Environmental health technician — Brian Merchant

Brian describes how he's been able to progress quickly in his role and is now taking on more challenging cases and a greater variety of work

How did you get your job?

I applied on the Exeter City Council website, after searching through multiple jobs sites, such as EHN Jobs and the websites of other councils in the local area.

How relevant is your degree to your environmental health role?

My postgraduate degree in environmental health and science is relevant and covers the basics over a very broad area. Environmental health is such a large subject that although your degree lays the foundation, you do need to specialise in one or two areas to advance in your field.

What are your main work activities?

I work in private sector housing, where we are assigned cases from our principal officer. We receive a variety of complaints, enquiries and requests for help. Once we receive a case, it's vital that we gain as much information as possible. We have a maximum of five days to contact them but we usually do it within 24 hours of receiving.

When we make contact, we ask the person making the complaint or request to explain the issue in their own words, so that we can gather the information we need to resolve the issue. In most cases, we need to visit the property and assess any hazards, and at this point we consider what possible action is needed. This could be a notice, informal action or a grant, for example.

How has your role developed and what are your career ambitions?

When I first started, my main focus was to learn the basics of private sector housing and to understand what is expected in the role. Now I'm progressing by taking on more challenging cases and a variety of work, including:

• minimum energy efficiency enforcement
• Housing Act 2004, management regulations, anti-social behaviour and environmental protection enforcement
• House in Multiple Occupation (HMO) licensing and inspections
• Housing Health and Safety Rating System (HHSRS) assessments and inspections
• grants
• environmental protection
• water testing.

I'm also now doing my professional portfolio to gain promotion to an officer role, and later hope to advance to the position of principal officer and/or service lead.

What do you enjoy about your job in environmental management?

Having the independence to resolve a case is very satisfying, and it's good that although there is freedom in the role, the team and management are always willing to help. Having a team to discuss cases with is immensely helpful.

What are the most challenging parts to working in environmental health?

The job is very challenging, as although your work is reviewed before any formal statutory action is taken or a case is closed, you are trusted to make your own justifications to find the best way to resolve a case.

It can be a challenge to see that people have been living in poor conditions for some time. Understandably this can be stressful for them and the last thing they want to hear is that it will take more time to resolve or it is at a level where formal action cannot be taken. Also, sometimes, as much as you want to help there is no way too and this can be difficult.

Any advice for someone who wants to get into this job?

My main tip would be to take any opportunity you can. You may not get the exact area you want to begin with, but any experience is good and may help you further your career.

Once you get your foot in the door, there will always be opportunities to develop and progress to a position you would like. Until you experience a job, you may not know what suits you best, so dive into every opportunity and give everything a go until you find the right role for you.

Find out more

• Read about being an environmental manager.
• Take a look at the environment and agriculture sector.