EHJ January 2004, pages 12-13
Lieutenant Alister Witt Royal Navy and Lieutenant Nic Vines Royal Navy are both ex-local authority trained EHOs. Tracey Khanna talks to them about the transition from civilian to military practice

Tracey Khanna: What were the main reasons for swapping local authority enforcement work for environmental health in the Royal Navy?

Lieutenant Nic Vines, Royal Navy: About seven years ago, I worked with an ex-army EHO and he talked about his experience in the army, which interested me. At the time, none of the services took direct entry graduates and that only recently changed in April 1999, with the Royal Navy. In December 2001, I found out that there was a post available with the Royal Navy as an EHO so I seized the opportunity.

The reason I decided to go from local government into a military environment was because I thought it was going to be a challenge. I imagined that it would be different to what I'd experienced in the past and felt that I was going to be working for an organised and proactive organisation in a completely different environment.

Lieutenant Alister Witt, Royal Navy: The main appeal for me was that I perceived the armed forces to be out there doing the basics of what I thought environmental health was - setting up field sanitation systems and water systems etc. I also wanted a job where I could be involved in all areas of environmental health, not just one particular discipline like food safety.

TK: Was the transition from a local authority environment to a military environment a difficult one to make?

NV: I joined up at 33, which is a fairly late age, after working for local government for eight years, where the most amount of physical exercise I did was to play rugby. I had to go through the gruelling three-day Admiralty Interview Board (AIB) where you have to undertake a range of intelligence tests, psychometric tests, and leadership tasks. After that I did two terms of officer training at Britannia Royal Naval College in Dartmouth where people get pushed physically and mentally for seven months, which was challenging.

AW: My only experience of local authority was during my practical training year. Personally, I've found the working environment to be much more professionally rewarding. When I joined the Royal Navy in 1999, and undertook my first few inspections, I found that we'd have a whole day to go on board a ship to identify any problems and have the time to educate and resolve problems there and then.

TK: So do you feel that you have a more holistic approach to environmental health now?

AW: I think so. When we undertake a routine inspection we are seen as in-house advisors and people appear more open and interested in what we have to say. We go in to educate and are involved across the board in all areas of environmental health, including food safety, water quality, occupational health and infectious disease control.

NV: We don't have any enforcement powers, but we work within a disciplined and hierarchical organisation and when we go on board we recommend improvements and it is then up to the command of that vessel to act upon our advice.

AW: To give an example of that, a couple of years ago we had to deal with a difficult water issue. One of our classes of ships had been built in the 1970s with cast iron pipe work, which had gradually been deteriorating. We went through a period of about six months where we were picking up bacterial failures for total viable counts. We didn't find anything that was pathogenic in the water but there were very high background bacteria levels, which indicated that the condition for bacterial growth was present. When we discovered that the pipe work was in a very poor state, we stopped the ship from sailing, as we were not happy that good quality water could be maintained on board. We then oversaw the remedial works to replace the pipe work before the ship went back to sea.

TK: Would you say that the direct entry route works well?

NV: Currently there are two routes to be an EHO in the Royal Navy. The first is where we take someone from within the lower ranks - a non-commissioned medical assistant (MA) for instance - and send them to university to undertake the environmental health degree course. This route results in an EHO that has a significant military background and experience of the Royal Navy. The second route is the one that Alister and myself undertook which is to join the Royal Navy as a qualified EHO. My only experience of the Royal Navy has been seven months at BRNC along with the research I did for the AIB. I've been working with the environmental health office for the Royal Navy since April 2003, and have fitted in well to working in a different environment.

AW: I think that the route has worked well as it has increased the mix of people and experience within our specialisation. For example, we have myself and Nic who have joined as EHOs, we have one EHO who used to be a radiographer, one who used to be an MA and one from an army background.

TK: Has it been an experiment for the navy, or is it now policy?

AW: All branches in the Royal Navy recruit a mixture of personnel from the direct graduate entry route and from within the lower ranks, so the route was already well established. Being the first person to try this as an EHO, it probably was an experiment to see if somebody could fit into the naval environment as an EHO, without previous knowledge and experience of the Royal Navy. The route has proved successful for us and is now considered a good means to recruit EHOs for the future.

NV: The difficulty we have is that when we decide we require another EHO, we often already have a job available that needs to be filled. With the direct graduate entry route it takes approximately a year and a half from making the decision to actually getting somebody into the post. But if it decided to take an EHO from within the non-commissioned ranks it would take at least five years to get that person in to a post as a qualified EHO.

TK: As Royal Navy EHOs, what do the standard inspections you undertake involve?

AW: For a usual inspection there are two EHOs. One goes on board to do a food hygiene inspection, which follows the usual format from point of delivery to point of service. The second EHO looks at other areas including occupational health, potable water, habitability and infectious disease control.

NV: A normal inspection would be undertaken when a vessel is alongside in the UK. However, if we wanted to do a noise survey for example, we would have to make arrangements to join the ship at sea. For instance I joined a ship in the Outer Hebrides in the summer and sailed for three days doing a baseline noise survey.

TK: Finally, what advice would you give any other civilian EHOs who might be thinking of following in your footsteps?

NV: It's not a closed door and we are aware of a very small handful of people who are interested in a career in the Royal Navy, which is always looking for good, professional EHPs.

AW: Currently there are no posts available. But I would definitely encourage people who have an interest to contact us if they fancy looking at environmental health from a different aspect in a challenging and different environment.