Hazardous Waste Technician

Overview:
Responsible for the effective coordination, segregation, packaging, storage and bulking of hazardous materials and wastes, including analysis and materials classification for the purposes of shipping. Advises laboratory and other members of the University community on aspects of hazardous materials disposal, shipping, and receiving; and assumes considerable responsibility for the accuracy and reliability in aligning University processes with regulatory requirements. The incumbent will be a member of the University’s Spills response team.

**Responsibilities**:
Environmental Protection Services (70%)
- Administers and maintains a comprehensive hazardous materials management strategy for all University-generated hazardous waste in compliance with relevant legislation provisioning how hazardous wastes and materials must be handled, segregated, packaged, stored, and shipped
- Responsible for segregating single and multi-component mixtures of chemical and biohazardous materials into appropriate compatibility groups. Accuracy in segregation is essential
- Identifying unknown materials using best analytical practices
- Provides expert advice to the University community on hazardous waste management best practices, including handling, transportation, containment, segregation, labelling and disposal.
- Transports hazardous materials using University vehicles in accordance with federal and provincial regulations and University standards
- Oversees the safe and proper removal of hazardous waste from the Environmental Safety Facility with approved hazardous waste contractors. This includes ensuring contracted services remain within budget.
- Prepares and packs material for transport to final disposal site in accordance with established University and regulatory standards
- Ensures that the University’s hazardous materials management strategy is in compliance with federal and provincial regulatory agency requirements such as Health Canada, Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission (CNSC) licence conditions, Ministry of Environment. It is imperative that working knowledge of these regulatory requirements is maintained.
- Responsible for management and oversight of the hazardous waste RPRA account
- Manages the day-to-day operations of the University’s Environmental Safety Facility (ESF) to ensure it is maintained in good working order, and able to safely store the anticipated wastes generated from the University community.
- Creates reports, trend analysis, and forecasts on costs based on previous year’s hazardous waste disposal volumes.
- Provides guidance to departments on Laboratory Decommissioning process
- Arranges with external specialized contractors for the disposal of explosives or particularly hazardous or dangerous materials
- Coordinates the removal of PCB material by external contractors from University owned/operated sites
- Provides expert advice to the Director, Manager, and team in establishing processes for effective management of hazardous wastes and incident prevention

Participation in the Health, Safety, and Environmental Management System (HSEMS) (20%):

- In collaboration with the Health and Safety Officers, visits labs and provides advice on proposed experimental procedures with respect to hazardous waste generation, handling and disposal
- Participates in incident investigations, particularly those involving hazardous waste
- Provides advice, feedback and guidance on proper waste management and risk reduction methods associated with hazardous materials
- Defines standards and guidance documents through relevant expertise and best practice guidance in relation to hazardous waste management
- Continually assesses hazardous waste management processes to ensure they are appropriate to the level of risk, and compliant to current applicable legislation and standards
- Maintains current departmental records, computer databases, and systems associated with waste management and compliance
- Monitors compliance and performance using measurement indicators and specifies key areas for improvement
- Facilitates an internal responsibility system by ensuring departments are informed and held accountable
- May conduct inspections for compliance purposes

Emergency Response (3%)
- Supports UW’s Spills response team by maintaining skills in hazardous materials emergency response.

Other (7%)
- Other duties as assigned

Qualifications:

- Undergraduate Degree or College Diploma in the Natural Sciences or Engineering with a strong background in Chemistry or Chemical Technology. Preference for individuals that also have a background with biological agents and/or radionuclides
- Individuals must have Transportation of Dangerous Good (TDG) certification
- Ongoing professional development is required to maintain competency
- 3 or more years of proven experience where the scope of work was 50% or more related to management and/or handling of hazardous substances. Work experience may include research, labora