Health and Safety Code section 106665
(a)
Program elements, duration of training, and experience are as follows:(1)
All environmental health specialist trainees shall complete a basic training period in an approved program. The training period shall include training in at least three of the following primary elements:(A)
Food safety.(B)
Solid waste.(C)
Liquid waste.(D)
Water quality.(E)
Housing and institutions.(F)
Recreational health.(G)
Body art.(H)
Hazardous materials or other Certified Unified Program Agency elements.(2)
Training in each of the three selected primary elements shall not be less than 20 percent of the total required training hours. Time spent in the remaining primary and secondary elements shall be not less than 40 percent of the total required training hours. The employer shall designate the methods, elements, and types of training or experience for the remaining part of the time required for entrance to the registered environmental health specialist examination as specified in Section 106670. The specified training may be cumulative and scheduled at the discretion of the employing agency over this period.(3)
The training may be accomplished by assignments chosen by the employing agency and under the supervision of a registered environmental health specialist.(4)
For environmental health specialist trainees requiring more than one year of experience, the additional experience will be in one or more elements of environmental health listed in this section and may be outside of a local environmental health program.(5)
Training and experience gained working for a governmental or a nonprofit entity, or both, may be counted toward the first-year training experience requirement if the training and experience is determined by the department to be equivalent to what would be gained in a local environmental health jurisdiction.(b)
Types of training:(1)
A minimum of 20 hours per month of field instruction with direct supervision by a registered environmental health specialist for the first six months of employment. The total minimum requirement in this area shall be 150 hours.(2)
Independent time with adequate supervision and guidance.(3)
Office training with pretesting and posttesting.(4)
Lectures.(5)
Adequate office time to review and study.(c)
Requirements for certification of training:(1)
Environmental health specialist trainees shall receive their training from the department or agency that has a training plan approved by the committee.(2)
A log for the certification of the environmental health specialist trainee shall be maintained by the local director or their designee.(A)
A log covering elements and hours spent of all training shall be kept by the environmental health specialist trainees and verified by the trainer or supervisor.(B)
Short narrative reports or copies of the monthly schedule of the environmental health specialist trainee’s training and progress shall be submitted by the training coordinator to the local director every month throughout the traineeship.(C)
The local director, or their designee, shall review the trainee’s records on a monthly basis and shall certify on a quarterly basis that the records of training are accurate.(D)
The local director, or their designee, shall notify the department within 30 days of the date an environmental health specialist trainee is hired or terminated.(E)
Copies of the environmental health specialist trainee’s log, as well as the narrative reports or copies of monthly schedules, shall be retained in the personnel file of the environmental health specialist trainee for at least one year after the environmental health specialist trainee successfully completes the registered environmental health specialist examination.(3)
When an environmental health specialist trainee completes the training program, the local director shall forward certification to the department. This certification shall include the program areas, length of time, dates for the areas of training, and a statement that the environmental health specialist trainee followed the approved training plan.(d)
Those jurisdictions that cannot provide the required training elements within their jurisdictions shall initiate a program of training exchange with another jurisdiction that has an approved training program.(e)
For purposes of this section, “local director” means a local director of environmental health or the director’s designee.
Source:
Section 106665, https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/codes_displaySection.xhtml?lawCode=HSC§ionNum=106665. (updated Jan. 1, 2026; accessed Dec. 15, 2025).
