Laboratory and Safety Technician

Position Summary

VCU has an exciting opportunity for a Laboratory and Safety Technician!

Duties and responsibilities include:

1. Performing laboratory safety inspections and safety assessments in VCU and VCU HS locations to identify and correct safety risks. Implements the University’s EHS and Safety and Risk Management policy with 30-60-90 day escalations to ensure safety concerns are resolved.

2. Act as an ambassador for positive culture change by learning about research programs at VCU and engaging in risk-based approaches to laboratory safety assessments. Engage laboratory staff to discuss and agree upon reasonable and acceptable mitigation strategies to safety concerns.

3. Conduct respiratory protection fit testing for the university and VCU Health System employees.

4. Assist team members with other duties as requested or necessary including but not limited to, IH surveys, Hazardous Waste, Indoor Environmental Quality Investigations, Laboratory Closeout Procedures and equipment clearances, Incident Response (both during work hours and during scheduled On Call hours).

5. Maintain all written reports, records and data on the shared drive, shared spreadsheets and/or the EHS-SRM Management System (BioRAFT) as required.

Minimum Qualifications

• Applicants must hold a Bachelor's degree in chemistry, biology, chemical engineering, or a closely related field.
  
  
• Ability to learn and understand federal, state and local safety regulations as they apply to laboratory safety and environmental regulations.
  
  
• The ability to interpret safety regulations appropriately by using critical thinking and problem solving skills.
  
  
• Understanding of basic/general laboratory processes and familiarity with research and hospital best practices.
  
  
• The ability to learn and understand laboratory hazards such as chemical hazard categorization and mitigation strategies.
  
  
• Excellent technical writing skills for reports (i.e. incident reports, IEQ reports, lab safety assessment reports, etc.).
  
  
• Excellent written and oral communication skills.
  
  
• Excellent customer service skills.
  
  
• Ability to manage time effectively to complete tasks in a timely manner and to meet individual and team deadlines and goals.
  
  
• Willingness and ability to learn new professional skills and to be an ambassador for institutional culture change.
  
  
• Demonstrated experience working in and fostering a diverse faculty, staff and student environment or commitment to do so as a staff member at VCU.
  
  
• Proficiency in Microsoft Office and Google Suite software
  
  

Preferred Qualifications

• Minimal to moderate understanding of industrial hygiene monitoring techniques and how to use monitoring equipment.
  
  
• Minimal to moderate understanding of federal, state and local fire safety regulations.
  
  
• Minimal to moderate understanding of federal, state and local occupational safety regulations.
  
  
• Minimal to moderate understanding of CDC and NIH Biological Safety Principles.
  
  
• Experience in the development and implementation of safety training
  
  

Required Licenses/ Certifications

Has or is able to obtain HAZWOPER certification.

Salary Range: $42,000 – $47,000



Position Details:

Department: Safety and Risk Management
Employment Type: UF - University Employee FT
Restricted Status: No
FTE: 1
Exemption Status: Non-Exempt



Contact Information:

Contact Name: Mary Teller

Contact Email: mkteller@vcu.edu