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SAFETY TECHNICIAN

Employer
Duke University
Location
OESO ENVIRONMENTAL PROGRAMS

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Job Details

Safety Technician (Environmental Program Technician I)

  • General Information
  • Primary Purpose of Organizational Unit: The Occupational and Environmental Safety Office (OESO) provides the focus for the administration of all safety and environmental programs to Duke University, Duke University Medical Center, and Duke University Health System. OESO has the responsibility for developing institutional safety and environmental plans and policies; providing information and training to meet all regulatory requirements; providing technical consultation and guidance; conducting exposure and risk assessments; conducting safety and environmental audits; monitoring compliance with all safety and environmental policies; and investigating accidents, injuries, spills, environmental releases, and reported unsafe conditions.
  • Primary Purpose of Position: This position has the primary responsibility for performing duties related to the collection, storage, treatment, and disposition of hazardous pharmaceutical wastes generated at Duke University Hospital. Additional assignments are generally focused around pharmaceutical, universal, hazardous chemical and radiological waste management requirements. These duties are carried out to ensure compliance with federal, state, and local environmental regulations and Duke University best practices.
  • Work Schedule: The normal work schedule is 8:00 AM to 5:00 PM, Monday through Friday.
  • Reporting Relationship: This position reports directly to the Hazardous Waste Operations Manager.
  • Duties and Responsibilities of Position
  • Description of Responsibilities and Duties:
    • Primary duties involve the collection, segregation, and management of pharmacy wastes throughout the hospital and clinics, with secondary duties including collection and management of hazardous chemical wastes, radiological, and universal wastes, etc.

    • Performs work in accordance with all appropriate Federal, State, and local regulations and standards by OSHA, EPA, DOT, NRC, RCRA. Communicates with supervisor regarding the policies and procedures for assuring compliance.

    • Accountable for coordinating all assigned activities and projects.

    • May serve as a member of the OESO Spill Response Team.

    • Establish, maintain cooperative relations, work effectively as a member of a team, and communicate effectively with other Duke organizational units
    • Maintain up-to-date knowledge and understanding of standard processes

  • Other Position Characteristics
    1. Accuracy Required in Work: Failure to manage environmental programs properly as required by local, state, or federal regulations could result in significant monetary fines to the institution.
    2. A consequence of Error: Same as 1 above. Additionally, errors or oversights may present a risk of injury and long term health effects.
    3. Instructions Provided to Employees: Provides arranged services to OESO division managers and to off-site Health System organizations, such as Duke Regional Hospital, Duke Raleigh Hospital, and Duke HomeCare & Hospice.
    4. Guides, Regulations, Policies, and References used by Employee: Occupational Safety and Health Administration (state and federal), Nuclear Regulatory Commission, State government regulations regarding the use of Radioactive Materials, Environmental Protection Agency, Department of Transportation, Joint Commission on the Accreditation of Health Care Organizations, North Carolina Department of Environment and Natural Resources.
    5. Supervision:
    6. Received: Administrative and direct supervision from the HW Operations Manager.Some additional direct supervision from Environmental Programs Safety & Health Specialists and Associates.
    7. Given: None
  • Variety and Purpose of Personal Contacts: This position works directly with hospitals, clinics, laboratory and shop personnel, and a variety of other Duke employees.
  • Physical Effort: In exercising these functions, the person must be able to lift 50 lbs., and manipulate 400 lb. drums, and be physically able to wear respiratory protection.
  • Work Environment and Conditions: Environments range from usual office conditions to environments where "immediately dangerous to life and health", (IDLH) atmospheres exist requiring the use of burdensome protective clothing and equipment. Where not extremely hazardous, work may be uncomfortable or unpleasant (i.e. high heat).
  • Machine, Tools, Instruments, Equipment, and Materials Used: Respirators and other protective clothing, forklifts, drum trucks, and spill control agents.
  • Visual Attention, Mental Concentration, and Manipulative Skills. Must be able to perform duties without causing the release of hazardous materials.
  • Safety for Others: Because of the hazards inherent in this work, all operations must follow written Standard Operating Procedures (SOP's).
  • Dynamics of Work: The work of this position is highly diverse and dynamic. There may be interruptions of routine work with emergent issues such as environmental contingencies, visits by governmental regulators, and other unanticipated events.
  • Knowledge, Skills & Abilities and Training & Experience Requirements
  • Knowledge, Skills, and Abilities:
    1. Knowledge of federal, state, and local laws and regulations pertaining to hazardous material management.
    2. Basic knowledge of chemistry and other related sciences
    3. Must understand basic chemical properties such that the individual can successfully segregate various waste substances for shipping or treatment.
    4. Ability to utilize computer technology to access data, maintain records, generate reports.
    5. Creative problem solving to recognize and analyze needs and propose solutions to effectively address them.
    6. Functional oral and written communication skills.
    7. Ability to plan and coordinate multiple, diverse tasks simultaneously.
  • Preferred Minimum Education & Experience Requirements
    1. Required Minimum Education: Associates Degree in a related subject or equivalent experience.
    2. Additional Training/Experience: None
  • The license of Certification Requirements: None required
  • Required Minimum Qualifications at this Level

    Work requires communicative, cognitive, and analytical skills normally acquired through an Associate degree in Occupational Safety, Environmental Health & Safety, Engineering, Laboratory Science, or a related field.

    No experience beyond the AA/AS degree required for level 1.

    Degrees, Licensure, and/or Certification

    Valid Driver's license.

    Must have completed or been able to complete: First Responder-Operations Level Training (29 CFR 1910.120), Asbestos Abatement Supervisor, AHERA Asbestos Inspector for OSH Division.

    Knowledge, Skills, and Abilities

    Level 1

    1. Basic knowledge of safety and health principles.

    2. Basic math skills.

    3. Functional oral and written communication skills.

    4. Ability to utilize computer technology to prepare reports, access data, and maintain records.

    Distinguishing Characteristics of this Level

    N/A

    Job Code: 00004143 SAFETY TECHNICIAN
    Job Level: C2

    Duke is an Affirmative Action/Equal Opportunity Employer committed to providing employment opportunity without regard to an individual's age, color, disability, gender, gender expression, gender identity, genetic information, national origin, race, religion, sex, sexual orientation, or veteran status.

    Duke aspires to create a community built on collaboration, innovation, creativity, and belonging. Our collective success depends on the robust exchange of ideas—an exchange that is best when the rich diversity of our perspectives, backgrounds, and experiences flourishes. To achieve this exchange, it is essential that all members of the community feel secure and welcome, that the contributions of all individuals are respected, and that all voices are heard. All members of our community have a responsibility to uphold these values.

    Essential Physical Job Functions: Certain jobs at Duke University and Duke University Health System may include essential job functions that require specific physical and/or mental abilities. Additional information and provision for requests for reasonable accommodation will be provided by each hiring department.

    Organization

    Read our Diversity Profile History

    Duke University was created in 1924 by James Buchanan Duke as a memorial to his father, Washington Duke. The Dukes, a Durham family that built a worldwide financial empire in the manufacture of tobacco products and developed electricity production in the Carolinas, long had been interested in Trinity College. Trinity traced its roots to 1838 in nearby Randolph County when local Methodist and Quaker communities opened Union Institute. The school, then named Trinity College, moved to Durham in 1892, where Benjamin Newton Duke served as a primary benefactor and link with the Duke family until his death in 1929. In December 1924, the provisions of indenture by Benjamin’s brother, James B. Duke, created the family philanthropic foundation, The Duke Endowment, which provided for the expansion of Trinity College into Duke University.Duke Campus

    As a result of the Duke gift, Trinity underwent both physical and academic expansion. The original Durham campus became known as East Campus when it was rebuilt in stately Georgian architecture. West Campus, Gothic in style and dominated by the soaring 210-foot tower of Duke Chapel, opened in 1930. East Campus served as home of the Woman's College of Duke University until 1972, when the men's and women's undergraduate colleges merged. Both men and women undergraduates now enroll in either the Trinity College of Arts & Sciences or the Pratt School of Engineering. In 1995, East Campus became the home for all first-year students.

    Duke maintains a historic affiliation with the United Methodist Church.

    Home of the Blue Devils, Duke University has about 13,000 undergraduate and graduate students and a world-class faculty helping to expand the frontiers of knowledge. The university has a strong commitment to applying knowledge in service to society, both near its North Carolina campus and around the world.

    Mission Statement

    Duke Science"James B. Duke's founding Indenture of Duke University directed the members of the University to 'provide real leadership in the educational world' by choosing individuals of 'outstanding character, ability, and vision' to serve as its officers, trustees and faculty; by carefully selecting students of 'character, determination and application;' and by pursuing those areas of teaching and scholarship that would 'most help to develop our resources, increase our wisdom, and promote human happiness.'

    “To these ends, the mission of Duke University is to provide a superior liberal education to undergraduate students, attending not only to their intellectual growth but also to their development as adults committed to high ethical standards and full participation as leaders in their communities; to prepare future members of the learned professions for lives of skilled and ethical service by providing excellent graduate and professional education; to advance the frontiers of knowledge and contribute boldly to the international community of scholarship; to promote an intellectual environment built on a commitment to free and open inquiry; to help those who suffer, cure disease, and promote health, through sophisticated medical research and thoughtful patient care; to provide wide ranging educational opportunities, on and beyond our campuses, for traditional students, active professionals and life-long learners using the power of information technologies; and to promote a deep appreciation for the range of human difference and potential, a sense of the obligations and rewards of citizenship, and a commitment to learning, freedom and truth.Duke Meeting

     “By pursuing these objectives with vision and integrity, Duke University seeks to engage the mind, elevate the spirit, and stimulate the best effort of all who are associated with the University; to contribute in diverse ways to the local community, the state, the nation and the world; and to attain and maintain a place of real leadership in all that we do.”

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