Hazardous Materials Technician

Are you passionate about safety and skilled in handling hazardous materials? National Jewish Health is seeking a Hazardous Materials Technician to join our team! This is a crucial role for our institution and is responsible for picking up, transporting, and storing chemical, pharmaceutical, and radioactive wastes. The selected candidate will ensure our hazardous chemical and radioactive waste storage rooms are meticulously maintained, labeled, and organized. Additional duties for the position include:

• Performing weekly inspections
• Maintaining container inventories
• Ensuring all waste areas are always inspection-ready
• Conduct regular eyewash and spill kit inspections
• Responding to chemical and radiation spills

If you have a keen eye for detail, a commitment to safety, and expertise in hazardous materials management, apply now to be part of our dedicated team!

Position Summary
The Hazardous Materials Technician supports all hospital safety programs in order to maintain a safe environment for patients, visitors and staff.

Essential Duties

1. Picks up chemical, pharmaceutical, and radioactive wastes from generator points and transports wastes to the appropriate waste handling and storage locations.
2. Monitors and maintains the Hazardous Chemical storage room, including checking for full drums, transferring contents into drums to make up full drums, properly labeling drums, properly labeling lab pack chemicals, segregating and storing chemicals for lab packs. 
3. Maintains container inventories and ensures that the chemical waste rooms are always in inspectable condition.
4. Performs and documents weekly waste accumulation area inspections.
5. Monitors and maintains the radioactive waste temporary storage room by checking for full drums, transferring and compacting contents of drums to make up full drums,  labeling drums appropriately, and maintaining container inventories.
6. Monitors and maintains long-term waste storage room by marking drums, arranging drums in the area, disposing of and documenting the disposal of decayed radioactive drums and carboys, and maintaining container inventories.
7. Performs weekly eyewash and spill kit inspections.
8. Follows all appropriate safety practices, including using any necessary personal protective equipment, complying with safety policies and procedures, and maintaining any applicable professional certifications/competencies.
9. Participates in ongoing quality assessment and improvement, including bringing necessary issues to the attention of the appropriate supervisor/manager.
10. Maintains knowledge in monitoring equipment's use, maintenance, and calibration.
11. Respond to chemical and radiation spills, not requiring a Hazardous Materials Response Team.

Other Duties

1. Assists in conducting fire and emergency drills, providing employee training on various safety topics, conducting Employee Incident Report investigations and documentation, 
2. Assists in performing Joint Commission “Environment of Care” audits and performing Annual Laboratory Safety audits.

Competencies

1. Accountability: Accepts full responsibility for self and contribution as a team member; displays honesty and truthfulness; confronts problems quickly; displays a strong commitment to organizational success and inspires others to commit to goals; demonstrates a commitment to National Jewish Health. 
2. Adaptability: Maintaining effectiveness when experiencing major changes in work responsibilities or environment; adjusting effectively to work within new work structures, processes, requirements, or cultures.
3. Attention to Detail: Accomplishing tasks by considering all areas involved, no matter how small; showing concern for all aspects of the job; accurately checking processes and tasks; being watchful over a period of time. Setting high standards of performance for self and others; assuming responsibility and accountability for successfully completing assignments or tasks; self-imposing standards of excellence rather than having standards imposed.
4. Collaboration/Teamwork: Cooperates with others to accomplish common goals; works with employees within and across his/her department to achieve shared goals; treats others with dignity and respect and maintains a friendly demeanor; values the contributions of others.
5. Informing and Communicating: Clearly conveying information and ideas through a variety of media to individuals or groups in a manner that engages the audience and helps them understand and retain the message.
6. Initiative: Taking prompt action to accomplish objectives; taking action to achieve goals beyond what is required; being proactive.
7. Problem Solving: Uses issue identification, data relation and comparison, pattern recognition and information gathering to create analyses and make recommendations.

Supervisory or Managerial Responsibility
None

Travel
Travel to off-site satellite locations (Highlands Ranch, Thornton and Golden) as needed. 

Core Values

1. Be available to work as scheduled and report to work on time.
2. Be willing to accept supervision and work well with others.
3. Be well groomed, appropriately for your role and wear ID Badge visibly.
4. Be in compliance with all departmental and institutional policies, the Employee Handbook, Code of Conduct and completes NetLearning by due date annually.
5. Fosters an inclusive workplace where diversity and individual differences are valued and leveraged to achieve the vision and mission of the institution.
6. Adheres to safe working practices and at all times follows all institutional and departmental safety policies and procedures. 
7. Wears appropriate PPE as outlined by the infection control policies and procedures.
8. Demonstrates compliance with all state, federal and all other regulatory agency requirements.

Minimum Qualifications

1. Education: Associate’s Degree in Hazardous Materials Management required.  Bachelor’s Degree in a natural or physical science preferred.  
2. Work Experience: A minimum of 3 years of recent and related experience required.  
3. Special Training, Certification or Licensure: HAZWOPER 40 hour required. US DOT or IATA Dangerous Goods Shipping preferred. Must be knowledgeable of RCRA, CDPHE and OSHA regulations.

Salary Range: $30.00 - $36.00

Benefits
At National Jewish Health, we recognize that our outstanding faculty and staff are the essence of our organization. For every aspect of health care, our employees are our greatest asset.
With that in mind, we have designed a valuable, comprehensive benefits package to meet the needs of our employees and their families.

• Medical Plans, Dental Plans and Vision Insurance
• Retirement Plan
• FSA and HSA
• Short and Long Term Disability
• Life Insurance and AD&D
• Voluntary Benefits, like Accident Insurance, Critical Care and Hospital Indemnity
• Paid Time Off Accruals
• Wellness Program
• Legal Plan