Hazardous Materials Response 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

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.