Outbreaks and incident management

Local government environmental health professionals are responsible for assisting the Department of Health with the investigation of certain diseases, outbreaks and other incidents.

The identification, investigation and control of disease outbreaks and other incidences may require the coordination and sharing of information between various government agencies including:

• Local Governments
• Environmental Health Directorate and Communicable Disease Control Directorate, WA Department of Health
• Population Health Units, North, South or East Metropolitan Health Service, or the WA Country Health Services, WA Department of Health
• PathWest

All government agencies work together during outbreak investigations, collecting and sharing information to identify, investigate, control and prevent the continuance and where possible the recurrence of an outbreak or incident.

Common disease investigations, outbreaks and incidents that may require local government involvement

Environmental health investigation	Common diseases / pathogens / incidents	Resources
Asbestos contamination in residential houses	High pressure hose used on asbestos	Guidelines for the assessment, remediation and management of asbestos contaminated sites
Fire damaged asbestos in residential houses	Friable asbestos contamination	Guidance note on the management of fire damaged asbestos (PDF 687KB) Chapter 5 - Guidelines for the assessment, remediation and management of asbestos contaminated sites Environmental health risks during and after a bushfire
Food recalls	Trade recall Consumer recall Mandatory recall Withdrawal	Food industry food recall protocol: Guidance on recalling food in Australia and writing a food recall plan (external site)
Food-borne illness outbreak investigation	Salmonella Camplyobacter Norovirus Rotavirus Hepatitis A Shigella Clostridium	Guidelines for environmental health investigation of a food-borne disease outbreak (PDF 1.42MB) Summary of the onsite investigation process for a food-borne diseas outbreak (Word 122KB)
Harmful algal blooms		Algal bloom monitoring Algal blooms - HealthyWA
Legionnaires' Disease investigation	Legionella pneumophilia	Investigation of Legionnaires disease guideline for local government (PDF 100KB) Legionnaires disease investigation by local government  Legionella control
Vector borne illness investigation	Ross River virus disease Barrah Forest Virus disease Kunjin disease Murray Valley encephalitis
Waterborne illness investigation	Amoebic meningitis Cryptosporidiosis Pseudomonas aeruginosa	Amoebic meningitis - HealthyWA
Wastewater overflows	Sewage spills in recreational waters  Domestic overflows	Wastewater overflow notification and response procedures 2021 (PDF 500KB) Domestic wastewater overflows Sewage spill - HealthyWA