Chemical Inventory Officer

Position Summary

The Chemical Inventory Officer requires extensive education and/or experience in the safe handling of hazardous materials of all types in laboratory scale quantities. This position will be charged with the maintenance and quality control of the University’s massive chemical inventory operation including hazardous chemicals maintained at satellite campuses. The Chemical Inventory Officer must maintain a high degree of professionalism and integrity in representing the University and model a culture of safety. The Chemical Inventory Officer would frequently interact with researchers and laboratory staff as they offered chemical inventory management services on a routine basis and ad-hoc as required. They would be expected to identify critical issues with inventory management and assist labs with correcting those issues as well as performing data integrity analysis on new inventory entered into the system on a daily basis. The position would also be required to conduct periodic training for chemical receiving staff and laboratory staff to ensure that all involved in the chemical inventory supply chain are aware of changes, updates, and best practices for maintaining an accurate record of hazardous chemicals on campus. This position is a leadership position and would be expected to assume responsibility for the entire program with the assistance of other staff members.

Minimum Qualifications

Bachelor’s degree in a related field or equivalent

Preferred Qualifications

Professional and/or technical certification for the applicable specialty is preferred.A driver’s license that is valid in the State of Georgia. Experience working in Campus Optics

Knowledge, Skills, Abilities and/or Competencies

• Proven professionalism and integrity in representing safety and compliance offices or programs.
• Leadership aptitude including clear focus on customer service as well as safety and compliance; ability to work within a strong and effective team.
• Experience in active consensus-building and safety negotiation; ability to grasp needs and concerns in varied areas of safety and compliance and provide multiple solutions to complex problems.
• Takes initiative to perform recurring tasks dictated by established procedures and performs newly assigned tasks as needed.
• Good human relations and leadership skills and the ability to function in a team environment.
• Work independently, with minimal supervision on multiple simultaneous projects.
• Professional oral and written communication skills.
• Ability to prepare clear, accurate, and informative reports containing findings, conclusions, and recommendations.
• Ability to implement continuous quality improvement through the use of relevant qualitative and quantitative metrics.
• Working knowledge of State and Federal environmental health and safety regulations as well as nationally accepted standards, guidelines, and other related conventions on safety and compliance.
• Ability to respond to critical safety and compliance situations appropriately in academic, research, and clinical settings.
• Be able to assist with in-service training and educational programs in applicable programmatic areas.
• Ability to prioritize and handle multiple tasks simultaneously, due to the diversity of safety and compliance services, and the wide-range of potential work locations on campus.
• Proficient in the performance and documentation of chemical and laboratory safety assessments.
• Proficient with Microsoft Office applications, including Word, Excel, and Access.

Physical Demands

• Use of standard business office computer equipment and software.
• Work in a variety of physical environments, including weather extremes, chemical/biological/radiological laboratories, animal care and use facilities, etc.
• Conduct inventory reconciliation work and perform emergency response activities, including but not limited to wearing personal protective equipment such as a respirator, climbing stairs, lifting, twisting, kneeling, turning, and occasionally lifting up to 50 lbs.
• Stand, walk, and negotiate occasional awkward work locations and paths of travel.

Duties/Responsibilities

Conducting periodic chemical reconciliations on a routine basis for all laboratories on the main UGA campus and the satellite campuses for research, teaching, and production laboratories. This would include barcoding and documenting newly acquired chemicals, assisting new labs with comprehensive, full inventory setup and assisting with bulk electronic transfers of hazardous chemicals to ensure accuracy. Part of this responsibility would also include reviewing routine data reports to ensure the highest quality of data as it is being collected and managed in the system.
Percentage of time: 70

Conducting training for chemical receiving staff and laboratory staff to ensure that stakeholders know how to properly maintain their inventory.
Percentage of time: 15

Conducting routine laboratory safety assessments as assigned by supervisor to assist the chemical inspection team as needed.
Percentage of time: 10

Member of the hazardous materials spill response team (on-call team). Anticipated on call coverage of approximately one week per quarter.
Percentage of time: 5