Health Professions unit 2

• Scope of Practice


  The range of responsibilities and activities that define the environmental health profession
• Environmental Health legislation


  The laws and regulations that govern environmental health services in South Africa
• Legislation governing environmental health services in South Africa

  • The Constitution of the Republic of South Africa
  • National Health Act, 2003 (Act 61 of 2003)
  • Health Professions Act, 1974 (Act 56 of 1974)
  • Health Act, 1977 (Act 63 of 1977)
  • Municipal Structures Act, 1998 (Act 117 of 1998)
  • Occupational Health and Safety Act, 1993 (Act 85 of 1993)
  • Foodstuffs Cosmetics and Disinfectants Act, 1972 (Act 54 of 1972)
  • National water Act, 1998 (Act 36 of 1998)
  • National Environmental Management: Waste Act 59 of 2008
  • National Environment Management: Air Quality Act 39 of 2004
• Environmental health services (EHS)


  A function of district and metropolitan municipalities in South Africa, as defined in the National Health Act 2003
• Environmental health services defined in the National Health Act 2003


  • Water quality monitoring
  • Food control
  • Waste management
  • Health surveillance of premises
  • Surveillance of communicable diseases, excluding immunisation
  • Vector control
  • Environmental pollution control
  • Disposal of the dead
  • Chemical safety
  • Noise Control
  • Radiation and Ionising and non-Ionising monitoring and control
  • Port Health
  • Malaria Control
  • Control of Hazardous substances
• Water quality monitoring


  1. Monitoring water quality and availability, including mapping water sources

  2. Enforcement of laws and regulations related to water quality management

  3. Ensuring water safety and accessibility in respect of safe quality (e.g., microbiological and chemical)

  4. Adequate quantity for domestic use and quality for recreational, industrial, food production

  5. Advocacy on proper and safe water usage and wastewater disposal

  6. Sampling and testing water in the field and examining and analyze in the lab
• Food Control


  1. Ensuring Food Safety in respect (Microbiological and chemical standards)

  2. Inspecting food production, distribution and consumption areas

  3. Informal street trading monitoring

  4. Food premises inspection for any nuisances emanating therefrom

  5. Enforcing food legislation and CODEX

  6. Applying food quality monitoring programmes and principles through various techniques (e.g. HACCP)

  7. Promoting the safe transportation, handling, storage and preparation of foodstuffs used in schools, prison, health establishments

  8. Promoting safe handling of meat and meat production(abattoirs inspections)

  9. Promoting the safe handling of milk and milk products
• Waste Management


  1. Ensure proper refuse storage, collection, transfer, transportation and disposal

  2. Ensuring proper management of liquid waste (industrial effluents)

  3. Sampling and analysis of any waste or product (sewage or refuse)

  4. Investigations and inspections of any activity relating to the waste stream

  5. Advocacy on appropriate sanitation

  6. Controlling the handling and disposal of diseased animal tissue

  7. Ensuring safe usage of treated sewerage sludge and the health safety of reclaimed waste

  8. Ensuring waste management (auditing of waste management systems)
• Health surveillance of premises

  1. Conducting environmental health impact assessment (housing projects)

  2. Assessing aspects such as ventilation and indoor air quality, lighting, moisture-proofing, thermal quality structural safety

  3. Assessing overcrowded, dirty or other unsatisfactory health conditions

  4. Monitoring all buildings and all other temporary or permanent physical structure for residential, public or institutional use

  5. Ensuring the urban and rural land-use planning and practices that are conducive to sustainable development

  6. Ensuring the health safety of the public passenger transportation facilities
• Surveillance and prevention of communicable diseases excluding immunisations

  1. Promoting health and hygiene, aiming at preventing environmentally induced diseases and related communicable disease

  2. Collecting, analysing and disseminating epidemiological data and information

  3. Using the Participatory Hygiene and Sanitation Transformation (PHAST) training approaches and any other educational training programmes

  4. Conducting epidemiological surveillance of diseases

  5. Establishment of effective Environmental Health Surveillance and Information system

  6. Developing environmental health measures
• Vector control


  1. Identifying vectors, their habitats and breeding places

  2. Conducting vector control in the interest of public health, including control of arthropods, molluscs, rodents and other alternative hosts of disease

  3. Removing or remedying conditions resulting in or favoring the prevalence of or increase in rodents, insects, disease carriers or pests

  4. Investigate zoonotic diseases and other vector borne diseases in the working and living environment

  5. Surveillance of imported cargo and livestock for the prevalence of disease vectors

  6. Serological tests of rodents, dogs and other pests
• Environmental pollution control


  1. Ensuring hygienic working, living and recreational environments

  2. Identifying the polluting agents and sources

  3. Conducting environmental health impacts and assessments including Major Hazardous Installations

  4. Conducting environmental health hazards and risk mapping

  5. Accident prevention (e.g. owing to paraffin usage)

  6. Control and prevention of vibration and noise pollution

  7. Ensuring compliance with the provisions of the Occupational Health and Safety Act, 1993 (Act No. 85 of 1993), and its regulations, including anticipating, identifying, evaluating and controlling occupational hazards
• Disposal of the dead

  1. Control, restriction or prohibition of: The business of a undertaker or embalmer, mortuaries and other places or facilities for the storage of dead bodies

  2. Regulating, control and prohibition of graves, cemeteries/ crematoria and other facilities for the disposal of dead bodies

  3. Manage, control and monitor exhumations and burials or disposals of human remains
• Chemical safety


  1. Monitoring and regulating all operators, fumigation firms formal or informal, retail premise

  2. Permitting and auditing of premises e.g. Schedule Trade Permit

  3. Facilitating pesticides and/or chemical safety advice education and training
• Noise control


  1. Assessment of the extent of noise pollution and its effect on human health

  2. Facilitate noise control measures

  3. Measuring of ambient sound levels and noise levels
• Radiation and (ionising and non-ionizing) monitoring and control

  1. Ensuring that ionising and non-ionising sources are registered with the Department of Health

  2. Ensure the registered ionising and non-ionising sources meet the licence conditions

  3. Monitor the safe transportation of radioactive materials

  4. Ensuring that radioactive sources are licensed at the South African Nuclear Energy Council (NECSA)

  5. Ensuring that all radiation material waste from hospitals are properly disposed off
• Port health


  1. Monitoring, inspecting, sampling and labelling all imported foodstuffs, cosmetics and disinfectants at all ports of entry

  2. Monitoring of all imported foodstuffs, cosmetics, disinfectants where certificate of approval is required

  3. Sampling of foodstuffs consumed on board all planes and ships

  4. Monitoring, inspecting and sampling all maize and wheat imports

  5. Monitoring continuous rodent and vector control at airports and harbours

  6. Monitoring, inspection of all hazardous cargo entering the country

  7. Monitoring and prevention of communicable diseases on a 24hr basis

  8. Monitoring food wastes and medical waste for disposal
• Malaria control


  1. Ensuring, developing and implementing a malaria control programme for the country

  2. Ensuring a continued active and feasible malaria surveillance programme

  3. Carrying out house-to-house surveys to actively detect malaria cases;

  4. Ensure that blood smears from local and foreign mosquito populations

  5. Random blood samples from the population during seasonal changes.

  6. Epidemiological surveys to look at the extent of transmission, gather data and population of infected people

  7. Continuous health education/awareness programme
• Control of hazardous substances

  1. Ensuring the correct labelling of hazardous substances

  2. Ensuring all active ingredients are indicated

  3. Ensuring warning signs are indicated

  4. Ensuring that precautions are taken during storage/transportation and all protective gear is utilized during handling

  5. Ensuring all hazardous substances are registered with the Departments of Agriculture and Environmental Affairs and Tourism;

  6. Inspecting premises to ensure compliance with safety, storage and other precaution measures

  7. Ensuring that empty containers are disposed of according to statutory requirements
• Environmental health services (EHS) is a function of district and metropolitan municipalities in South Africa. Section 32 (1) of the National Health Act 2003 (Act 61 of 2003), as amended stipulates that "Every Metropolitan and District Municipality must ensure that appropriate municipal health services are effectively and equitably provided in their respective areas."