ROYAL ENVIRONMENTAL HEALTH INSTITUTE FOR SCOTLAND
NEWS RELEASE
ENVIRONMENTAL HEALTH EXPERTS PROPOSE TRANSFER OF OCCUPATIONAL HEALTH AND SAFETY POWERS TO SCOTLAND FROM WESTMINSTER
- Royal Environmental Health Institute of Scotland (REHIS) believes priority setting for the last significant area of environmental health reserved to Westminster should be transferred to Scotland
- REHIS launches environmental health ‘Manifesto’ at annual Environmental Health Forum
- Professional body recommends increased education as 18,000 school children secure REHIS food hygiene qualifications in one year
27 April 2016: The leading Scottish environmental health organisation is calling for workplace health and safety priority setting, the last significant area of environmental health that remains reserved to Westminster, to be transferred to Holyrood.
The Royal Environmental Health Institute for Scotland (REHIS) believes this important element of protection of the work environment would be best served as an integral part of the current public health protection system in Scotland.
The proposeddevelopment is included within REHIS’ latest manifesto which reinforces the importance of continued protection of Scotland’s public health both now and in the future and the essential role played by the wider environmental health workforce in Scotland. This document will be formally launched at REHIS’ annual Environmental Health Forum in Glasgow on the 27th of April.
Professor Kofi Aidoo, REHISPresident, said: “The protection of Scotland’s public health must remain one of the key priorities for everyone living and working here. At the moment occupational health and safety is the only significant area of environmental health in Scotland not controlled from Scotland. Bringing all of the major areas of environmental health into line with each other and for priorities to be setat Holyrood and delivered locally sits best with the Scottish Government’s focus on health and wellbeing. Priorities for environmental health should be set in Scotland.”
REHIS is also calling for increased education and training for employers, employees and members of the public to help alleviate the pressure on scarce public resources by making them safer and healthier in their own environments.
Professor Aidoo said: “In 2015 almost 18,000 school children in 208 secondary schools took part in our ‘Introduction to Food Hygiene’ and ‘Elementary Food Hygiene’ courses giving a greater awareness of food health. The long term impact of increasing children’s knowledge of this important area of public health can only be positive and we should be looking to have this as part of every child’s education.”
Continued concerns about the numbers of environmental health officers and food safety officers remains a key issue for REHIS.
Professor Aidoo added: “We continue to see a downward trend in the numbers of highly skilled Environmental Health (EHO) staff employed by Scotland’s local authorities. There is only so much contraction that can be accommodated without seriously impacting on the service and the consequent risk on public health.”
Between the 2009 and 2015, the number of EHOs employed by Scottish councils fell by 14.0% - from 556to 478. During the same period the number of Food Safety Officers fell by 19.5% (105.6 to 85).
Professor Aidoo continued: “It is also worrying that the pipeline of new EHOs coming into the profession is not going to meet the requirements needed to match the number of highly experienced professionals leaving the industry. This is a very real issue as we look to the medium to long term and the impact that will inevitably have on public health.”
A copy of REHIS’ manifesto is available to download by visiting or by calling 0131 229 2968.
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Issued on behalf of The Royal Environmental Health Institute for Scotland by Wave PR Ltd. For further information please contact Jonathan Kennedy on 0141-225-0404 or 07799-768968.
Notes to editors:
Professor Aidoo is Professor of Food Science at Glasgow Caledonian University and holds an honours degree in Biochemistry, an MSc in Fermentation from the University of Science & Technology, Ghana, and a PhD (Applied Microbiology) from the University of Strathclyde.
He is currently Professor of Food Safety and Food Microbiology in the department, Programme Leader for the MSc Food Bioscience, GCU, and the MSc Food Bioscience (Fergusson College, Pune) Kofi is also a researcher in food safety with special interest in fungal secondary metabolites in foods and feeds. He is in charge of the commercial food testing facility (UKAS laboratory) in the department.
The Royal Environmental Health Institute of Scotland (the Institute) has been in existence for almost 140 years and has around one thousand members, the majority of whom are Environmental Health Officers working in that capacity for Scottish local authorities. The Institute is Incorporated by Royal Charter, is an independent self-financing organisation, is an independent awarding body for the profession and for a wide range of community training qualifications, and is a registered Scottish charity (No. SC009406). The Institute neither seeks nor receives grant aid and its charitable activities are funded significantly by the subscriptions received from its members.
The objects for which the Institute is established are for the benefit of the community to promote the advancement of Environmental Health by:
•stimulating interest in and disseminating knowledge concerning Environmental Health;
•promoting education and training in matters relating to Environmental Health; and
•maintaining, by examination or otherwise, high standards of professional practice and conduct on the part of Environmental Health Officers in Scotland.
Environmental Health Officers in Scotland are part of a graduate only profession and by virtue of their under-pinning academic education, professional practical training, professional qualifications and experience are well placed to apply a holistic public health approach to the education of the public and to the enforcement of a wide range of environmental and public health legislation.
The Institute is an independent awarding body for the profession and currently accredits the BSc (Hons) Environmental Health degree courses delivered at the University of Strathclyde and at the University of the West of Scotland as well as the MSc Environmental Health degree courses delivered at the University of Strathclyde and at the University of Derby (distance learning option). Environmental Health students, graduate and under-graduate, who wish to pursue a career as an Environmental Health Officer require to undertake a period of professional practical training and to successfully complete the Institute’s Professional Examination which determines their professional competence to practice.
In terms of EU Directive 2005/36/EC on the recognition of Professional Qualifications within Member States and under the European Communities (Recognition of Professional Qualifications) Regulations 2007 the Royal Environmental Health Institute of Scotland is a UK Competent Authority for the Profession titles Environmental Health Officer and Chartered Environmental Health Officer.