Environmental health practitioner
Environmental health practitioners make sure people's surroundings are safe, healthy and hygienic.
What you'll do
Day-to-day tasks
In your day-to-day duties you may:
- inspect businesses for health and safety, food hygiene and food standards
- investigate outbreaks of food poisoning and infectious disease
- collect samples for laboratory testing
- inspect houses to make sure they're safe for people to live in
- enforce environmental health laws and give evidence in court
- investigate accidents at work
- investigate noise and environmental nuisance complaints
- provide advice to community groups or businesses and give educational talks to improve people’s health
Working environment
You could work in an office, in the countryside or in a business.
Your working environment may be dirty and you'll travel often.
You may need to wear protective clothing.
Career path and progression
With experience you could work as an employee or consultant in:
- local authorities
- government departments
- retailers and hotel chains
- regulators and enforcement agencies
- the NHS
- the armed services
- university research
- charities and international development organisations
You could progress to supervisory or management positions.
What it takes
Skills and knowledge
You'll need:
- active listening skills
- analytical thinking skills
- to be thorough and pay attention to detail
- the ability to think clearly using logic and reasoning
- legal knowledge including court procedures and government regulations
- patience and the ability to remain calm in stressful situations
- excellent verbal communication skills
- excellent written communication skills
- to be able to use a computer and the main software packages competently
Restrictions and Requirements
You're likely to need a full, clean driving licence for this job.
How to become
You can get into this job through:
- a university course
- an apprenticeship
- working towards this role
You can study for a degree qualification approved by the Chartered Institute of Environmental Health.
If you already have a degree in a related subject, you could get into environmental health careers through an accredited postgraduate course.
Entry requirements
You'll usually need:
- 2 to 3 A levels, or equivalent, for a degree
- a degree in any subject for a postgraduate course
More Information
You can apply to do an Environmental Health Practitioner Level 6 Degree Apprenticeship.
This usually takes 4 years to complete, as a mix of on-the-job training and academic study at an approved university.
Entry requirements
You'll usually need:
- 4 or 5 GCSEs at grades 9 to 4 (A* to C) and A levels, or equivalent, for a higher or degree apprenticeship
More Information
You may be able to start as an environmental health technician and study for a part-time environmental health degree while you're working.
With qualifications and experience, you may then be able to work towards chartered practitioner status.
Professional and industry bodies
You could join the Chartered Institute of Environmental Health for professional development opportunities.
Further information
You can find more on how to become an environmental health practitioner from the Chartered Institute of Environmental Health.
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External links
This page contains public sector information licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0.