The Importance of Credentialing in Environmental Health

Environmental public health (EPH) professionals protect communities through overseeing and regulating safe food, water, housing, and environments. But the workforce is under strain: retirements, turnover, inconsistent entry pathways, and growing environmental threats make the system fragile. Without shared standards of competence, services are uneven across jurisdictions. Credentialing offers a solution by setting clear, validated expectations, building trust, and providing defensible staffing and training standards.[i]

The EPH Workforce Today

The EPH workforce is the second largest in public health after nursing.[ii] EPH professionals handle food safety, water and air monitoring, housing, vector control, and disaster response. But the pipeline is aging—more than half are at least 45 years old, and a quarter are over 55.[iii] Additionally, entry requirements vary—many states require credentials while others rely on general backgrounds or on-the-job training. This creates uneven job skills capacity.[iv]

Why Credentialing Matters

NEHA’s Pillars of Governmental Environmental Public Health framework highlights workforce capacity and credentialing as key to success.[v] Credentialing ties it to science-based standards and continuing education. It operationalizes workforce capacity by ensuring consistent, measurable competence.

UNCOVER EH showed professionals enter the field with very different baseline knowledge, and respondents called for standardized qualifications and credentialing.[vi] NEHA’s Decoding Training Needs work used FDA’s National Curriculum Standard to examine training gaps. A study of 2,267 professionals found gaps in areas such as continuity of operations, food systems sustainability, recalls, and food defense.[vii] Ad hoc training isn’t enough—credentialing requires proof of skill and keeps professionals current.

What Credentialing Provides

Credentialing sets a uniform baseline for competence. Organizations like NEHA administer nationally-recognized credentials like the Registered Environmental Health Specialist/Registered Sanitarian (REHS/RS) that are based on job task analyses, ensuring alignment with validated practice. They enhance credibility, strengthen enforcement, justify funding requests, and support mobility across jurisdictions.[viii]

Beyond Credentials

Credentialing sets the benchmark, but the workforce also needs accessible training at every career stage. NEHA works to provide foundational, technical, and leadership pathways supported by certifications. AI-based training simulations are being developed to let professionals practice inspections, outbreak investigations, and decision-making in safe, realistic environments.

Policy and Program Implications

Credentialing also provides measurable standards that agencies, policymakers, and the public can rely on. Agencies gain defensible staffing models, consistency, and equity across jurisdictions. Smaller or rural programs benefit from equal standards. Policymakers can build credentialing into funding models, tying investment to outcomes. For the public, credentialing builds trust.[ix]

Conclusion

Protecting the basics of life—food, water, housing, and health – relies on competence. Credentialing answers this by setting clear, science-based standards, validating essential skills, and requiring ongoing education. It gives agencies credibility, policymakers assurance, and the public confidence. Every safe meal or drink of water reflects the work of qualified professionals. Credentialing helps guarantee that protection.

Read More about the Importance of Certifications in Other Industries through this Blog Series:

[i] Gina Bare, Thuy Kim, Craig Hedberg, Nicole Dutra, Christopher Walker, and David Dyjack, Pillars of Governmental Environmental Public Health, National Environmental Health Association, 2025, https://www.neha.org/Pillars-of-Governmental-Environmental-Public-Health.

[ii] Justin Gerding, Elizabeth Landeen, Kaitlyn Kelly, Sandra Whitehead, David Dyjack, John Sarisky, and Bryan Brooks, “Uncovering Environmental Health: An Initial Assessment of the Profession’s Health Department Workforce and Practice,” Journal of Environmental Health, June 2019, 81(10), 24–33: https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC6945822/.

[iii] Ibid.

[iv] Gina Bare, Thuy Kim, Craig Hedberg, Nicole Dutra, Christopher Walker, and David Dyjack, Pillars of Governmental Environmental Public Health, National Environmental Health Association, 2025, https://www.neha.org/Pillars-of-Governmental-Environmental-Public-Health.

[v] Ibid.

[vi] Justin Gerding, Elizabeth Landeen, Kaitlyn Kelly, Sandra Whitehead, David Dyjack, John Sarisky, and Bryan Brooks, “Uncovering Environmental Health: An Initial Assessment of the Profession’s Health Department Workforce and Practice,” Journal of Environmental Health, June 2019, 81(10), 24–33: https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC6945822/.

[vii] Rance Baker, Samantha Streuli, Gagandeep Gill, Joetta DeFrancesco, Chintan Somaiya, Roseann DeVito, David Dyjack, and Manjit Randhawa, “Decoding Training Needs: Developing a Needs Assessment Tool to Inform Workforce Capacity Building in Retail Food Safety,” Journal of Environmental Health, January/February 2024, 86(6), 34–38: https://pubs.neha.org/view/536728543/34/; and Samantha Streuli, Gagandeep Gill, Roseann Devito, Lindsay Fahnestock, Joetta DeFrancesco, Chintan Somaiya, Daniel Ramirez, Rance Baker, David Dyjack, and Manjit Randhawa, “Decoding Training Needs: Exploring Demographic Data to Understand Retail Food Regulatory Workforce Composition and Inform Capacity Building,” Journal of Environmental Health, April 2024, 86(8), 34-40: https://pubs.neha.org/view/913006826/34/.

[viii] Ibid.

[ix] Gina Bare, Thuy Kim, Craig Hedberg, Nicole Dutra, Christopher Walker, and David Dyjack, Pillars of Governmental Environmental Public Health, National Environmental Health Association, 2025, https://www.neha.org/Pillars-of-Governmental-Environmental-Public-Health; and Justin Gerding, Elizabeth Landeen, Kaitlyn Kelly, Sandra Whitehead, David Dyjack, John Sarisky, and Bryan Brooks, “Uncovering Environmental Health: An Initial Assessment of the Profession’s Health Department Workforce and Practice,” Journal of Environmental Health, June 2019, 81(10), 24–33: https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC6945822/.