Gary Kiernan: Environmental health officer with the South Western Area Health Board
I start my day at about 9 a.m. by checking emails. One of the most important areas to check on is to see if there have been any food alerts sent from the Food Safety Authority of Ireland.
If so, we have to act on this immediately, withdrawing products from supermarket shelves and other retail outlets. We have computerised details of all restaurants, shops, manufacturers and hotels - in fact anywhere food is prepared, stored or handled - in our area. We have about 20 food alerts a year to act on by phoning, faxing or visiting premises.
We also get complaints sent in by members of the public and we have to prioritise what's most important to do.
If we get complaints about a food poisoning incident from a group of people, we have to act on the complaint and look for evidence once we've asked people to get confirmation of their illness from their GPs.
Since the introduction of the Food Safety Authority of Ireland Act in 1998, we have enhanced powers so if we find a premises where the food handling or cooking represents grave and immediate danger to public health, we can issue a written order for immediate closure of that premises.
We can also issue improvement notices and apply for improvement orders through the courts if they aren't acted on. However, the majority of cases will result in voluntary closure until action is taken and the problem is resolved.
A lot of my job is about reacting to situations but I also have to do routine visits to restaurants and hotels.
This can involve thorough checks on the staff training in the safe handling, preparation and cooking of food, checking out the temperature controls on fridges, freezers, cookers and ventilation systems.
My job also involves checking for breaching of the tobacco ban and referring such cases to the tobacco control officers. Another aspect of the job is to enforce pre-school regulations.
For this, I work with a pre-school officer. A full inspection of a pre-school takes between four and five hours but we also do follow-up inspections. My job is to check out the health and safety issues of the premises, the risk of fire and how food is prepared, stored and disposed of. The pre-school officer checks on the children's records and child development issues.
At the end of each day, I always have to get back to the office to fill in details of any inspections carried out.
Food safety issues have become more complex in the last few years due to more eating out, new international foods and extremely virulent forms of E. coli O157 and Campylobacter.
I enjoy the challenge of my job and we have a good working relationship with most of our clients.
Environmental health officers are there to advise and help people comply with the legislation which is ultimately good for business and good for public health.
(Interview by Sylvia Thompson)