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People
most often left out of counts of the green work force are environmentalists
in education and other professions. These workers are in established
occupations but concentrate on environmental issues. Among the occupations
with green representatives are lawyer, journalist, consumer advocate,
lobbyist, and activist. Communication skills are critical, but technical
knowledge and familiarity with environmental laws and regulations
also are important. Motivation is crucial for creating and succeeding
in these positions.
Environmental Trainer
Although their occupation may be easy to define, environmental trainers
still have trouble being identified. "One of the problems for people
working in or interested in environmental training is that it's hard
to find a place for it to reside in industry," says Charles Richardson,
Executive Director of the National Environmental Training Association
in Phoenix. "Corporate training typically is a function of personnel
or human resources departments, but environmental of safety and health
training is more often found in the safety, compliance, or some other
department. You never know where to look."
Environmental trainers prepare and present lessons on issues such
as asbestos abatement, emergency response, and regulatory compliance.
Their students include everyone who works with hazardous materials,
as required by the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA)
and EPA regulations, from technicians to supervisors. Most environmental
trainers today come from within their of expertise, just as they did
when States first began requiring training 20 years ago for water
and wastewater treatment plant operators.
But the field has developed as laws and regulations have increased
in the past decade. "Typically, when the law required special training,
the boss would approach a junior engineer or chemical specialist and
say, 'You're it,' and the person would have to do the training," says
Richardson. "In more recent years, a few colleges have developed programs
so people with an interest in adult education who have degrees in
fields like environmental science could move fairly easily into training.
And then people found they liked doing training." Environmental trainer
Bob Quier, for example, became a trainer after graduating from college
although he had not known such jobs existed. He worked for a while
as the industrial health and safety director for a chemical company
in New Jersey but now works in training again. "The health and safety
directorship was great because I felt I needed more hands-on experience,"
he says, "but I missed doing training."
Employment and working conditions.
"Membership in the National Environmental Training Association,
about 1,400, has nearly doubled in 5 years," says Richardson,
an indication of the growth of the occupation. However, estimating
the total number of environmental trainers id nearly impossible because
association membership is voluntary. Salary information also is unavailable.
According to Richardson, about one-third of environmental trainers
work for State or local utility companies, one-third for consulting
firms, and one-third in academia. Environmental trainers in large
companies are hired to do in-house training; in smaller companies,
says Quier, their training duties usually are in addition to broader
responsibilities such as directing safety procedures. Consultants
emerge from within the ranks of engineering firms or sometimes do
remediation or technical training. Community colleges and universities
employ environmental trainers for a growing number of technical courses
offered there. Few are employed directly by Federal, State, or local
government agencies; instead, government agencies hire consultants
to provide training.
Proper training requires preparation. Quier, an environmental training
consultant based in Phoenix, says the first step in preparing training
is doing a needs analysis---identifying what training should be done
and balancing that need with the required regulations. Then comes
task analysis, breaking down the instruction into small components.
Looking at the objectives trainees should be able to meet, the trainer
prepares a course outline and decides how to evaluate trainees at
the end. Drills or other hands-on activities are preferred over written
tests, says Quier. Although general outlines provide guidelines for
some courses, not every training course is the same; a course on asbestos
abatement, for example, would differ from one on industrial waste
management in applicable regulations, compliance procedures, and any
good environmental trainer will adjust to the needs of the group,"
he says.
Trainers should spend about 10 hours in preparation for every hour
of training presentation, a luxury that Quier says is not always available.
Constantly being in front of people presenting material may be a drawback
for some, and traveling as much as 50 to 70 percent of the time can
become tiring. "Unless you're doing in-house training, you do a lot
of traveling," says Quier, especially if a company for which you are
providing training has plants in several locations. But what some
consider drawbacks are appealing to others. "I really enjoy the traveling,"
Quier says. "I do not like having to stick to a set schedule. This
is certainly a job where you're not doing that."
Training requirements.
No industry-wide standards for environmental trainer preparation currently
exist, though Richardson says they are being developed. "New OSHA
regulations more than imply that people doing training need to have
expertise," he says. "OSHA has discovered the consequences of too
little training." A group of Federal agencies is working to assist
colleges in developing 2-year environmental technology degrees, but
those programs do not include a teaching component. Although teaching
adults is different from teaching children, few course are available
on methods of giving adult instruction. Some are offered through college
extension programs.
In the absence of national training standards, voluntary certification
by the National Environmental Training Association is becoming the
norm, says Richardson. The association's program is for participants
with technical experience who deliver training, successfully pass
written tests, and renew every 3 years. Certification is offered in
transportation and management of hazardous materials and waste; occupational
safety and health, including emergency response and hazard communications;
wastewater treatment; water treatment; and air quality management,
including asbestos, lead, and other indoor hazards. Associate training
is available for trainers lacking education or experience or requirements
for certification.
Environmental trainers do not necessarily need bachelor's degrees,
says Richardson, because few seek out the job as an entry-level position.
"Industry tends to hire engineers, but much of this work doesn't require
a 4-year degree," he says. "I doubt that it will ever become an entry-level
profession, especially for people without any technical background.
Even Kids don't have much respect for people who don't know why they're
talking about." At the college level, Richardson recommends that science
or engineering students take some courses in adult education training.
Career changers with specialization in some area should have a combination
of education and experience totaling at least 3 years.
[Note: this story focused on environmental compliance
trainers. The North
American Association of Environmental Education
is an excellent source of environmental education/outdoor environmental
education professions]
Section
1: Introduction
Section
2: Of Greening and
Greenbacks
Section 3: Environmental
Protection
Section 4: Environmental
Health and Safety
Section 5: Natural
Resources Management
Section 6: Environmental
Education and Other Professions
Section 7: Technicians
Without 4-year Degrees
Section 8: Exploring
the Field
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