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DRINKING WATER COMPLAINT & INQUIRIES PROCESS Purpose: The Health Protection Branch at the Ministry of Healthy Living and Sport is contacted from time to time by the public regarding concerns pertaining to drinking water, including:
The purpose of this document is to provide guidance to the public as well as to health protection staff on to how to file concerns, and what to expect once they are filed. How do I make a complaint or inquiry? There are a number of ways you can contact the Ministry to make a drinking water complaint or inquiry. It is most efficient if you phone, email or mail to the Health Protection Branch directly. Health Protection Branch Hours of operation: 8:30 a.m. to 4:00 p.m., Monday to Friday, excluding holidays When contacting us, please provide us with as much information as possible, including:
How will your concern be addressed? 1. Concerns Regarding Drinking Water Systems Many concerns received by health protection staff are those pertaining to a particular drinking water system, incident, event or situation occurring in their community. Most of these issues fall under the jurisdiction of local health authorities, and are best addressed by their staff. Please contact health authorities directly. Health authority contact information is found at: http://www.health.gov.bc.ca/protect/dw_ha_contacts.html If you are unable to reach the correct person at the health authorities, the Health Protection Branch will be happy to assist by:
Formal requests for investigations under section 29 of the Drinking Water Protection Act must be made directly to your local health authority in writing. If you are wishing to request an investigation under this section, Health Protection staff will guide you to the appropriate contact person within your local health authority. 2. Concerns about service provided by health authorities The Health Protection Branch from time to time receives concerns about service provided by health authorities. The health authority staff do not have a direct reporting relationship to The Ministry of Healthy Living and Sport, and our initial response will be to assist those who contact us to find the right person to speak to in the health authorities to follow up on their complaint, usually beginning with the supervisor of the persons in question. Requests for reconsideration of a decision as per Part 6 of the Drinking Water Protection Act will be referred to health authorities. Requests for review of decisions as per Part 6 of the Drinking Water Protection Act will be referred to the office of the Provincial Health Officer. If, after following the approach described above, the complainant is not satisfied with the service they have received from the health authority, then concerns can be brought to the Health Protection Branch at the Ministry of Healthy Living and Sport. For these types of concerns, Health Protection staff will:
To contact health authorities directly, please refer to the following link:
3. Concerns about the Ministry of Healthy Living and Sport, Health Protection Branch Policy or complaints regarding service provided by Ministry of Healthy Living and Sport, Health Protection Branch. If you have views about Ministry of Healthy Living and Sport Drinking Water Policies, our services or the way they are provided or other inquiries, we would like to hear from you. Our staff values ensuring all enquiries are treated properly and promptly. Let us know if you have an inquiry that needs answering, or if you are unhappy about:
When contacted, Health Protection staff will:
Once we have received this information we will either direct you to the right person or take a note of your complaint or inquiry and pass it to him or her. We will usually do this within 24 hours but please allow up to 20 working days for an initial response. If you do not have all the information above, we will work with you try to determine the best person to address your concern. If your concern falls outside of the Ministry’s range of responsibilities we will inform you of this and forward your complaint to the right service agency as quickly as possible. As a learning organization, we value your feedback. Please let us know whether your complaints or inquiries have been satisfactorily resolved and what steps we can undertake to improve our responses. We would also like feedback if you are satisfied with our response. Still not satisfied? If you have already contacted the Health Protection branch and are still not satisfied, you can contact the Deputy Minister or Minister of Healthy Living and Sport for further consideration of your matter. Please put your concerns in writing and send to the Minister of Healthy Living and Sport. A reply will be provided within 20 working days. Your complaint will be logged and tracked for to ensure it is resolved. Office of the Deputy Minister Office of the Minister of Healthy Living and Sport If you are unhappy with the Minister’s response, you can also send a written complaint to the Office of the Premier.
Ombudsman The Ombudsman can:
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