Hazardous Materials Operations Specialist

County Of Mendocino; Ukiah (CA); On-site; USD 65,000 - 95,000; Full time

Job summary

County of Mendocino seeks a qualified candidate to perform hazardous materials incident response, environmental health inspections, and investigations. The role requires experience, strong regulatory knowledge, and the ability to coordinate training and reporting processes.

Knowledge of state and federal regulations, grant opportunities, and collaboration with agencies is essential for success in this role. The position involves field work, reporting, and occasional travel across departments.

Qualifications

• Associates degree or equivalent from a two-year college or technical school in Fire Science, Hazardous Materials Technology, or related field; and, three (3) years of increasingly responsible experience in solid, liquid, or hazardous waste management, environmental health inspections, and industrial hygiene practices; or , in conjunction with required certification, an equivalent combination of directly related education, training, experience, which provides the required knowledge, skills, and abilities to perform the essential functions of the job.

Responsibilities

• Respond to hazardous materials incidents, including: assessing incidents; determining the hazards of unknown chemicals; contacting and dispatching the Redwood Empire Hazardous Incident Team (REHIT), as needed; and coordinating clean up.
• Respond to complaints regarding environmental issues, including: assessing problem; contacting other environmental experts for guidance; referring complaints to other agencies; and developing reports and maintaining associated records.
• Investigate environmental crimes, including: interviewing witnesses; noting observations; obtaining search warrants; performing formal investigations and interrogations; and turning information over to the District Attorney for further action and/or prosecution.
• Assist other staff in ensuring compliance with hazard materials laws and regulations by notifying appropriate parties when violations/problems are noted concerning underground storage tanks, hazardous materials business plans, solid waste, etc.
• Review and interpret federal and state laws and regulations pertaining to hazardous materials and environmental health.
• Coordinate hazardous materials response and training, including: staying in contact with fire agencies; obtaining funding for training and equipment through grants and private support; developing and implementing programs; serving as training contact and relaying training information to the steering committee; and traveling to various departments to conduct training.
• Act as a consult for matters concerning hazardous material; providing information for techniques of evaluation and control of environmental health hazardous to industry, government and community members.
• Determine cost of personnel time and equipment responding to incidents and forwards invoices to appropriate parties.
• Seek grant funding by applying for funding, presenting proposals and administering grant(s).
• Oversee distribution of equipment and training opportunities by suggesting ways to best utilize personnel and equipment and encouraging departments to train trainers.
• Maintains equipment, including: scheduling maintenance; taking inventory of supplies and equipment; and monitoring communications equipment.
• Maintain and upgrades knowledge, skills, and development by attending seminars, meetings and training programs and reading trade and professional journals and publications.
• Maintain filing systems.
• Format, types letters, memos, reports, or other correspondence on a word processor.
• Compose correspondence in accordance with standard policies; answers various inquiries; explains policies and procedures; processes routine and non-routine matters independently.
• Prepare complex, routine and non-routine reports as requested utilizing a variety of software; receives, sorts, and summarizes material for the preparation of reports; prepares work reports; and relays and interprets administrative decisions, policies and instructions.
• Use a computer to enter and retrieve information.
• Report administrative and/or operational problems to supervisor.
• Disseminate a variety of information and/or reports to various agencies, division, or departments via telephone, mail, email or fax.
• May serve as backup for other positions within the department.
• Perform other related duties as assigned.

Skills

Hazardous materials response

Environmental health inspections

Incident investigation

Regulatory knowledge

Report writing

Communication

Education

Associates degree or equivalent in Fire Science, Hazardous Materials Technology, or related field

Tools

Word processor

Job description

The list developed from this recruitment will be used for a limited period to fill open and promotional, regular full-time, and part-time positions, should they occur.

Performs a variety of difficult technical functions associated with hazardous material incidents/complaints and environmental issues including: assessing and mitigating unsafe situations; taking action at incident scenes; investigating environmental crimes; and coordinating training.

Bilingual English/Spanish encouraged to apply. Se buscan personas bilingües en inglés y español. Para recibir una solicitud en español, llame a Recursos Humanos al 234-6600.

Duties may include but are not limited to the following :

• Respond to hazardous materials incidents, including: assessing incidents; determining the hazards of unknown chemicals; contacting and dispatching the Redwood Empire Hazardous Incident Team (REHIT), as needed; and coordinating clean up.
• Respond to complaints regarding environmental issues, including: assessing problem; contacting other environmental experts for guidance; referring complaints to other agencies; and developing reports and maintaining associated records.
• Investigate environmental crimes, including: interviewing witnesses; noting observations; obtaining search warrants; performing formal investigations and interrogations; and turning information over to the District Attorney for further action and/or prosecution.
• Assist other staff in ensuring compliance with hazard materials laws and regulations by notifying appropriate parties when violations/problems are noted concerning underground storage tanks, hazardous materials business plans, solid waste, etc.
• Review and interpret federal and state laws and regulations pertaining to hazardous materials and environmental health.
• Coordinate hazardous materials response and training, including: staying in contact with fire agencies; obtaining funding for training and equipment through grants and private support; developing and implementing programs; serving as training contact and relaying training information to the steering committee; and traveling to various departments to conduct training.
• Act as a consult for matters concerning hazardous material; providing information for techniques of evaluation and control of environmental health hazardous to industry, government and community members.
• Determine cost of personnel time and equipment responding to incidents and forwards invoices to appropriate parties.
• Seek grant funding by applying for funding, presenting proposals and administering grant(s).
• Oversee distribution of equipment and training opportunities by suggesting ways to best utilize personnel and equipment and encouraging departments to train trainers.
• Maintains equipment, including: scheduling maintenance; taking inventory of supplies and equipment; and monitoring communications equipment.
• Maintain and upgrades knowledge, skills, and development by attending seminars, meetings and training programs and reading trade and professional journals and publications.
• Maintain filing systems.
• Format, types letters, memos, reports, or other correspondence on a word processor.
• Compose correspondence in accordance with standard policies; answers various inquiries; explains policies and procedures; processes routine and non-routine matters independently.
• Prepare complex, routine and non-routine reports as requested utilizing a variety of software; receives, sorts, and summarizes material for the preparation of reports; prepares work reports; and relays and interprets administrative decisions, policies and instructions.
• Use a computer to enter and retrieve information.
• Report administrative and/or operational problems to supervisor.
• Disseminate a variety of information and/or reports to various agencies, division, or departments via telephone, mail, email or fax.
• May serve as backup for other positions within the department.
• Perform other related duties as assigned.

MINIMUM QUALIFICATIONS REQUIRED

Education and Experience:

Associates degree or equivalent from a two-year college or technical school in Fire Science, Hazardous Materials Technology, or related field; and, three (3) years of increasingly responsible experience in solid, liquid, or hazardous waste management, environmental health inspections, and industrial hygiene practices; or , in conjunction with required certification, an equivalent combination of directly related education, training, experience, which provides the required knowledge, skills, and abilities to perform the essential functions of the job.

Licenses and Certifications:

• Hazardous Materials Technician (CA- OES approved)
• Valid Driver's License

Incumbents must possess and maintain, or obtain and maintain, all licenses, certifications, registrations, and/or other requirements identified in the minimum qualifications, as applicable, and within the timeframes specified. These requirements are conditions of continued employment and minimum qualifications for the position. Failure to possess, obtain, or maintain any required license, certification, registration, or other requirement within the specified timeframe may result in rejection during the probationary period, or disciplinary action, up to and including termination of employment.

Knowledge of:

• Applicable state, federal and local ordinances, codes, laws, rules and regulations and legislative issues.
• Basic principles of physical, biological and social science as related to public health and environmental quality control.
• Enforcement responsibilities associated with hazardous materials incident response and criminal statutes.
• Methods and techniques of inspecting and making investigations of hazardous material handlers, facilities and criminal violations.
• Correct English usage, including spelling, grammar, punctuation, and vocabulary.
• Internal departmental policies and procedures.
• External governmental bodies and agencies related to area of assignment.
• All computer applications and hardware related to performance of the essential functions of the job.
• Standard business arithmetic, including percentages and decimals.
• Record keeping, report preparation, filing methods and records management techniques.
• General office procedures, policies and practices, as well as knowledge of computer/VDT and other general office equipment.

Skill in:

• Using tact, discretion, initiative and independent judgment within established guidelines.
• Using acomputer to accurately and rapidly enter and retrieve data and information.
• Communicating orally with internal staff, citizens, and other departmental staff in order to give and receive information in a courteous manner
• Operation and routine maintenance of general office machines such as copiers, facsimile machines, telephone systems, and two-way radios.

Mental and Physical Abilities:

• Compile and evaluate data and make recommendations.
• Train others in response tactics, chemical identification and investigation procedures.
• Manage hazard materials incident scenes.
• Read and interpret documents such as safety rules, operation and maintenance instructions, procedure manuals, and so forth.
• Understand and carry out written and oral instructions, giving close attention to detail and accuracy.
• Establish and maintain effective working relationships with others.
• Draft and type correspondence.
• Add, subtract, multiply and divide whole numbers, common fractions and decimals.
• Deal with problems involving several variables.
• While performing the essential functions of this job, the incumbent is regularly required to : walk; sit ; use hands to finger, handle, or feel objects; reach with hands and arms; speak and hear; and push, pull, move, or lift above and below the neck objects weighing up to 25 pounds.
• While performing the essential functions of this job, the incumbent is occasionally required to lift and /or move up to 25 pounds.
• While performing the essential functions of this job, the incumbent is regularly required to ascend and descend ladders, stairs, ramps and the like using feet and legs or hands and arms and to maintain body equilibrium to prevent falling when walking, standing, crouching, or running on narrow, slippery or erratically moving surfaces.
• While performing the essential functions of this job, the incumbent is regularly required to use color, sound, texture, odor and shape perception and discrimination.
• While performing the essential functions of this position the employee is regularly required to don personal protective equipment and perform physical activities while wearing personal protective equipment.

The County of Mendocino is an Equal Opportunity Employer