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Course Syllabus
Course Schedule
Course Contents
Chapter 1. Legal Bases
Lesson 1
Lesson 2
Lesson 3
Lesson 4
Chapter 2. Legal Tools
Lesson 5
Lesson 6
Lesson 7
Lesson 8
Lesson 9
Chapter 3. Enforcement
Lesson 10
Lesson 11
Lesson 12
Lesson 13
Chapter 4. Liability
Lesson 14
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Extended Degree Program
Lecture Notes
Lesson 1. Law and Environmental Health
Approximate Time:
4 hours.
Key Points A. The Nature of Environmental Health Practice
Environmental health programs and activities may be either
consultative or regulatory in nature. Consultative programs
are based on the environmental health specialist's knowledge
of, and ability to explain, the interrelation-ships of biological,
chemical and physical factors with the occurrence of disease
and injury in human populations. Through advise and consultation
the sanitarian educates and motivates people to adopt behaviors
and practices which are more conducive to health. There is
a clear need and pressure for practitioners to participate
in programs of this nature.
However, traditionally, and through legislative mandate,
many if not most environmental health programs are regulatory
in nature. As such the practitioners have been delegated
both the authority and the responsibility to enforce applicable
codes, statutes, ordinances and rules and regulations. Therefore,
we will focus our attention in this course on the enforcement
or regulatory aspect of environmental health rather than
on the consultative activities.
- Regulatory Approaches: The purpose of environmental health
is to understand and control environmental factors which
may have a deleterious effect on human health. In accomplishing
this purpose, practitioners may use a number of different
types of approaches. For example:
- Investigation of disease occurrence
-- Epidemiology and determination of points of intervention
- Technology
and engineering -- design and construction of systems,
equipment, etc.; and,
- Regulation of use and behavior to prevent or eliminate
conditions.
- Procedures and Activities: Each
of the basic approaches to controlling environmental health
problems requires
the use of a variety of specific activities
and procedures. Some examples are:
- Surveys
-- of neighborhoods, homes, individuals, etc.;
- Permits and licenses
-- restaurants, swimming pools, waste disposal sites, etc.;
- Inspections
and investigations -- of industries, restaurants, parks,
houses, dairies, swimming
pools, water supplies,
etc;
- Collection of samples -- water,
sewage, air, food, milk, consumer products;
etc.; and,
- Conducting tests and measurements
-- food temperatures, indoor
and outdoor air, water,
swimming pools,
etc.
Many of these activities,
if not conducted by
a properly authorized
government
official, could
be considered
to be a restraint of
trade, an invasion of privacy,
trespass,
an
unlawful taking (stealing),
or
otherwise interfering
with constitutionally protected
property and/or
personal rights.
How is it, then, that
the sanitarian can
engage in
certain activities
which would
be considered
criminal
activities
if conducted by someone
else? The answer,
of course, lies
in the
law, i.e., the
sanitarian has been
legally delegated
the authority to
exercise certain police powers
of the state. [The
nature of these police
powers
and
how they
are delegated
will be taken up
in future lessons.] B. Relation to Law
The field of law impacts environmental health programs in
two ways. The first is through legislation which is drafted
specifically to address an environmental or public health
problem, e.g., The Clean Air Act. The second is through the
procedural requirements of the Constitution, existing laws,
and the judicial decisions which govern the conduct of all
regulatory and government activities. These procedural requirements
may have been established through legislation or court cases
which have no apparent relationship to environmental health,
yet because of Constitutional, due process, equal protection
and other considerations, they may directly and significantly
affect the policies and procedures of the environmental health
agency.
- Legislation: Legislation is law, i.e., it is the written
rules of conduct for society. Laws, as they are enacted by
legislative bodies, usually do not spell out the specific
activities which are to be conducted, nor the standards which
are to be followed. Indeed in a number of instances where
the Congress has attempted to proscribe procedures or standards,
the effect has been to place the agency in an untenable position
since they are thereby deprived of the flexibility necessary
to accommodate new knowledge, changing conditions and/or
special circumstances.
- Statutes enacted by the federal Congress or state legislatures.
- Enabling Legislation
- grants authority to an agency to regulate activities
or set standards.
- Directing legislation - requires
an agency to perform certain functions.
- Appropriations
- provides the funds to an agency so that it
can perform certain activities.
- Ordinances are
enacted by units of local government
(i.e., boards of county commissioners, city councils,
etc.) and
are comparable to statute.
- Rules and regulations are
adopted (promulgated) by administrative agencies
and boards. When properly
adopted, within the authority
delegated to the agency or board by a legislative
body, these also are law, although they are not legislation.
- Procedural Requirements: Public health, and hence environmental
health, is concerned with the prevention of disease and
injury and the promotion of health. It is, therefore, a
generally
recognized and accepted "public good", and a legitimate concern of government. However, the public good can result
in a conflict with an individual's privacy, property or
other right protected by the Constitution. Therefore, there
must
be a balancing of the public and private interests. This
balancing act takes place in the field of law.
In addition to the specific programs and activities which
are authorized or required by law, there are a variety
of requirements pertaining to how these programs and activities
are conducted also apply. These may be derived from the
Constitution,
from other statutes such as the federal Administrative
Procedures Act, or from Common Law Doctrines.
Progress Assessment Exercise
Download the following Microsoft Word file and answer the questions. Your responses
should be brief, yet contain sufficient depth to demonstrate
your
understanding
of
the issues and/or concepts involved. All progress assessment exercises
should be typewritten, well organized and clearly presented. You
will be evaluated on the effectiveness and organization of your responses
as well as on the substance of the content. When you have finished,
email your answers to the instructor. You may also send them by US
mail to:
Mr. Charles D. Treser
Department of Environmental & Occupational Health Sciences
University of Washington
Campus Box 357234
Seattle, WA 98195-7234
Exercise No. 1
When you have finished you may proceed to Lesson 2. Development of Environmental Health Laws. |