Hazardous Materials Specialist

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A Brief Overview
The Hazardous Materials Specialist supports the hazardous, universal and pharmaceutical waste programs in the Environmental Health and Safety Department. They are a detail-oriented individual who is capable of building strong working relationships and provide recommendations to support the well-being of our staff and the environment, while ensuring compliance with applicable regulations pertaining to the Department of Transportation (DOT), Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA), and other relevant administrations or authorities.

What you will do

• Daily Operations of Hazardous, Universal and Pharmaceutical Waste Programs:
• Supports the daily operations for the Hospital and Care Network's needs to ensure compliance with state and federal regulations.
• Prepares shipment of hazardous materials to support satellite locations (Primary Care, Specialty Care, Hospital, etc) by coordinates with mailroom management to arrange third party vendor pickups of hazardous waste.
• Monitors and orders stock supplies based on minimum and maximum stock levels.
• Remove, neutralize, cleanup, store, mark and label contents from hazmat spills.
• Ability to identify hazardous waste and or coordinate with waste vendor for a waste analysis for unknown waste streams for proper disposal of materials.
• Fully manage assigned central accumulation areas and satellite accumulation areas for EPA compliance.
• Vendor relations/management: ensure vendors are meeting required elements of the contract. Assures compliance and service level expectations through auditing vendor activities and performance. Provides timely feedback and escalates concerns as needed.
• Manage the Drug Take Back program with Security to ensure the safe and compliant generation, storage and transportation of waste for vendor to retrieve. Must understand and follow 21 CFR part 1317 regulatory requirements.
• Education and Recordkeeping Hazardous, Universal and Pharmaceutical Waste Programs:
• Provide educational opportunities and outreach to other departments and employees to communicate and spread awareness for hazardous waste storage, and storage of chemicals before they turn into waste.
• Manage all training records for hazmat trained staff.
• Perform/oversee required reports when needed on a monthly basis, annual basis, or bi-annual basis depending on the nature of the report. Send these reports to the regulatory bodies and leadership for compliance and awareness.
• Daily maintenance of all hazardous waste manifests, shipping documents, pharmaceutical waste manifests to ensure compliance; completing exception reporting when necessary per EPA regulations.
• Develop and update hazardous, universal and pharmaceutical waste related plans, policies/procedures and job aids.
• Supports the Industrial Hygiene Program for the Hospital and Care Network:
• Maintains departmental chemical inventories through auditing locations and approving the use of new products.
• Conducts/assigns trainings for specific chemical hazards as required by federal, state and local agencies.
• Conducts satellite site respirator fit testing.
• Conducts Pathology & Lab Medicine laboratory surveys, risk assessments, incident investigations and audits and responding to staff concerns regarding laboratory health and safety.
• Participates in departmental activities, including on-call, hazardous chemical spill response, bioresponse team activations, environment of care rounds, and emergent event responses.

Education Qualifications

• Bachelor's Degree Required
• Bachelor's Degree Environmental Health, Safety Science, Chemistry Preferred

Experience Qualifications

• At least three (3) years safety, environmental or industrial hygiene Required
• At least three (3) years primary hazardous materials or waste Preferred

Skills and Abilities

• Demonstrated analytical ability and strong written and verbal communications skills
• Medically cleared to wear Level B personal protective equipment
• Hazardous Waste Operations and Emergency Response Standard (HAZWOPER) 24 or 40 hours training by Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) or within 180 days of placement into position
• Intermediate knowledge of safety guidelines / regulations including from the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA), National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH), Association Advancing Occupational and Environmental Health (ACGIH), Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and Department of Environmental Protection (DEP), and Joint Commission (JC)
• Proficiency with personal protective equipment
• Intermediate proficiency with office software (Microsoft Office)
• Excellent verbal and written communications skills
• Strong critical thinking / problem-solving skills
• Strong interpersonal skills
• Strong organizational skills
• Strong time management skills
• Ability to work independently with minimal supervision
• Ability to gather, analyze and make recommendations/decisions based on data
• Ability to convey complex or technical information in an easy to understand manner
• Ability to be on-call to troubleshoot and resolve problems
• Ability to influence others to accomplish tasks outside of the direct span of control

Licenses and Certifications

• Certified Hazardous Materials Manager (CHMM) - Institute of Hazardous Material Management (IHMM) - upon hire - Preferred or
• Certified Healthcare Environmental Manager (CHEM) - ECRI Institute - upon hire - Preferred or
• Haz Waste Ops & ER 24or40 hour - Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) - upon hire - Preferred

To carry out its mission, CHOP is committed to supporting the health of our patients, families, workforce, and global community. As a condition of employment, CHOP employees who work in patient care buildings or who have patient facing responsibilities must be fully vaccinated against COVID-19 and receive an annual influenza vaccine. Learn more.

Employees may request exemptions for valid religious and medical reasons. Start dates may be delayed until candidates are immunized or exemption requests are reviewed.

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