|
In nearly every area of environmental service, technicians without
bachelor's or graduate degrees are part of the work force. Their responsibilities
include analysis, data collection, field work, map design, cleanup,
excavation, and operation of sites or special tools. Some positions
require at least a high school diploma; other may require a 2-year
degree or certification of completion from a formal training program.
John Esson, of the Environmental Career Center, suggests that technicians
without 4-year degrees get training in OSHA regulations (including
40-hour HAZMAT training) to make themselves more marketable. Courses
are offered by more than 200 schools, including community colleges,
and organizations such as trade unions.
Emergency Responder
Accidental discharge of hazardous materials, such as spillage from
an overturned truck carrying radioactive waste, is an environmental
emergency. Among the first to arrive at those scenes are emergency
responders, who work to contain and control the hazardous material
release that can threaten public safety or the environment. "Think
of them as the strike team," says R. Craig Schroll, President if FIRECON,
a safety consulting and training firm in East Earl, Pennsylvania.
"After the immediate threat is gone, cleanup and remediation personnel
could be there for months or years."
There are three types of emergencies related to hazardous material
release---spills, leaks, and fires--and some situations involve more
than one. The action taken can include absorption for spills to plugging
and patching leaks. "With a fire, there aren't too many choices,"
says Schroll. "We can extinguish it, let it burn and consume the hazardous
material, or clear out until after it stabilizes, which is another
way of saying explode." The size of the emergency response team and
the kind of action it takes depend on the size and kind of emergency
it is. Responders usually number at least 12, "but I'm more comfortable
with 20," Schroll says. For very large emergencies, dozens of agencies
can become involved and the number of responders can go into the hundreds.
Employment and working conditions.
It is almost impossible to estimate the number of emergency responders,
says Schroll, primarily because few are employed solely for hazardous
materials emergency response work. "People will count those numbers
very differently," he says. According to BLS, there are about 300,000
people in firefighter occupations. "Most people would count them all,"
says Schroll. "That's probably accurate because they've usually all
had some training." In addition to local fire departments, some industrial
employers have emergency responders on the staff; consulting or community
response firms also sometimes hire them. And that is where the numbers
become hazier. "Larger employers with significant potential hazards
have a relatively small number of people on their in-house teams,"
says, Schroll. "If you've got about 1,000 employees at a location,
only about 40 might have ancillary training to respond to hazardous
material releases in case of an emergency."
Because of the difficulty in estimating the number of emergency responders,
it is also difficult to estimate salaries. "Responders are not paid
on the basis of emergency response as an isolated issue," says Schroll.
"You'd be hard-pressed to find anyone anywhere in the country who
does emergency response exclusively." According to BLS data, median
weekly earnings in 1993 for firefighting occupations were $619, but
that may include fire lieutenants and captains who earn more than
most firefighters. Salaries also are affected by city size and region
of the country; firefighters in larger cities earn more than those
in smaller ones, and those in the West earn more than those in the
South.
But few people are in it for the money. The risk of hazardous materials
management requires extreme caution, and, in many cases, protective
clothing must be worn. Schroll calls one type of the clothing "body
bags with windows." Inside the suit, temperatures can be as much as
30 degrees higher than outside it. Add 20 to 30 pounds of respiratory
protection equipment carried on the back, "and after about 20 minutes
of that, I'm about shot," says Schroll. "Imagine the worst possible
conditions of stress, strain, physical exertion, and exposure to the
elements, and it's worse than that. You are always in the position
if mental stress and strain. You've got to want to do this job very
badly." People are attracted to the job for reasons ranging from excitement
to altruism, says Schroll. "It's never a boring job."
Training requirements.
Training for emergency response workers evolved with the understanding
of the understanding of the dangers of hazardous material release.
Even as recently as 20 years ago, firefighters or law enforcement
personnel handled emergency response calls with little knowledge of
the risks involved. By 1989, OSHA established minimum requirements
for all emergency response workers, from truckdrivers who transport
hazardous material to response specialists who organize cleanup operations.
These training requirements vary in length from half a day for the
most basic level to 32 hours for supervisors. "Training today is vastly
different from 10 or 20 years ago," says Schroll. "Well-trained teams
have a minimum of monthly drills that last at least half a day."
The EPA's Office of Emergency and Remedial Response has courses that
meet or exceed OSHA requirements for personnel who respond to emergencies.
Participants who complete a course, such as a 5-day training on emergency
response to hazardous material incidents, may be eligible for pay
tuition. For more information, contact the EPA's Emergency Response
Team Training Program, U.S. EPA, 26 W. Martin Luther King Drive (B-3),
Cincinnati, OH 45268.
Applicants for firefighting jobs usually have to pass written, physical,
and medical examinations. They must be 18 years old and have a high
school diploma or equivalent. Although emergency responders are not
required to have a bachelor's degree, taking some college courses
may increase an applicant's chances for appointment as a firefighter.
In addition, postsecondary education can increase promotion potential.
The trend for emergency response specialists, who are responsible
for planning and coordination response activities, is that candidates
hold a minimum of a bachelor's degree.
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
<-- back to home page
|
