7.4 Local Environmental Services


Solano Public Health Department website currently down due to wildfires. I will be exploring Contra Costa County Public Health  instead.

The environmental health services provided by Contra Costa Health Services (CCHS) include body art, land use, medical waste, plan review, recreational health, retail food, small water systems, and solid waste. I was surprised to see body art as one of the health programs but once I thought about it, it made sense to me. I watch Skin Wars and thought there may be some risk associated with transdermal diffusion of paint in the models skin, and the chemicals they inhale through the airbrushes. I am certain models may have fainted due to exposure and the time exposed. The environmental health department (EHD)conducts required inspections, investigates complaints, conducts trainings and consults with body artists.

Contra Costa Health Services divisions does have the EHD  and the public health department. Most environmental programs are found in EHD  but some environmental issues like lead poisoning prevention are found in the Public Health division- as part of the community wellness and prevention program or in the HazMat program also in the Public Health division.

Comments

  1. Krissy PamatmatOctober 20, 2017 at 1:37 PM

    Hi Mayra,

    I'm also surprised to know that Contra Costa Health Services provide services for body art facilities but I agree with you that there are some risk associated with transdermal diffusion of paint. I'm glad to know that the Environmental Health Department inspects these body art facilities and other related issues.

    - Krissy

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

9.3 Green Chemistry

Image
Our world, especially, the Pacific Ocean area known as the "Great Pacific Garbage Patch" would  look a lot differently if the 12 principles of green chemistry were applied when plastic was invented. For example, instead of plastic disintegrating into smaller and smaller components and remaining a polymer, it could have been made biodegradable ( P rinciple 10- Design chemicals and products to degrade after use )  so that it does not end up accumulating in the environment. Also, if green chemistry was considered and applied before the bottle was designed and produced, aquatic wildlife would not ingest toxic derivatives of plastic such as PCB and BPA ( Principle 8 Avoid chemical derivatives, Principle 4-Design safer chemicals and products, Principle 3-Design less hazardous chemical syntheses, Principle 2-Maximize atom econom y). The polymer, the smallest unit of plastic is so toxic and harmful to the food chain, that even people that consume fish intoxicated by plastic residues
Read more

10.5 Occupational Safety and Health Org

Occupational Health and Safety Administration (OSHA) recently released update guidelines that can be applied to small or medium sized work settings. My work place is the type where OSHA guidelines could be applicable. The goal of the guidelines is to reduce work related injuries and or death, reduce workers' compensation issues, and overall improve the workplace environment for employee and employers. The core elements are management leadership, worker participation, hazard identification and assessment, hazard prevention and control, education and training, program evaluation and improvement, and lastly, communication and coordination for host employers, contractors, and staffing agencies. For example, for hazard prevention and control, the benefit for workers is that workers identify what they would consider a type of hazard. Worker's input is highly regarded and seen as essential. This is important, although at my work, we have occupational therapist check our work space to
Read more