Today I am linking up and participating in the "9-5" in which I will describe a day in my life at work.
I currently work as an Environmental Health Specialist (EHS) for a local County Government. People are always puzzled by my career title, so I instead I give them a title they are familiar with "Health Inspector". Yes, thats right, I am the person that "grades restaurants". I enforce California Health and Safety Codes by conducting routine inspections of food facilities and assigning them a letter grade and score. I just don't inspect restaurants, but any place that sells/serves food so that includes grocery stores, schools, hospitals, markets, liquor stores, etc. I also inspect swimming pools, hotels/motels, lakes (for swimming/waters slides), and summer camps. Yes, so you can rest assured that your health and safety are being protected in many ways. As a REHS you can also go into other fields of inspections including drinking water, waste water, medical waste, solid waste, vector control, dairy, hazmat (which is what I will be doing in SD), etc. I like the environmental health field is so broad. We do a lot to protect public health that many people are not aware of. I like to say we are the police officers of health and safety :)
My 9-5 isn't really a 9-5. I work a 4-10 schedule, which means I work four 10 hour days. Yes, I have a three day weekend every week, I absolutely love it! I start my day bright and early at 7:00am. I arrive to our main office and I am one of the only people there at that time. The first thing I do is check and respond to any emails, send out snail mail, and read up on any food recalls. I'll wait til 8:00am to make any phone calls or return any messages. I also start planning out my day to figure out which area I would like to go to and which places I would like to inspect. Since our inspections our random and unannounced I get to plan out my own day for the most part. I usually stay in the office until 8:30am.
After I leave the office I like to stop by starbucks get a coffee and then I hit the road. Since I work in the mountains I drive approximately 45+ minutes each way. And then I conduct my inspections for the day. I usually average about 4-5 inspections per day. With every inspection I write a report on my laptop describing my observations and any violations of the law. Everyday is different and I don't really know what I am going to see. For example, today I found not one but two dead rats in a swimming pool right before a group of campers were set to use it. I actually see a lot of rodent poop like every single day. In restaurants, in hotels, everywhere! And I absolutely hate cockroaches. Thankfully, I don't see roaches too often. People are nice for the most part, but every now and then I do come across some difficult people. And I think because I look young, people tend to challenge me from time to time because they think that I don't know what I am talking about. But I always pull out my code book and show them the law. I usually take lunch after 12:30pm, but it varies from day to day. I also take an afternoon break whenever I feel like it. I leave the mountain area anytime between 4:15pm-4:40pm to drive back to the office. If I need to, I will stop and get gas and wash the vehicle. I'm usually back at the office around 5:15pm in which I will bring my computer and equipment inside. Then I am officially off the clock at 5:30pm. In addition to routine (graded) inspections, I also do foodborne illness investigations, complaint investigations, and follow-up inspections for immediate health hazards.
What I like about my job the most is the independence to make huge decisions and the fact that I get protect people's health and safety. Its work that goes unnoticed, but its still very gratifying. It can also be dirty and grimy, but I am not the type of girl who minds. I come home with my clothes dirty, smelling like food, and hair looking like a birds nest but it doesn't matter because I am helping people. I had a friend make a comment about me not wearing make-up to work. I simply replied that "No, I do not wear make-up to work." But what I really wanted to say was I don't get paid to sit behind a desk and look pretty all day. I get paid to save lives not worry about how cute I look. The least favorite part of my job is too much field work. I wish I had more balance and more office time to work on projects, conduct research, and just use more of the creative side of my brain. And surprisingly even though everyday is unplanned, it can become very routine after a while. Eventually, I like to become a level III or a EHS specialist that does more office and project development. With my new position I will be conducting hazardous materials inspections. It is a new realm for me, but I am looking forward to the challenge. If you had any questions about my career please feel free to ask me :)
