Panel Discussion

This is an overview session demonstrating how standards and law, in their various manifestations, generally impact the built environment and, in turn, influence public health. For example (illustrating the complexity), constitutionally, public health is administered at state level in the USA. Professionals such as architects and engineers, who design the built environment, are licensed or registered at state level as well as having national peer-established standards of competence and performance—for public health reasons—which are based, in part, on knowledge of—and conformance to—consensus standards that are often mandated in industry-developed model codes adopted as (or under) regulations or ordinances established by legislation by state and delegated local governmental authorities. Thus there are many points of access to the total system of standards and law (which exist in various forms) that affect the built environment. Also, not surprisingly, there are many points where conflicts of interest can affect the development, adoption and enforcement of standards and law. As public health professionals, we need to restore public health priorities within the professions and other stakeholder groups. Four subject areas are highlighted (with one panelist addressing each), to help illustrate how standards and law affect public health currently. They are: - Environmental health generally - New science-driven, national, high performance building initiatives - Injury prevention (sometimes referred to as “safety”) - Built environment usability/accessibility generally.

Session Objectives: 1. Identify systemic, institutional influences on the built environment, ranging from voluntary consensus standards, financial incentive programs, professional licensing, etc., through to new Federal and state laws, policies and regulations, plus the relationships among such influences. 2. Identify organizational contexts for standards and law, ranging from nongovernmental, industry and non-industry sectors to local, state and federal governments, including school districts, plus the relationships among such contexts. 3. Recognize at least four public health goals or focus areas for built environment standards and law: environmental health generally, new science-driven high performance building initiatives (including “Green Building” initiatives), injury prevention (sometimes referred to as “safety”), and built environment usability/accessibility generally. 4. Identify key points of contact and means of influence for researchers, public health practitioners, advocates and consumers desiring to affect the planning, design, construction, maintenance, modification and management of the built environment. 5. Develop critical evaluation and intervention skills to help assess—and improve—strategies or policies and tactics currently in use to influence or control the built environment using standards and law.

CE Credits: CME, Health Education (CHES), Nursing