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What's a Registered Sanitarian
(RS)???
MT Board of Sanitarians
CEU Form
NEHA Exam Information
Registered
Sanitarians (RS) work in the field of Public Health with
an emphasis on environmental conditions. In some states,
Registered Sanitarians are called "Registered Environmental Health
Specialists or REHS". In Montana, most Registered Sanitarians
are employed by local health departments under the auspices of a
Health Board and a Health Officer. Sanitarians may also be
employed by state agencies such as the MT Department of Health &
Human Services, MT Dept of Environmental Quality and the MT Dept of
Agriculture. There are also a growing number of sanitarians
who are self-employed and work as consultants to the public,
business and government. In general, all public health
professionals work to protect and improve the health of the public.
To become a licensed RS in Montana, you
must have a BS degree in Environmental Health or an equivalent
degree including specific course requirements, and you must pass a
national exam (provided by NEHA) with a 68% or better score.
For more information, please contact the Montana Board of
Sanitarians.
To maintain your RS in Montana, you must renew
your license each year, and also you are responsible for obtaining
15 contact hours of continuing education credit every 2 years.
In the state of Montana, the
responsibilities of an RS can include:
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Licensed Food Establishment Programs
- Facilities
such as restaurants, convenience stores, bakeries, meat
markets, deli's, grocery stores and other businesses where food
is provided to the public or manufactured to be sold to the
public are regularly inspected as part of a program to monitor
food safety procedures and compliance with current food safety
regulations. This program may include education of food
handlers, facility plan reviews, work with compliance plans,
enforcement actions an other work.
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Licensed Public Accommodations Programs
- Facilities such as hotels, motels,
trailer courts, campgrounds, RV Parks, work camps, bed &
breakfasts are routinely inspected for compliance with public
accommodation regulations. This program also may include
pool and spa inspections, facility plan reviews, work with
compliance plans, enforcement actions and other work.
-
Other Inspection Work - May include inspections of daycare facilities,
temporary events, school food programs, hospital & nursing home
food programs etc.
-
Communicable Disease Prevention Program - Investigate possible food, waterborne and
zoonotic illness incidents and provide guidance with response
measures to control the incident. Education is provided to
help keep such incidents from reoccurring. Work in this
program often involves a lot of networking with other agencies
and other public health professionals.
-
Air Quality Programs - May involve monitoring of particulates and
other constituents known to be air pollutants. May involve
working with local ordinances and regulations regarding wood
burning stoves and other emissions. May include working
with compliance plans and other enforcement action work.
May include Indoor Air Quality work related to radon testing,
mitigation and working with new home construction contractors.
Additional work with public education on radon, molds, mildew,
carbon monoxide etc.
-
Onsite Wastewater Treatment Programs - Provides review, permitting and installation
inspection of onsite wastewater systems in accordance with
minimum state standards and local regulations. May include
review of environmental assessments (site evaluations) of
property. may include education of installers, site
evaluators and the public on wastewater treatment topics
including proper system operation, maintenance and trouble
shooting of problems.
-
Onsite Drinking Water Programs - Provides sanitary inspections of onsite public
water supplies, education and advice ot the public regarding
individual water supply well systems. may include lab
related water testing and test
interpretations.
-
Sanitation in Subdivisions Programs - Provides review of environmental assessments
(site evaluations) or property proposed to be subdivided.
Also includes review of proposed drinking water supply systems,
onsite wastewater treatment systems, stormwater drainage
provisions and solid waste provisions. Work in this
program often involves a lot of networking with state agencies.
-
Motor Vehicle Recycling Programs - Involves attempted notification of abandoned
vehicle owners, arrangements with local businesses to collect
abandoned vehicles, monitoring of storage yard conditions and
networking with state agencies for collection of stored vehicles
of recycling purposes.
-
Environmental Health Complaints Program - Involves investigation of complaints related to
any of the programs noted above, and other general issues and
complaints related to public and environmental health.
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