Food Service

Bureau sanitarians and technicians inspect over 1,500 food service operations to insure that sanitary conditions are maintained at acceptable levels. These facilities include restaurants, school lunch programs, mobile food establishments, temporary food service operations and vending machine operators.

Temporary Residences

Temporary residences consist of hotels, motels and bungalow colonies and are inspected for water and sewage disposal facilities, refuse disposal, fire safety, pool and beach safety and general sanitation.

Children’s Camps

Children’s camps operate primarily during the summer months and are operated by both municipalities and private operators. Camps are both overnight and day camps and inspections insure that the camps are provided with adequate water and sewage disposal systems, food service facilities, first aide and medical supervision and sleeping facilities where provided.

Farm Labor Camps

A number of these facilities are located in the county’s remaining agricultural areas. They are monitored to insure that occupants are provided with safe sanitary living conditions during the time that they are working on Orange County farms.

Public Pools & Bathing Beaches

Of the many public-bathing areas within the county, most operate during the summer months. However, there are a good number that operate year round including numerous school pools. Bathing facilities are inspected for safety aspects, supervision, bathing water quality and emergency planning.

Mobile Home Parks

There are 55 mobile home parks within the county and are inspected at least annually for sanitary conditions including water supply, sewage disposal and refuse storage and removal.

Recreational Parks & Campsites

A small number of these facilities are located in still rural areas of the county. They are inspected for sanitary and safety conditions as required by the state sanitary code.

Public Health Nuisances

Public health nuisances are conditions such as improper sewage disposal, refuse storage and disposal and rodent infestations located outside the boundaries of the county’s three cities that may impact on the public health. Each year there are several hundred of these conditions investigated by bureau staff.

Residential Lead Evaluation

Each year the bureau is referred approximately 100 or more dwelling units where children have found to have blood lead levels requiring an environmental evaluation of their living quarters. The federal government to perform these evaluations certifies one staff member. Where conditions warrant, landlords are notified to remedy unsafe conditions.

Rabies Control

The bureau is responsible for processing specimens for shipment to the New York State Department of Health’s Rabies Laboratory, insuring that rabies exposed unvaccinated domestic animals are properly quarantined, coordinating rabies clinics with the various municipalities and notifying people of confirmed cases of rabies in specimens analyzed by the State Health Department.

Lyme Disease

Bureau staff identify over 1,000 ticks brought in by the public and provide information on Lyme disease.

Public Functions & Agricultural Fairs

Bureau staff inspects both the Orange County Fair and larger public affairs where attendance is expected to exceed 5000 persons to insure that proper emergency medical services and other sanitary requirement s are complied with.

Smoking

The bureau is responsible for the enforcement of the New York State Clean Indoor Air Act. This regulation revised in 2003 effectively bans smoking in most indoor areas in the State of New York