This Commonwealth funded project was approved by the Environmental Health Committee (enHealth) as part of the enHealth Work Plan 2007-08. The work plan was endorsed by the Australian Health Protection Committee at its October 2007 meeting.
The project involved developing an annual roadshow of familiarization workshops for Environmental Health professionals to support the uptake of evidence based practices focusing on the standards and guidelines developed and supported through enHealth.
The National Environmental Health Strategy (NEHS) 2007-2012 builds on the framework established by the NEHS 1999 to identify the Australian environmental health sector’s role in developing and supporting infrastructure for health protection. The strategy is targeted towards preventing disease and creating health-supportive environments, and will support the work of EHP at all levels of government and Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities.
One of the objectives in the NEHS 2007-2012 is to maximise the timely transfer of evidence into action by facilitating the development of Standards and Guidelines. To support the uptake of evidence-based practices by EHPs, it was deemed important to conduct familiarisation workshops across the nation around the following subjects – 1. responding to emergencies and disasters (incl increased impacts of climate change);2. risk communication (incl working with media);3. NHMRC Guidelines for Managing Risk in Recreational Water 2008; and4. environmental lead contamination (with a focus on recent incidents)5. NEHS 2007-2012A number of outcomes/benefits from the roadshow were:§ To familiarise EHPs with evidence-based practices;§ Improved awareness and knowledge of the NEHS 2007-2012; and§ Support workforce development of EHPs.Environmental Health Services (Tas) Pty Ltd, trading as Sustainable Environmental Assessment and Management (S.E.A.M.) are an environmental health consultancy specialising in all aspects of environmental health and environmental management. Our main client base is Local Government.