Terms of Use

Purpose
The San Mateo County Environmental Health Services (EHS) Division has created this blog site in order to share information and engage stakeholders and the public in ideas, topics and policies related to environmental health issues. EHS may decide to change or eliminate its use of this site/service at any time.

Limitations on Use
It is the intent of EHS to create a limited public forum with its use of this site/service for the purpose(s) listed above. As part of the division’s efforts to further these purposes, the comments feature of this site/service is being offered as a limited public forum intended to serve as a mechanism for communication between the public and EHS with respect to information sharing and engaging stakeholders and the public in ideas, topics and policies related to environmental health related topics.

This blog is NOT a forum in which to express grievances related to staff, services, providers, programs, or agencies (see below for the process for expressing grievances).
Comments will be restricted in the following manner:

• Registration is required prior to submitting a comment
• All comments will be screened prior to being published
• Comments will be limited to the specific blog post topic
• Comments that include content and links to inappropriate, extraneous or off topic materials, including photos, videos documents, sites, and other images or include any material protected by HIPAA regulations, copyright, trademark or other proprietary right without the express permission of the owner of the copyright, trademark or other proprietary right will not be published and/or removed (the burden of determining that any material is not protected by copyright rests with the individual)

With respect to such comments, EHS reserves the right not to publish and/or remove inappropriate comments, including those that:

• Have obscene language or sexual content, pejoratives, involve ad hominem personal attacks on another user
• Threaten or defame any person or organization
• Violate the legal ownership interest of another party
• Promote illegal activity
• Promote or solicit commercial services or products
• Are not topically related to the particular posting

EHS will not publish and/or will remove comments that disclose, make available, discusses or can potentially trigger the identification of confidential employee, property owner or manager, including but not limited to HIPAA regulations and other Protected Health Information. EHS also reserves the right to re-post/re-publish questions, comments, or other information provided by the author.

These restrictions are deemed to be reasonably necessary to encourage public participation and foster discussion of the issues for which the forum was created by maintaining a civil discourse and permitting all differing viewpoints on the approved topics. Repeated violations of EHS comment policy may cause the author to be blocked from the social media properties.

EHS will routinely monitor the comments posted by other users of this site/service, and any comments that are not in line with these restrictions or off the topic of the post will not be published and/or will be removed. EHS will make every effort to moderate all comments in a timely manner. Generally allow up to 3 business days for comments to be published to the blog.

To the extent that any user believes the comments of another user are not in line with these purposes and restrictions, they are welcome to notify EHS at pollutionprevention@smcgov.org.

EHS will make a determination about the appropriateness of such comments based on its application of these purposes and restrictions, and that determination is final and not subject to outside review. EHS intends its application of these purposes and restrictions to be made in a manner that is viewpoint neutral and is consistent over time.
EHS does not intend for this forum to become a fully-open avenue for public discourse but rather is using this site/service for discussion of a limited nature. Concerns or grievances about EHS related staff, services, providers, programs, contracted agencies may be directed to EHS main contact number, at (650) 372-6200.

This blog is not a forum in which to seek food facility, hazardous materials management, housing complaints, or environmental contamination reporting or advice, or for seeking assistance in a crisis. If you are in a crisis, please call 911. To access EHS services, visit http://www.smchealth.org or call the EHS main phone number at (650) 372-6200. Please note that any terms of service that this site/service places on user participation still apply to comments made by any user.

To the extent that any user believes a comment has been made in violation of the terms of service of this site/service (WordPress), that person should contact the site/service rather than contacting EHS, as EHS has no obligation to enforce the terms of service of this site/service.

Statement Regarding Terms of Use and Privacy
Use of this site/service is subject to the terms of use of the site/service, including the privacy policies of the site/service, which can be found here: http://en.wordpress.com/tos/. Anyone posting comments or submitting information to EHS on this site/service should keep this in mind. In addition, the poster of comments or information to this site/service agrees that his or her comments may be treated by the County of San Mateo as a public record subject to disclosure pursuant to Cal. Gov’t Code Section 6250 et seq., regardless of whether such comments actually constitute a public record. Posters are urged to protect their privacy and should consider refraining from posting personally identifying information, including but not limited to: last name, address, age, and phone number. To the extent this site/service is open to the public, the public has access to its content and can access that content without the assistance of the department or the County of San Mateo.

Responsibility for Content
Except for information disseminated by the owners/managers/authors of this blog, any information posted or submitted by others expresses the views of the person submitting such information and not necessarily the views of the County or the department, and neither the County nor the department is responsible for the opinions and information shared by others.

Disclaimer of Notice
Communications made through this site/service shall in no way be deemed to constitute legal notice to the County of San Mateo or any of its agencies, officers, employees, agents, or representatives with respect to any existing or potential claim or cause of action against the County or any of its agencies, officers, employees, agents, or representatives where notice to the County is required by any federal, state or local law, rule or regulation.

Advertising
Users of this site/service should understand that contextual advertising as appears on this site/service is by product of use of the site/service. EHS does not control the site or service’s placement or use of such advertising, and in no way does the use by EHS of this site or service constitute any endorsement or support of any such advertisements. Reference in such advertisements or in any user-generated content herein to any specific commercial products, process, or service by trade name, trademark, manufacturer, or otherwise does not constitute or imply endorsement, recommendation, or favoring by the County of San Mateo, and the Division’s use of this site/service shall not be used for advertising or product endorsement purposes.

Contact
You may contact Environmental Health Services via email at pollutionprevention[at]smcgov.org or by telephone at (650) 372-6200.

Dissemination of Information
EHS will allow users/subscribers to opt-in to receiving information or notifications in relation to the department’s use of this site. The Department will only use the list for dissemination of the following kinds of information for the following purposes: to inform users about County policies, programs, services and events related to EHS. Users/subscribers that are interested in receiving information or announcements on a periodic basis must opt-in to receiving such information, and subscribers are permitted to remove themselves from the announcement list at any time by contacting the listed representative of the department. The department will not release the list of subscribers except as authorized by law, and the department will not use the list except as outlined in the department’s posted policy regarding use of the list.