What does an Environmental Health Practitioner do?
Practitioners working in the field of environmental health are involved in promoting healthy environments and managing environmental factors that affect human health. Issues that practitioners deal with include: environmental degradation, climate change, contaminated food and water, waste management, disaster management, and dangerous goods, chemicals and drug safety management.
Most graduates initially find employment as environmental health officers (EHOs). Some of the roles of an EHO include: auditing of food safety and standards, environmental (eg. air, water, noise) monitoring, investigations of environmental health complaints/issues, investigation of infectious disease outbreaks (eg. food borne illness, Legionnaires disease, lead poisoning, Q fever, meningococcal disease), infection control auditing, mosquito and vector control, implementing tobacco control initiatives, working with Indigenous communities, policy development, health promotion, and prosecutions for breaches of health and environmental legislation.
Course Highlights
QUT’s Graduate Diploma in Environmental Health is designed to equip graduates with the necessary skills to make an immediate contribution to improving the health of communities by being able to effectively identify, assess, monitor and control environmental impacts on human health.
During the one year full-time or two year part-time Graduate Diploma, available in internal and external modes of delivery, students undertake study in public health, environmental health, law, food safety, management, communicable diseases, environmental protection, and risk assessment.
Students are also encouraged to undertake industry-based placements to allow them to gain valuable work experience that reinforces the theoretical, laboratory-based and practice-orientated study undertaken at QUT.
Employment Opportunities
There continues to be a demand for environmental health graduates both throughout Queensland and around the country. Most graduates gain employment with local councils or state government departments (eg. Queensland Health, Environmental Protection Agency), with positions also available with various Commonwealth Government agencies and with the Australian Defence Force (eg. Army and Air Force). There are also an increasing number of private sector positions being created particularly in the areas of environmental and food safety auditing/management. There are also a large range of employment opportunities in other countries, such as the UK, USA and Canada, as well as in developing countries.
Professional Recognition
The Graduate Diploma in Environmental Health is one of very few graduate programs accredited by the Australian Institute of Environmental Health. As such graduates of the Graduate Diploma in Environmental Health meet the professional requirements to practice as an environmental health officer and are eligible for membership of the Australian Institute of Environmental Health and the Environment Institute of Australia and New Zealand.
Student Testimonial
Read about a QUT Public Health Graduate on our Student Testimonial page.