Local Environmental Services
M7.4 Local Environmental Services
I am familiar with San Francisco's health and substance abuse programs, but did not even know that we had an environmental health department. I knew that there were programs that supported environmental initiatives like the PG & E Energy Savings Assistance Program that focused on changing out home appliances (like water heaters or furnaces) for low income bay area resident to be more energy efficient and reduce the energy bill for families that were eligible. However, I did not know that they have programs for and regulate for a whole slew of issues that include healthy housing, regulating hazardous waste, health equity and sustainability, and even health massage programs.
At first glance the Environmental Health Department's website looks very robust and comprehensive covering a wide breadth of programs covering issues from animal fur to water waste, however when I click into any of these issues they do not actually have a lot of information from a public prospective of as many helpful and informative programs that I thought they were going to. Instead they mostly just have information about the regulations around specific issues and the permits that are needed. For example, when I click into body art there is a singular page with hyperlinks that I am able to select applications from and pull some general (limited) regulation information from. The information is limited I believe and the format is not friendly for all ages, reading levels and demographics. It is hard to pull the pertinent information out of this website and I feel that it is hard to find information about the programs that the department actually does support, like "311" which is a hotline community members can access the "Childhood Lead Prevention Program", but even then it does not seem clear on the website what the next steps of the program are and what would actually come out of accessing that resource.
I find myself frustrated with the lack of clarity, convoluted information and lack of general enviro health info for public consumption that is on their online presence after doing this exercise.
I am familiar with San Francisco's health and substance abuse programs, but did not even know that we had an environmental health department. I knew that there were programs that supported environmental initiatives like the PG & E Energy Savings Assistance Program that focused on changing out home appliances (like water heaters or furnaces) for low income bay area resident to be more energy efficient and reduce the energy bill for families that were eligible. However, I did not know that they have programs for and regulate for a whole slew of issues that include healthy housing, regulating hazardous waste, health equity and sustainability, and even health massage programs.
At first glance the Environmental Health Department's website looks very robust and comprehensive covering a wide breadth of programs covering issues from animal fur to water waste, however when I click into any of these issues they do not actually have a lot of information from a public prospective of as many helpful and informative programs that I thought they were going to. Instead they mostly just have information about the regulations around specific issues and the permits that are needed. For example, when I click into body art there is a singular page with hyperlinks that I am able to select applications from and pull some general (limited) regulation information from. The information is limited I believe and the format is not friendly for all ages, reading levels and demographics. It is hard to pull the pertinent information out of this website and I feel that it is hard to find information about the programs that the department actually does support, like "311" which is a hotline community members can access the "Childhood Lead Prevention Program", but even then it does not seem clear on the website what the next steps of the program are and what would actually come out of accessing that resource.
I find myself frustrated with the lack of clarity, convoluted information and lack of general enviro health info for public consumption that is on their online presence after doing this exercise.
It's crazy how there is all this information for the public to utilize and learn how to better take care of their environments, but the lack of attention cites like this get. Even as public health grad students, every time I learn about a cite that gives me better information on understanding the propositions coming up on ballots or how to submit a complaint about water waste is astonishing. Why aren't we teaching or bringing this awareness to our youth and general public? Also to add to your point on lack of clarity, I feel that we have so many avenues for this information that sometimes things get lost or go unfinished. The amount of times I've gone on to a government cite and have it be down for "maintenance" or just has not been updated for years can be frustrating.
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