Essay on Ensuring Public Health: A Comprehensive Overview of the California Health and Safety Code

California Health and Safety Code

The California Health and Safety Code is a general statutory law that covers various areas relating to the health and safety of the people in the state of California (Hertzmann, 2018). Understandably, this California Code was first signed into law by the then Governor of the state of California in 1939. Concerning healthcare, the law provides the development of a pharmaceutical surplus program where a non-profit surplus pharmacy was established. In the general provisions, the Code stipulates that the state legislature declares to the public that there exist uniform health and sanitation standards for food facilities across the state (Hertzmann, 2018). In this way, the people in the state are adequately assured that the food provided is safe, pure, and unadulterated. The California Retail Food Code which is domiciled in Division 104-Environmental Health outlines that the supervisor and all the employees should possess adequate knowledge on food safety and the inherent relationship with their assigned roles within the food facility.

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Intent of the Law

Different research data has revealed the underlying importance of ensuring food safety to guarantee the good health of the people (Hertzmann, 2018). The introduction of the California Health and Safety Code was intended to preserve public health and safety, such as the provision of healthy food by retail food facilities. More fundamentally, the drafters of the Code underscored the importance of preventing food employees suffering from acute gastrointestinal illness from handling the food until they are proven to be free from the illness. Also, the law outlines that food facilities should focus on ensuring that all foods are inspected upon receipt before they are subjected to storage, resale, or use (Hertzmann, 2018). The law focuses on demonstrating that food storage concerns like the adequacy and suitability of the space are considered.

Content of the Law

The California Health and Safety Code has different chapters that provide a framework for understanding the law as it relates to food safety (Hertzmann, 2018). The law has various sections that indicate how public health and safety can be bolstered through adherence to the provisions. Equally important, the law in Article 3- Food from Approved Sources contains compliance laws that should be followed before food is obtained from various sources. Still, specialized processing methods are domiciled in the law to guide food operators in providing non-hazardous packaging (Hertzmann, 2018). Chapters 1 to 8 give provisions that guide the establishment of all permanent food facilities.

History of the Law

Based on the history of the law, the legislature enacted an act that formed the Healthy and Safety Code in 1939 in the state of California (Plough et al., 2013). The legislature revised and consolidated the law regarding the preservation of the safety and health of the public, especially focusing on the safety and health of the people, how dead bodies are disposed of and their custodian, as well as the projection and safety of a property (Mezrich & Siegel, 2013). More importantly, after a prolonged collaboration between the private sector and the health officials at different levels in the public health sector, the Health and Safety Code of 1939 was reorganized into different subsections, including disease prevention and health promotion, vital record and health statistics, environmental health, personal health care, administration of public health, statewide health and development, and infectious disease prevention and control (Plough et al., 2013).

The Proponents and Opponents of the Law

Understandably, the California Health and Safety Code being a contentious topic for the public, the law attracted high-profile individuals who either supported or opposed the bill. Among the prominent supporters, including Governor Gavin Newsom who advocated for amendment of the Health Safety Code to improve the protection of the whistleblower, especially for the workers in the healthcare facilities (Mezrich & Siegel, 2013). Fortunately, the California Nurse Association sponsored the amendments, and the bill was enacted into law by the legislature without any significant opposition (Plough et al., 2013). The amendment protects the employees to privately talk with their inspector at the Department of Public Health investigations regarding safety. The opponents of the law included the traders who represented the employers and contended that the bill may subject their companies to several lawsuits from indisciplined employees.

Implementation

The implementation of the California Health and Safety Code is within the jurisdiction of the State of California, and the healthcare providers are the critical stakeholders in the perfect implementation of this law. For implementation, the director of the emergency, and the executive officers, among other officials in California consider the adequacy of the technical expertise to implement each element of the code (Mezrich & Siegel, 2013). To determine if a specific applicant agency is certified, the secretary scrutinizes all the applications with the motive of determining g the effect of any certification decision. Also, the understanding between the applicant and the implementing agency comprises of the procedures for eliminating agencies. The agencies have the resources and capacity to implement the elements of this law (Plough et al., 2013). Notably, when the secretary has certified agencies, they should obtain approval before replacing and removing the agency that is implementing the elements of the program.

References

Hertzmann, P. (2018). Food and Government Power in the United States. https://arrow.tudublin.ie/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1127&context=dgs

Mezrich, J. L., & Siegel, E. L. (2013). Dose reporting legislation in California: are we placing the idea of patient safety ahead of reality? Journal of the American College of Radiology, 10(11), 814-816. https://www.jacr.org/article/S1546-1440(13)00152-X/abstract

Plough, A., Fielding, J. E., Chandra, A., Williams, M., Eisenman, D., Wells, K. B., ... & Magaña, A. (2013). Building community disaster resilience: perspectives from a large urban county department of public health. American Journal of Public Health, 103(7), 1190-1197. https://ajph.aphapublications.org/doi/full/10.2105/AJPH.2013.301268