Our environmental health program provides a wide array of services
designed to protect the health of our residents and those that visit
our county.
Our three sanitarians
work closely with the
Office of
Environmental Health Services of the WV Bureau for
Public Health.
Environmental Programs: (Click on a program to find more information)
Food Sanitation
Housing/Institutions
Recreation
Sewage
Water
Disaster/Disease
Food handler Training Schedule
Included under the food sanitation program are restaurants,
school cafeterias, grocery stores, temporary food service establishments,
mobile food
units, and milk distributors. Wayne county currently has 126 restaurants and 19
school cafeterias. These are inspected a
minimum of twice per year and may be
inspected more often if necessary. Our sanitarians try to get to these
establishments four times
per year. (Click here for
latest inspection scores). Retail milk samples are taken eight times per
year and submitted to
the State Hygienic
Lab
for examination. Should a food disease outbreak occur, our sanitarians would be
involved in investigating the
foodborne outbreak. Complaints against restaurants are
investigated by our sanitarians.
Our sanitarians conduct food service worker training
classes. (Click here to see the latest training
schedule) We are currently have the
first food service
worker regulation in West Virginia. This regulation makes it mandatory
for every food service worker working in Wayne
county to have a valid food service
worker card. If, following a specified notice and warning, an operator of an
establishment continues to
allow a food service worker to work without a valid card, the
regulation allows the suspension of the food service permit for that
establishment.
Food service worker training classes are held each month at the health department
and are held at Tolsia high school in
the southern end of Wayne county and at the Northern
Wayne Vocational School on alternating quarters. There is no charge for the training
and students passing the exam are issued a valid food service worker card which is good
for three years.
We have a simple checklist which will
help you to evaluate your own kitchen and your food handling practices. If
you would like to see this
sample checklist, please click on the following
link: Home Kitchen
Checklist. (back
to top)
Many different types of establishments are a part of our
housing/institution program. Some include child care facilities, jails, mobile home
parks, motel, public restrooms, schools as well as home loan approvals.
We have 14 child care facilities in our county and they are
inspected at least twice per year, as are our 36 mobile home parks. We have 24
public schools which are inspected every other year.
Upon request our sanitarians conduct home loan evaluations.
Most lending institutions require that the sewage systems as well as
individual water systems are inspected and approved before money is loaned to potential
purchasers of the property in question. Our
sanitarians conduct record checks to see
that the septic systems were installed under proper permit and properly inspected at the
time of
installation. Dye tests are conducted on the systems to insure that they are
functioning properly at the time of the loan. Individual water
systems are inspected
for proper construction and bacterial samples are taken at the time of the inspection.
(back to top)
Included in the recreation program are public swimming pools
and bathing beaches, campgrounds, organized camps, fairs and festivals,
and parks.
Wayne county has two federal lake reservoirs:
Beech Fork Lake and East Lynn lake.
Cabwaylingo State Forest is also
located in Wayne
county. Each year our sanitarians inspect food and facilities at
the Wayne County Fair.
Water samples are taken from bathing beaches and public
swimming pools at least twice per season and more often if warranted. They are
sent to the
State Hygienic lab for examination.
Residual chlorine levels as well as pH levels are also taken at the swimming pools.
Swimming pools are inspected prior to season opening and at least once during the
season. Other recreational facilities are inspected on
a frequency determined by the
WV Bureau for Public Health. These
frequencies vary according to type of establishment. (back to top)
Sanitarians design and inspect individual septic systems.
Home owners must obtain a septic tank permit prior to installation of individual
septic tank systems. Sanitarians also work with alternative type individual septic
systems when soil and topography conditions eliminate
the use of conventional septic tank
systems. Some existing homes require the installation of individual home aeration
units to correct
malfunctioning systems. Sanitarians have averaged 90 septic tank
inspections over the last 3 years.
If you would like to search for a
certified septic tank installer, please follow the
link to the
WV
Bureau for Public Health Public Health Sanitation Page.
Individual water systems are inspected and sampled.
Persons wanting to have a well drilled or modified must obtain a permit prior to
drilling
or modifying the well. Individual water wells must be drilled by licensed
well drillers. Those persons licensed to drill wells in WV
may be found at
the Certified
Drillers web site. Water samples are taken quarterly from random sample points
on all public water
supplies. Those public supplies with fluoridation have fluoride
samples submitted quarterly. Sanitarians collect individual water supply
samples
upon request from home owners. Raw water samples from public supplies are also
collected quarterly. Approximately 200 water
samples have been taken each year for
the last 3 years. (back to top)
Disaster/Disease items range from indoor air quality
investigations to full-scale disaster assistance. Wayne county has several areas
that
are prone to flooding and has experienced serious flooding over the years.
Sanitarians are called upon to inventory and sample water
supplies, food sources,
and general cleanup operations during flood or disaster situations. Also included in
this category are vector
control, animal bite and rabies investigations, nuisance
complaints, and radon and lead programs. This category covers a broad range of
environmental health problems. (back
to top)