64E-18.002. Definitions

(1) Accredited – means a degree granting institution recognized as meeting acceptable levels of quality and performance by the American Council on Education.

(2) Administrative position – a position responsible for planning, organizing, evaluating, or directing the work of field personnel, supervisory personnel, or other administrative environmental health professionals.

(3) Environmental Health Services – also referred to as services. These are activities, or the supervision thereof, which are a routine part of environmental health work, such as inspections, evaluations, preparation of reports, analysis of data, interpretation of data and laboratory reports, consultations with other health professionals or the public regarding results of evaluations and sampling efforts, and the recommending of prescribed courses of action to alleviate unsanitary or hazardous conditions. These services are provided based on a knowledge and understanding of technical and scientific environmental health principles.

(4) Field position – a position primarily responsible for performing evaluations and inspections, collecting samples, conducting field tests of equipment, participating in enforcement activities, and providing public information on environmental program activities. Examples of work conducted by an individual working in a field position assigned to a primary program area of food protection would be performing assessments of sanitary conditions in a food operation, or collecting and analyzing information from persons involved in a foodborne illness investigation. An example of a person performing field work in a primary program area of onsite sewage treatment and disposal would be evaluating the siting and construction of an onsite sewage treatment and disposal system for compliance with minimum state standards.

(5) Florida Environmental Health Association – a not for profit professional association located online at www.feha.org which provides training, testing, and educational services for environmental health professionals working in Florida.

(6) Food protection program work – activity associated with the evaluation of facilities and techniques used by individuals and companies providing foods to the public. Included would be the educational activities directed toward informing food managers and food workers in the proper application of sanitary techniques or the investigation of foodborne disease reports.

(7) Supervisor position – this position is responsible for supervision of field personnel, some of whom may or may not yet be certified in a primary area of environmental health practice.

(8) National Environmental Health Association – a not for profit professional association located at 720 South Colorado Boulevard, Suite 970, Denver, Colorado 80222 which provides training, testing, and educational services for environmental health professionals working in the United States.

(9) Onsite sewage treatment and disposal system program work – activities associated with the evaluation and site location of any treatment and disposal systems under the regulatory authority of the Florida Department of Health. Included in this activity would be site location and evaluation activities associated with the treatment and disposal of septage created during the wastewater treatment process, and the regulation of contractors performing system construction, maintenance, and septage disposal services.

(10) Registered Environmental Health Specialist – a person who has displayed knowledge of a primary area of environmental health and has been certified as knowledgeable by either the Florida Environmental Health Association or the National Environmental Health Association.

(11) Repeat Violation – any violation on which disciplinary action is being taken where the same individual has previously had disciplinary action taken against him or her and has received a penalty other than a letter of warning in a prior case. This definition applies regardless of the chronological relationship of the violations and regardless of whether the violations are of the same or different subsections of this rule.

Specific Authority 381.0101 (5) FS. Law Implemented 381.0101(2), (5), (8) FS. History–New 9-21-94, Amended 8-20-96, Formerly 10D-123.002, Amended 3-2-98, 8-21-05.