Sensitisation Needed to Reduce Hostility Aimed At Public Health Inspectors

President of the Jamaica Association for Public Health Inspectors (JAPHI), Karen Brown, says public sensitisation and education can better help to temper the varying levels of hostility that public health inspectors face in the line of work.

Addressing a Jamaica Information Service (JIS) ‘Think Tank’ held at the agency’s Montego Bay Regional Office in St. James on Saturday (October 23), Ms. Brown indicated that it is commonplace for public health inspectors to experience aggression from members of the public as they conduct their duties.

“I know that there is a level of hostility against persons who try to enforce the regulations and the laws, and so from time-to-time, public health inspectors may come up to face threats even on their lives,” she outlined.

“I have had a gun pulled at me just for investigating a complaint and from a very hostile individual. Happily, that was treated within a satisfactory manner,” she added.

Ms. Brown said there are other cases of public health personnel being “accidentally” locked inside facilities, having animals let loose on them and even being physically abused.

“There are times when persons are going to do their work and they suffer from verbal threats, verbal abuse and even physical abuse because persons actually have gotten physical to try to extricate persons from establishments,” she explained.

“I have known a person who has let go a dog on a… public health inspector and it came out as being accidental,” she added.

Ms. Brown said more than 70 per cent of public health inspectors are women, many of whom are young. She believes more men entering the field will help to balance and give further support to enforcement actions, particularly in the more volatile areas.

Nonetheless, Ms. Brown said the current inspectorate remains committed to the work and “we are still here, despite the things that we face”.