Environmental Health and
Public Health Preparedness
NACCHO, in collaboration with the Centers for
Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).
Disseminate lessons and best practices to the
broader public health community.
Overall Outcomes
• Collaboration between Hennepin County,
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Ramsey County and City of Minneapolis
Improved environmental health capacity at
the local level to respond to public health
emergencies
Established systems that will support a
coordinated and effective regional response
Model plans, tools, templates that can be
shared
Nine Grant Goals
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9.
EH Emergency Response Plans
Trained EH Staff
Food operators better prepared
Food safety alert system
Shared data access and EH databases
EH Resource Kit
ECHO
Sharing best-practice information
Mass Care plan with American Red
Cross
Focus on Four Goals--in year one
1 EH emergency preparedness plans
2 Trained EH staff
3 Food operators better prepared
7 Risk communication to limited English
populations
Goal 1
EH Preparedness Plans
Expand all-hazards Environmental Health
Emergency Preparedness Plans to reflect
common approaches for a regional response
Technical Background Information
Describe general and specific response
actions that EH personnel would be
responsible for in an event
Environmental Health
Emergency Guidance Document
Work in Progress
Display Only
Prepared by Twin Cities Metro Advanced Practice Center
EH Emergency Guidance Document
• Describes general and specific response
actions that EH personnel would be
responsible for in an emergency
• Each topical area includes:
• Introduction
• Emergency Response Objectives
• Priority Activities
• Practical Guidance Information
Goal 2: Trained EH Staff
• Train environmental health staff within
Hennepin and Ramsey Counties with
requisite knowledge to effectively respond to
an environmental health emergency, and test
that training
Principles of Environmental Health
• Promote health and quality of life
• Protect the public from health hazards
• Protect the environment from
contamination
Training Format
• Emergency Preparedness and Response
Fundamentals
• Overview of Environmental Health Principles
• Communicating as a Key Role for EH Professionals
• Responding to Emergency Events
• Minimizing Health Implications
• Putting Principles into Practice
 Scenario #1 - elemental mercury contamination.
 Scenario #2 - an ammonia release.
 Scenario #3 - a natural disaster (i.e., a tornado).
Goal 2: What’s next?
• Roll out initial training
• Develop 1-2 advanced training curricula
• Provide advanced training
• Exercises to test training
Goal 3: Prepared Food Operators
Increase capacity within food establishments
(retail and restaurants) to identify and
respond to public health emergencies
affecting food safety
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Developed practice recommendations
Survey of food establishments
Emergency Handbook for Food Managers
Tested materials and distribution
Training on food security
Benchmark Survey: Purpose
• Assess food establishments’ emergency
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preparedness;
Evaluate needs for emergency training content and
delivery formats (including language options);
Evaluate means of emergency info dissemination to
food managers;
Establish baseline measurements, to be used in
measuring the effect of APC on food
establishments’ emergency preparedness.
Survey Methods
• Phone survey of 379 establishments
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conducted 20 February to 07 April 2005
Questionnaire developed by collaborative
effort between Metro Team and Vashé
Research
Statistically designed; stratified random
sampling
Emergency Prep & Reporting
Processes-Survey Results
• 1/2 of all restaurants and grocery stores claim to have an
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emergency plan in place
Most establishments claim to inspect food deliveries for
evidence of tampering. However, primary focus is on inventory
control/theft, rather than food safety.
2/3 of establishments admit to have never had a fire drill.
Food establishments have an overall preference for written
materials for training.
Almost all establishments want training materials in English,
42% of respondents would also like to have such materials in
Spanish.
Types of Emergencies to be Notified
About
Twin Cities Metro Area Total
• Food establishments are mostly interested in alerts
pertaining directly to the food and water supply.
Type of emergencies respondent
would want to hear about
n=362
Food contamination information
98%
Food borne outbreaks
96%
Acts of terrorism that affect
the food or water supply
96%
Food recalls
92%
Information about how to
manage an emergency
87%
Floods, storms and other
natural disasters
62%
Power outages
61%
Q13. Which of the following types of emergencies would you like
to be notified about if such a system were created?
Base: Total respondents.
Emergency Handbook for Food
Managers – 3 Part Format
• Educational booklet for food managers
• Discussion guide plus photo lessons
(multiple languages) for training food
workers
• Discard or salvage guide
• Food security self inspection checklist
• Food safety self inspection checklist
• Employee illness log
Emergency Handbook for Food
Managers-Goals
• Practical, relatively simple and low cost
steps to keep food safe
• Who to call
• Steps to take first and recovery after an
emergency
Available in:
•Multiple languages
•Hardcopy
•Online
•CD
Emergency Handbook for Food
Managers-Topics Addressed
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Power Outage
Fire
Flood or Sewage
Water Disruption
Tornado & Wind
Bioterrorism
Dirty Bomb
Chemical Incident
• Solid Waste Service
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Disruption
Pest Control
Maintain Food
Safety in a Disaster
Clean Up After
Disaster
Food Security
Checklist
Conducting On-site Technical
Assistance in Food Security
• Management
• Products
• Personnel
• Property
• Overwhelmingly
receptive
• Most never consider
food security
• Every restaurant has
one or two areas
needing
improvement
Food Security
• Risk Management based on FDA
guidelines for food retail and food
service establishments.
• Voluntary self evaluation
• Create awareness among diverse
groups to identify low cost, practical
steps to improve food security.
Progress on Food Security
• Conducted 115 self evaluations with Food
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Managers
Introduced the topic of food security to 950
Minneapolis food establishments.
Met with local and state officials to introduce
our approach to food security.
Met with food trainers and nutritionists to
create awareness and introduce our approach
to food security.
Results From Food Manager Survey
Ranked themselves high for:
Ranked themselves low for:
 Purchasing from Commercial
 Establishing a Food Security
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suppliers
Keeping records for product
trace back
Restricting Customers to
public areas
Having proper lighting
Monitoring truck shipments
Having alarms and security
cameras as appropriate
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plan
Training employees in food
security and tampering
Restricting personal items in
food preparation areas
Locking and labeling
hazardous materials
Placing “Employees Only”
signs on restricted areas
Monitoring for unusual
activity or packages
Goal 7: ECHO [Emergency
Community Health Outreach]
Enhance capacities to provide rapid and
appropriate risk communication to limited
English-speaking populations regarding
environmental health emergencies
• Phone line
• Fax
• TV show
• Community involvement
Other Goals
4. Food safety alert system
5. Shared EH databases & common
inspection data
6. EH Resource Kit
8. Sharing
9. Mass Care plan with Red Cross
Goal 4: Food Safety Alert System
Develop a common methodology to
provide food establishments with timesensitive public health emergency
information.
Goal 5: Shared databases
• Develop protocols and obtain tools and
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equipment to allow shared access to EH
databases of food service establishments to
facilitate mutual aid
Examine the benefits of common software
program for EH inspections across the target
service area to facilitate mutual aid and use
of shared staff during an emergency
response.
Goal 6: EH Resource Kit
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Develop an Environmental Health
Resource Kit of technical information
for emergency response.
Include resource materials and website
locations with specific technical information
for supervisors and field staff regarding
potential scenarios.
Capture information that already exists into
one place, and develop new information,
when needed.
Goal 8: Sharing
• Share newly created best practice
information and materials for environmental
health preparedness and response with
others.
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Finished materials available thru NACCHO
Poster at ASTHO/NACCHO
Presentations at other meetings
CDs available
Handbook to be distributed to all high risk food
establishments in Hennepin and Ramsey
Goal 9: Mass Care Plan
Prepare a Mass Care plan jointly with
the local American Red Cross chapter(s)
• Prepare a coordinated mass care plan
• Develop Memorandums of Agreement
with the ARC, as appropriate.
• Document the Mass Care plans jointly
with the ARC
How to Link EH and EP
• Clarify and describe roles for EH professionals
• Provide training for EH professionals
• Write EH emergency response plan integrated into
county’s public health emergency response plan & the
county’s emergency response plan
• Engage EH front line staff in preparation and
development of the EH emergency response plan
• Write topic specific incident action plans
• Plan for and conduct tabletops exercises & drills with
emergency management staff and other response
partners
Further Information
• Hennepin County
• Susan Palchick
• Brian Golob
• Saint Paul – Ramsey County
• Zack Hansen
• Cheryl Armstrong
• City of Minneapolis
• Curt Fernandez
• Susan Kulstad