falls under the auspices of its Environmental Health Programme. An arm of the Health Department, the Programme works to protect public health by making sure that a high standard of sanitation and hygiene is maintained in Bermuda.

According to health inspector David Kendell, the majority of their work arises through one of two means -- routine inspection or in response to a complaint.

"There are licences that people need to review every year, and on top of those regular inspections, we can have a reactive inspection in answer to a complaint,'' he explained. "And although we do have the power through legislation to act in a legal way as enforcers, we either try and go the educational route or facilitate communication between various parties.'' The department, he said, is comprised of seven health inspectors, an pest control inspector and two senior environmental health officers, all of whom fall under the command of Chief Environmental Health Officer, Estlyn Harvey. Between them, they shoulder the burden of maintaining public health standards, aided by the public health lab as it analyses the many samples brought in by Environmental Health officers. "We look for bacterial quality and some chemical quality as well and we're testing samples each week, some each month,'' explained Elaine Watkinson. "In cases of food poisoning we look for the organisms that caused people to get ill. We're basically a support service for the inspectors. In Bermuda, we take it for granted that we have a safe food supply, a safe water supply. In other countries we wouldn't.'' According to Mr. Kendell, in promoting food safety, his group is concerned with the prevention of foodborne disease and the cleanliness of food handling operations. To meet that mandate, it conducts: Hygiene and sanitation inspection of food service establishments; inspection of foodstuffs, food handling and premises evaluations and food premises design consultations Hygiene and sanitation inspections of food processing establishments, food quality monitoring and bacteriological/chemical sampling Dairyfarm inspections, raw milk quality control; mastitis and brucellosis surveillance and testing; milk and frozen dessert processing inspection; slaughtering surveillance and licensing of slaughtermen and inspection of meat transportation facilities Inspections of imported food at airport and seaports Educational lectures and organises medical examinations for food handlers.

As part of its epidemiology services, the department conducts "foodborne and waterborne disease investigations and implementation of other epidemiological investigations as directed by We're keeping everywhere safe! provision and and maintenance of safe drinking water supplies through many means, also offering an advice service to the public. They also monitor and control environmental pollution, conduct surveillance of liquid and solid waste disposal on land and monitor pesticide contaminations and residues in food and water. They keep on top of sanitary engineering through a multitude of inspections and advise on the design of plumbing, water systems and sewage treatment plants. Hotel swimming pools are carefully inspected as are public sanitation facilities. To prevent the international spread of disease inspections are made of ships, there are port and airport sanitation inspections.'' Mosquitoes and rodents are controlled and/or eradicated through careful monitoring. Workers are protected through inspection and advisory service on working conditions. Even nursery schoolers fall under the jurisdiction of the Environmental Health Department, said Mr. Kendell. "We do an inspection of licensed private and Government nurseries, advise on the design of nurseries and lecture nursery staff on statutory requirements and food safety.'' To ensure the satisfactory storage, dispensing and sale of drugs and poisons at registered premises, inspections are conducted of all pharmacies and poison sellers. According to Mr. Kendell, housing conditions and possible health nuisances are investigated upon receiving any complaint which may affect health or be a nuisance. "To promote and maintain the cleanliness and hygiene of hairdressing and barbers' establishments, hygiene and sanitation inspections are made of such premises. "They could fire us all tomorrow,'' said Mr. Kendell. "And while it might not show as having had any effect for a decade, suddenly we would begin to have outbreaks of disease because there are basic health provisions which must be in place. It's really about protecting public health by making sure hygiene and sanitation are maintained in a wide range of areas.'' PHOTO For Environmental Health Officer David Kendell, restaurant inspections are only one of his many duties as he works to keep Bermuda healthy HEALTH HTH