environmental health and enforce public health laws and regulations influenced by the environment. Individuals in this role conducted inspections and evaluations to enforce public health practices aimed at disease prevention and promoting environmental health, life safety, and consumer protection.

 We offer a competitive starting rate of $20.09 - $23.52 per hour, depending on relevant skills and previous experience in the field.

This position will work Wednesday - Saturday.

Essential Activities:

Environmental Public Health Specialist I

Inspections, Surveillance, and Regulatory Compliance

1.  Conduct routine and unannounced inspections of public and private facilities to ensure compliance with environmental public health laws, rules, and regulations, including but not limited to:
2. Food service establishments, retail food stores, temporary food events, and mobile food units
3. Childcare facilities, schools, healthcare facilities, and other regulated institutions
4. Inspect and evaluate environmental public health conditions related to:
5. Food protection and food safety practices
6. Drinking water systems and water supplies
7. Individual water wells and individual sewage treatment systems
8. Sewage treatment, wastewater disposal, and solid waste management
9. Pool and aquatic facility operation
10. Vector and pest control
11. Life safety concerns and hazards related to electrical, plumbing, ventilation, and building systems
12. Review and evaluate blueprint plans and construction documents for new or remodeled facilities for compliance with applicable codes and standards, including:
13. Equipment specifications
14. Building materials
15. Facility layout and food flow
16. Plumbing, electrical, and ventilation systems
17. Inspect construction, installation, operation, and maintenance of individual water wells and onsite wastewater treatment systems.
18. Collect food, water, ice, wastewater, soil, or other environmental samples (e.g., lead) for bacteriological, chemical, or physical analysis as required.
19. Conduct recall follow-up activities, including verification of product removal and required reporting.

Investigations and Environmental Health Response

1. Conduct environmental health investigations related to reported or suspected hazards, including:
2. Foodborne and waterborne illness complaints
3. Environmental contamination (e.g., lead exposure, chemical releases)
4. Nuisance or vector-related complaints
5. Investigate complaints alleging violations of environmental public health laws and regulations and determine appropriate enforcement actions.
6. Conduct epidemiological and environmental investigations related to disease outbreaks and exposure incidents in coordination with local, state, and federal partners.
7. Prepare detailed investigative reports documenting findings, compliance status, and recommended corrective actions.
8. Conduct follow-up investigations and re-inspections to verify compliance and implementation of corrective measures.
9. Assist in environmental public health response activities related to emergencies, transportation incidents, or hazardous material releases as assigned.

Communication and Coordination

1. Communicate with supervisors and program leads regarding operational status, priority issues, and emerging environmental public health concerns.
2. Coordinate with environmental epidemiology programs related to toxic substances, hazardous chemicals, and risk assessment activities (e.g., lead exposure prevention).
3. Confer with elected officials, property owners, business operators, contractors, and the general public to explain Department of Health regulations, policies, and enforcement processes.
4. Collaborate with local, state, and federal agencies to support environmental public health initiatives and investigations.

Education and Training: 

1. Provide education and technical assistance to facility operators, food managers, and the public regarding environmental public health requirements, best practices, and preventive measures.
2. Teach and facilitate Basic Sanitation, Food Manager, and other approved environmental health training courses.
3. Conduct outreach activities, including participation in community events, health fairs, workshops, and public meetings, to promote environmental public health awareness and disease prevention.
4. Develop and deliver presentations, educational materials, and guidance documents for diverse audiences, including businesses, community groups, schools, and the general public.
5. Support community engagement efforts by responding to public inquiries and providing clear explanations of inspection findings, health risks, and corrective actions.
6. Stay current on emerging environmental public health trends, regulations, and best practices and participate in continuing education and professional development as required.
7. Completion of FDA courses (FD112, FD204)

Perform other related duties as necessary.

Behavior Competencies:

1. Attendance: Employee is expected to adhere to the JCHD Policy and Procedures for attendance and breaks and communicate with your supervisor about anticipated modifications.  
2. Communication Skills: Understand and communicate professionally and effectively with others using a variety of contexts and formats, which include writing, speaking, reading, listening, and interpersonal skills.  
3. Dependability: Meets commitments, works independently, accepts accountability, handles change, sets personal standards, and stays focused under pressure.  
4. Integrity: Earns the trust and confidence of coworkers and customers through honest communication, ethical behavior and professionalism in all interactions.  
5. Problem Solving: Breaks down problems into smaller components, can simplify and process complex issues, can identify and understand root cause.  
6. Productivity: Manages a fair workload, prioritizes tasks, develops good work procedures, manages time well, and handles information flow.   
7. Quality: Is attentive to detail and accuracy, is committed to excellence, looks for improvements continuously, monitors quality levels, finds root cause of quality problems, owns/acts on quality problems.  
8. Teamwork: Contributes to meeting team deadlines and responsibilities, listens to others and values opinions, helps team to meet goals, welcomes newcomers and promotes a cooperative team atmosphere 

Qualifications & Education Requirements:

• A bachelor's degree from an accredited college or university with a minimum of 30 earned credit hours in one or a combination of the following: Biology, Chemistry, Bacteriology, Animal Science, Food Science, Soil Science, Sanitary Science, Environmental Health, or in a closely related physical or natural sciences. 
• Professional or technical environmental public health work experience involving one or more of the areas of special qualifying experience may be substituted on a year-for-year basis for a minimum of two years for de?ciencies in the required college education.  
• Environmental public health work experience involving one or more of the areas of special qualifying experience in the United States military may substitute on a year-for-year basis for de?ciencies in the required college education 
• Valid driver’s license.

Foundational Public Health Services:

Ability to follow the Missouri Foundational Public Health Services model’s capabilities and areas of expertise as necessary for this position.

Continuing Education:

• CEHS renewal requires 24 contact hours every 2 years.
• FDA Standardization for retail food safety inspection officers (FSIOs) requires 30 contact hours of food-safety-related CEUs every 5 years.
• Additionally, emergency response training courses must be completed within established time frames, as identified by ordinance, statute, or administration. Annually, JCHD administration will require various coursework completions, not specific to any discipline, that is deemed beneficial to the organization as a whole.

Work Conditions:

This position entails work that may be required at multiple locations, involving minimal lifting/carrying. There may be occasional evening and/or weekend work, and individuals should be prepared to work in reasonable adverse weather conditions such as snow, rain, or heat. All staff at JCHD are designated as first responders during public health emergencies. Therefore, employees must be available 24/7/365 if called upon during an emergency event.

Additional Notes:

This job description in no way states or implies that these are the only duties to be performed by the employee occupying the position. Employees will be required to follow any other job-related instructions and to perform any other Health Department-related duties requested by their supervisor, subject to reasonable accommodation.

We are an equal opportunity employer, and all qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex, age, national origin, genetic information, disability status, protected veteran status, or any other characteristic protected by law.