ADVANCEMENT OF THE SCIENCE
Open Access
Workplace Hazards Impacting the Environmental Health Workforce: A Study Among Practitioners in the United States
Garry Dine, MPH, MOHS Edith Cowan University David T. Dyjack, DrPH, CIH National Environmental Health Association Sue Reed, MSc, MEngSc, PhD Edith Cowan University Jacques Oosthuizen, MMedSci, PhD Edith Cowan University conducted in October 2020 by the National Environmental Health Association (NEHA, 2020) reported health and safety concerns that included burnout; lack of personal pro- tective equipment (PPE); and a paucity of supplies, training, and guidance. In Australia and New Zealand, vehicle acci- dents; slips, trips, and falls; biological and chemical exposures; mental stress; and work- place violence have been found to be common workplace hazards among EHPs (Dine et al., 2021, 2022; Kuhn et al., 2021; Oosthuizen et al., 2022). In Western Australia, workplace burnout was also found to be a major hazard among EHPs due to work setting, poor stang ratios, lack of resources, and poor manage- ment support (Oosthuizen et al., 2022). The COVID-19 pandemic provided an unparalleled opportunity for EHPs to dem- onstrate their versatile knowledge and skills as frontline public health experts (Mahase, 2020; Oosthuizen et al., 2022; Rodrigues et al., 2021; Ryan et al., 2021). It was not fore- seen that providing EH services during an unprecedented pandemic, however, would create such high levels of hostility against health ocials and make their jobs danger- ous, especially at a time when public health was most vulnerable. In the U.S., there have been numerous reports of health ocers being physically attacked, receiving death threats, and being demeaned and demoral- ized in their e orts to contain the pandemic and protect the community against the virus (Barry-Jester, 2021; Mello et al., 2020; Said, 2020; Topazian et al., 2022). It has been suggested that, in some instances, local health ocers quit their jobs after receiving threats. A national survey of local health departments identified 222 posi- tion departures by public health ocials nationally (Ward et al., 2022). As such, our
Abstract Our study examined the occupational health and safety (OHS) issues that impact environmental public health workforces across various health departments in the U.S. The objective was to generate an OHS risk profile for the workforce to inform future preventative strategies. Data for our study were collected via a cross-sectional online survey ( N = 158) supplemented by a virtual focus group ( N = 7) discussion to confirm and explore some of the themes and data items that emerged from the survey. Descriptive statistics were used to provide information about the variables in the data sets and to identify relationships between them. Nonparametric tests were used to determine statistical significance between two or more variables that were not normally distributed. Focus group data were analyzed thematically. Our study indicates that the environmental health (EH) workforce in the U.S. is exposed to a range of significant workplace hazards. Some of the OHS concerns identified in our study are similar to those observed in Australia and New Zealand. Biological and chemical exposures appear to be important hazards; however, further study is required to determine the nature and mechanism of these hazards within the EH workforce. Furthermore, our study suggests that the COVID-19 pandemic had a significant impact on the health and safety of EH professionals. Keywords: environmental health practitioners, occupational health and safety, environmental health workforce
Introduction The functions of environmental health pro- fessionals (EHPs) have broadened exponen- tially over the years, with more responsibili- ties being added to their job description to such an extent that Greenberg (2020) com- pares an EHP to a “local community’s family doctor.” EHPs are no longer just compliance health inspectors and sanitarians, as other public health professionals and the broader community sometimes perceive. It is there- fore important to assess and understand the modern role of EHPs and the hazardous envi- ronments in which they operate. Our study
examined the occupational health and safety (OHS) issues that a ect EHP workforces across various health departments in the U.S. The objective was to generate an OHS risk profile for the workforce to inform future preventative strategies. While the environmental health (EH) workforce in the U.S. is a fundamental con- tributor of public health to state, tribal, local, and territorial agencies (Gerding et al., 2019), there is limited information on the di erent workplace exposures that impact EHPs. A survey of state, local, federal, tribal, and territorial EH professionals ( N = 767)
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Volume 86 • Number 6
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