Abstract
This paper is aimed at discussing various competencies of environmental health workers. These people have to act as researchers, educators, leaders, and policy-makers. Thus, they need to possess expertise in such areas public health sciences, research, and policy-making in order to find practical application to their skills.
Furthermore, they should well-developed leadership and communicative skills in order to cope with their most important duties. These competencies are vital for protecting the health of community members. These are the main aspects that should be taken into account by these professionals.
Discussion
Environmental public health can be related to various fields of human activity; for instance, one can speak about agriculture, the use of water, prevention of disease, manufacturing, construction, and so forth (Canadian Institute of Public Health Inspectors, 2009, p. 78). Furthermore, one can argue that people, working in this field, can have in-depth expertise in various areas of science such medicine, biology, chemistry, or physics.
Nevertheless, one can say that there are certain competencies that these professionals should possess several importance competencies in order to cope with their tasks effectively.
In particular, close attention should be paid to the following aspects: 1) profound knowledge of public health sciences; 2) ability to transform research findings into policies and programs; 3) excellent analytical and research skills; 4) leadership, and 5) well-developed communication skills that are needed for the interaction with various representatives of the general public.
These standards can be explained by the fact that environmental health workers should play various roles. In particular, they should act as researchers, educators, and even regulators. On the whole, these competencies are critical for ensuring the wellbeing of the public.
When discussing the work of public health inspectors, researchers point out that a certain health problem can be attributed to various factors that can often interplay with one another. For instance, one can mention that people, who have asthma, can be strongly influence by such aspects as water and air quality, weather, stress, and so forth (Portier, 2011, p. 4).
Thus, one can say that environmental health professional should understand different ways in which environment can affect individuals and groups. This is why researchers believe that environmental health professionals should take an interdisciplinary approach to various problems (Gochfeld & Goldstein, 1999, p. 36).
This requirement is important at the time such aspects as science, technology, and medicine become increasingly interconnected (Gochfeld & Goldstein, 1999, p. 36). This is why these people should be knowledgeable in such areas epidemiology, demography, statistics, or ways of preventing various diseases many of which are chronic. This is the first standard that should be met by these people.
Furthermore, it is important to remember that environmental health professional should be able to evaluate various risks to the wellbeing of the public (Gerding & Price, 2012, p. 31). For example, these people should be able to assess the efficiency of current programs that are supposed to reduce air and water pollution.
Additionally, they should determine whether current policies or regulations are properly reinforced by the state (Gerding & Price, 2012, p. 31). Thus, one has to speak about the competency in gathering and analyzing both quantitative and qualitative data on the basis of which one can reach certain conclusions (Kyle et al. 2006).
Without this skill, these professional can hardly bring any improvements into the life of a community. In some cases, environmental health workers have to see the relations between various phenomena. For example, they can look at health records while conducting air pollution research (Thurston et al, 2009, p. 45).
In this way, they can determine the causes of various diseases or assess the effectiveness of environment protection programs. This is why research and analysis skills are important for these professionals.
Another aspect that should not be overlooked is the ability of environmental health workers to develop policies and programs that can better protect the wellbeing of humans, animals, and nature in general. There are many cases showing that they often cooperate with legislators and regulators (Blake, Corso & Bender, 2011).
For instance, one can mention that environmental agencies objected to the drilling in Marcellus Shale since this practice can pose a threat to the health of local population (Goldstein, Kriesky & Pavliakova, 2012, p. 483). Furthermore, these people should form alliances with groups that also promote the reduction of environmental risks. Additionally, he/she should be able to identify the steps that should be taken in order to address environmental risks (Canadian Institute of Public Health Inspectors, 2009, p. 83).
Thus, one can argue that environmental health workers should understand the goals and interests of different stakeholders, for instance, the residents of the community, governmental organizations, manufacturing companies, environment protection agencies, and other stakeholders. Moreover, they need to understand how economic, social and legal institutions can ensure public health (Jackson & Malloy, 2011, p. 35).
Therefore, they should develop programs and policies on the basis of their findings and analysis. In turn, if they cannot do it, their work will not find practical application which is probable the most important criterion for every professional. So, the cooperation between environmental health workers and regulators is a critical component.
It is also important to remember that environmental health professionals often have to act as educators. For instance, they can raise people’s awareness about the existing risks to the wellbeing of individuals (Sarisky, 2009, p. 20). These people have to interact with policy-makers, medical workers, legislators, and other people who may want to know more about the environmental problems.
One of the most challenging tasks is the interaction with children. They need to know about the presence various pollutants in food, water, air, and so forth (Sattler, 2008, p. 329; Coopwood, 2009). Thus, one should say that environmental health workers should have well-developed communication skills. Without them, they will not be able to make convincing arguments. These are some of the main aspects that can be identified.
It should also be taken into account that these professionals cannot cope with their duties without being able to act as leaders. This issue is particularly important at those moments when it is necessary to respond to environmental disasters (Logue, 1996, p. 1207).
Under such circumstance, they have to take initiatives and overcome various challenges as quickly as possible. The competencies identified in this section correspond to various roles played by environmental health workers who are responsible for identifying risks and minimizing them.
Conclusion
These examples indicate that environmental health workers should possess different competencies. First of all, these individuals should have in-depth expertise in different sciences that can throw light on various aspects of public health. Furthermore, they should also act as researches, who gather information, analyze data and evaluate the effectiveness of different programs.
More importantly, they need to interact with various stakeholders such as regulators, medical workers, teachers, and many other people. Furthermore, they play the role of educators by raising people’s awareness about different environmental risks.
Finally, in some cases, they need to display leadership qualities in order to address different challenges. The competencies described in this paper are vital for protecting the wellbeing of individuals and communities.
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