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HomeHealth and Safety CodeDiv. 104Pt. 1Ch. 4Art. 1§ 106605 Environmental Health Specialist Exemptions

§ 106605 Environmental Health Specialist Exemptions

Health and Safety Code·California
AI Summary·Official Text·Key Terms·Related Statutes·References
AI SummaryVerified

§ 106605 Environmental Health Specialist Exemptions

This law says only people who work as environmental health specialists and have finished the right school need to be officially registered, while other similar professionals don’t have to register.

Key Takeaways

  • •Only environmental health specialists with an approved curriculum must register.
  • •Other professionals like industrial hygienists, safety engineers, or civil engineers do not need to register under this law.
  • •The goal is to protect the public from unqualified people pretending to be environmental health specialists.
  • •Local health departments can still hire people who aren’t registered, as long as they don’t claim to be registered specialists.

Example

A person who never studied environmental health starts calling themselves an "environmental health specialist" and gives advice to a restaurant about food safety.

Because the law requires registration only for those who have the proper education, this person would be breaking the rule and could be stopped from pretending to be a qualified specialist.

AI-generated — May contain errors. Not legal advice. Always verify source.

Official Source
View on CA.gov

§ 106605 Environmental Health Specialist Exemptions

This article does not require registration of individuals, such as industrial hygienists, health physicists, safety engineers, civil engineers, land surveyors, other registered professional engineers, or others with overlapping functions. This article does not require registration of individuals performing duties described in subdivision (e) of Section 106615, unless those individuals represent themselves as registered environmental health specialists. It is not the intent of this article to require local health departments to employ only registered environmental health specialists, environmental health specialist trainees, or those qualified for registration in jobs involving those overlapping functions. It is the sole purpose of this article to safeguard the health, safety, and general welfare of the public from adverse environmental factors, to register those environmental health professionals practicing as environmental health specialists who have completed an approved environmental health or science curriculum, and are qualified to work, or are working, in the public or private sector in the field of environmental health within the scope of practice as defined in this article, and to protect the public from individuals performing as environmental health specialists without proper qualifications. (Added by Stats. 1995, Ch. 415, Sec. 6. Effective January 1, 1996.)

Last verified: January 11, 2026

Key Terms

registered environmental health specialistsapproved environmental health or science curriculumscope of practice

Related Statutes

  • § 106620 Environmental Health Specialist Design Limits
  • § 106625 Local Health Department Staffing
  • § 106690 Environmental Health Specialist Registry
  • § 106705 Continuing Education Standards
  • § 101325 Local Health Enforcement Fee Authority

References

  • Official text at leginfo.legislature.ca.gov
  • California Legislature. Health and Safety Code. Section 106605.
View Official Source