Hazardous Materials Specialist III
County of Orange
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Job summary
County of Orange in Santa Ana, CA, seeks a Hazardous Materials Specialist III to support CUPA, CalARP, and related regulatory programs. The role focuses on complex inspections, enforcement actions, and interagency collaboration across environmental health divisions.
The HMS III will lead programmatic inspections, coordinate with partner agencies, and contribute to training and policy development.*
Qualifications
- At least three years of experience in hazardous materials, solid waste management, site mitigation, or hazardous waste management.
- REHS certificate issued by California Department of Public Health (CDPH).
- Knowledge and experience with Geotracker, CERS, SWIS.
- Strong written and oral communication skills.
Responsibilities
- Assist management with state audits, CUPA and Participating Agencies evaluations; coordinate with senior staff in fire agencies for regulatory compliance.
- Be on-call for Health Hazmat Team during emergencies involving spills, releases of hazardous materials, or threats to public health and environment.
- Lead inspections and enforcement activities; draft enforcement orders and coordinate with District Attorney’s office on referrals.
- Provide expert-level training at state-wide conferences, and promote learning beyond the agency.
Education
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Job description
$40.85 - $55.03 Hourly
Salary may be negotiable within the range listed above, based on position requirements and successful candidate's qualifications, subject to appropriate authorization.
This position is open to the public for a minimum of five (5) business days and will remain open on a continuous basis until 11:59pm (PST) on the day the department’s needs are met. Qualified applicants are encouraged to apply immediately.
The first round of consideration is Thursday, July 31, 2025.
This recruitment will establish an open eligible list. This list will be used to fill current and future Hazardous Materials Specialist III positions within the Health Care Agency, Environmental Health Division. This recruitment may also be used to fill positions in similar and/or lower classifications throughout the County.
The County of Orange, Health Care Agency (HCA) is a dynamic organization dedicated to creating and supporting an environment that promotes the achievement of optimal individual, family and community health. Under the leadership of the Agency Director, a dynamic executive team with an organizational structure comprised of five (5) service areas - Administrative Services, Behavioral Health Services, Correctional Health Services, Public Health Services, and Specialized Medical Health Services - is committed to meeting the health needs of the diverse Orange County community.
Environmental Health Division (EH) is comprised of various programs aimed toward protecting the health and safety of Orange County residents and visitors from harmful conditions in the environment. Staff enforce laws and regulations and emphasize education to assist businesses with providing healthy and safe communities. Services include retail and wholesale food protection, foodborne illness investigations, public pool inspections, childhood lead exposure prevention, water quality, ocean water protection, solid waste facility oversight, hazardous materials surveillance and mitigation oversight, underground and aboveground storage tank oversight, body art facility and practitioner oversight, medical waste management inspections and a used oil recycling education program.
The Hazardous Materials Surveillance Section (HMSS) manages the Certified Unified Program Agency (CUPA), medical waste, and body art regulatory inspection programs. The CUPA programs consist of the hazardous materials, hazardous waste, above-ground petroleum tanks, underground storage tanks (UST), and the California Accidental Release Prevention (CalARP) inspection programs. In addition to the regulatory oversight programs, the HMSS manages two CalRecycle grants, the Waste Tire Enforcement grant and the Used Oil Recycling grant.
The Land & Water Quality (LWQ) Section manages the Site Mitigation program including Local Oversight programs (LOP) and Industrial Cleanup (IC), which provide regulatory oversight for cleanup of current/former industrial facilities and leaking underground storage tanks (USTs). The IC program serves all the cities and unincorporated areas of Orange County. The LOP serves a similar area; however, excludes the cities of Anaheim and Fullerton.
The LWQ Section also manages the Solid Waste (SW) program that protects public health and safety, and the environment by ensuring that solid waste is collected, stored, processed and disposed properly. Solid waste facilities in Orange County are required to hold permits from the Local Enforcement Agency (LEA).
The Hazardous Materials Specialist III (HMS III) is the journey level class in the Hazardous Materials Specialist series and typically reports to a Supervising Hazardous Materials Specialist.
- Assist management with state audits, as well as CUPA and Participating Agencies' (PA) evaluations. Coordinate with senior staff in fire agencies to ensure regulatory compliance.
- Be on-call for the Health Hazmat Team in emergency incidents, disasters involving spills, releases of hazardous materials/waste, or threats to public health and the environment.
- Work on/participate in enforcement hearings, draft enforcement orders and work with the District Attorney’s office on case referrals.
- Provide expert-level training to large groups at a state-wide conference and promote learning outside of the agency at the annual California CUPA conference.
- Serve as a lead representative for the CUPA programs state-wide technical advisory group (TAG).
- Lead Resource Conservation and Recovery ACT (RCRA) Large Quantity Generator and Hazardous Waste treatment inspections at larger manufacturing facilities and sites with multiple programs.
- Conduct UST installation inspections. The number of installations throughout the County is projected to increase due to the sunset date for single-walled tanks.
- Conduct CalARP inspections at Level 3 facilities which involve complex chemical processes, significant offsite consequences, or have a history of accidents.
- Apply extensive knowledge of State of California laws and regulations regarding leaking UST and non-UST contamination, investigation, and remediation. Prepare directive letters and Notices of Violation to enforce regulatory compliance.
- Review and evaluate human health risk assessments submitted by responsible parties and consultants; prepare comment letters as necessary; consult with Department of Toxic Substances Control and Office of Environmental Health Hazard Assessment regarding technical issues related to human health risk assessment and mitigation measures.
- Lead interagency meetings with the State or Regional Water Boards and Department of Toxic Substances Control in evaluating site conditions and potential impacts.
- Apply general principles of hydrogeology, chemical fate and transport, toxicology, risk analysis, public health and safety, and assessment and remediation to provide technical evaluations of reports submitted to the program.
- Prepare presentations for the public, regulated community, individual responsible parties and business owners. Provide responsive information to all stakeholders at appropriate levels.
- Review new or updated regulations and draft workflows/checklists to ensure staff compliance with changes.
- Assist with HMSI/HMSII staff development, including training and cross-training.
- Prepare and review complex reports, reviews, and other documents with minimal or no supervisor assistance. Technical reports include but not limited to soil analysis and remediation data and plans.
- Conduct complex inspections independently and submits final reports to Supervisor for review. Complex inspections include sites that may have multiple waste streams, redevelopment plans, changes to the site, a history of violations or combination of these factors.
- Work in conjunction with the Senior Civil Engineer on projects for post closure land use plan and landfill gas mitigation systems. Provides confirmation that the base information is accurate to ensure comprehensive and encompassing review.
- Apply principles and knowledge of geology to read, interpret and analyze soil test reports.
- Serve as the LEA lead in interagency meetings with State Water Boards, CalRecycle, community members and other stakeholders. Provide timely and responsive information at appropriate levels.
- Assist County Counsel in the preparation of LEA legal documents, confirming accuracy of information and providing all relevant regulatory background information.
The ideal candidate will possess at least three (3) years of experience in hazardous materials, solid waste management, site mitigation, or hazardous waste management. For Body Art programs, the ideal candidate will be in possession of the following: a valid certificate of registration as an Environmental Health Specialist (REHS) issued by the California Department of Public Health (CDPH).
The ideal candidate will also possess knowledge and experience in the following competencies:
- Perform independently inspections of hazardous materials, business emergency plans, hazardous waste, underground storage tanks, aboveground storage tanks, Cal-ARP, drilling, soil, soil vapor, groundwater sampling, well installations, underground storage tank removals, active and closed landfills, transfer stations, composting facilities, and city maintenance yards.
- Utilize and maintain compliance with uploading requirements within the following databases: Geotracker, California Environmental Reporting System (CERS), and/or Solid Waste Information System (SWIS).
- Understand, interpret, and apply State and Federal laws and regulations regarding CUPA hazardous materials, business emergency plans, hazardous waste, underground storage tanks, aboveground petroleum storage tank programs, solid waste, and management of various cleanup projects.
- Review and interpret Federal and State laws and regulations as they pertain to Environmental Health.
- Investigate illegal activities associated with hazardous materials and waste programs.
- Use computer hardware and software to enter and retrieve data, review state forms, and complete reports.
- Proficiency with a variety of computer software, including Microsoft Word, PowerPoint, Excel, Access, Outlook, etc.
- Develop and maintain professional working relationships and continuously work to improve relationships, contacts, and networks with peers, supervisors, managers, clients, and the public.
- Understand the interrelationships, roles, and responsibilities of internal and external stakeholders.
- Treat others with sensitivity, respect, fairness, and consistency.
- Communicate effectively verbally and in writing, presenting information clearly and in an organized manner.
- Comprehend and understand what staff, the public, and supervisors and management are communicating.
- Review, evaluate, and summarize data in writing in terms of trends or general indications of possible problem areas.
- Create inspection reports in the field.
- Communicate via work-issued cell phone, including text and email.
- Apply critical thinking to logically organize thoughts and prioritize work to accomplish tasks efficiently and independently.
- Identify problems, gather relevant information, and draw valid conclusions.
- Identify when issues need to be escalated to higher authorities and effectively alerting appropriate stakeholders.
- Interpret, evaluate, and analyze facts and information to form a recommendations or decisions, and use facts, data, and evidence when choosing courses of action.
Minimum qualifications for Hazardous Materials Specialist III as well as the physical, mental and environmental conditions.
Human Resource Services (HRS) will screen all application materials to identify qualified applicants. After screening, qualified applicants will be referred to the next step in the recruitment process. All applicants will be notified via e-mail of their status in the process.
The County is committed to providing a mechanism to give preferential consideration in the employment process to veterans and their eligible spouses and will provide eligible participants the opportunity to receive interviews in the selection process for employment and paid internship openings.
Applications and supplemental responses will be screened for qualifications that are highly desirable and most needed to successfully perform the duties of this job. Only those applicants that meet the qualifications as listed in the job bulletin will be referred to the next step.
Applicants will be interviewed and rated by a panel of job knowledge experts. Each applicant's rating will be based on responses to a series of structured questions designed to elicit the applicant's qualifications for the job.
Based on the County's needs, the selection procedures listed above may be modified. All candidates will be notified of any changes in the selection process.
Once the assessment has been completed, HRS will establish an eligible list of candidates. Candidates placed on the eligible list may be referred to a selection interview to be considered for present and future vacancies.
Email is the primary form of notification during the recruitment process. Please ensure your correct email address is included in our application and use only one email account.
NOTE: User accounts are established for one person only and should not be shared with another person. Multiple applications with multiple users may jeopardize your status in the recruitment process for any positions for which you apply.
Candidates will be notified regarding their status as the recruitment proceeds via email through the GovernmentJobs.com site. Please check your email folders, including spam/junk folders, and/or accept emails ending with "governmentjobs.com" and "ocgov.com." If your email address should change, please update your profile at www.governmentjobs.com.
Additional Frequently Asked Questions.
For specific information pertaining to this recruitment, please contact Janeth Boudreaux at 714 834-2217 or jboudreaux@ochca.com.
Orange County, as an equal employment opportunity employer,
encourages applicants from diverse backgrounds to apply.
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