Intermediate Specialist, Laboratory Safety

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Position Purpose

The incumbent plays a critical role in advancing research safety and chemical hazard management with a special focus on the Faculties of Health Sciences (FHS) Social Sciences (FSS) Education (EDU) Arts (ARTS) and Animal Care and Veterinary Services (ACVS). This position also oversees institutional chemical inventory systems provides subject matter expertise in chemical hazard identification assessment and mitigation and supports laboratory design and infrastructure planning. The incumbent ensures harmonized safety practices and regulatory compliance across diverse research environments. The incumbent advances institutional laboratory safety programs procedures standards and emergency protocols offers tailored laboratory safety consultations and performs lower order industrial hygiene monitoring.

In this role your responsibilities will include:

• Chemical Inventory Management: Maintains and manages the institutional chemical inventory system including vendor management cataloguing training etc. to ensure a robust framework and system is in place for the institution. Conducts periodic audits and reconciles discrepancies to support research laboratories. Offers a professional service that enables Faculties and researchers to manage autonomously their hazardous materials and equipment data for regulatory security emergency and safety purposes.

• Chemical Hazards Subject Matter Expertise: Serves as a resource for members of the portfolio for chemical hazard identification risk assessment and mitigation strategies providing expert guidance on the safe handling storage and disposal of hazardous chemicals in compliance with regulatory and institutional standards.

• Laboratory Design and Support: Participates in laboratory design consultations for the portfolio to support the integration of safety principles and mitigations in new and renovated research spaces. Supports by advising on safety infrastructure and compliance requirements. Regularly monitors the external environment for changes to laboratory health and safety requirements and best practices to incorporate into laboratory design standards.

• Health Safety and Risk Management Support: Provides specialized health safety and risk management support across the portfolio. Works collaboratively with other health safety and risk management team members to provide interdisciplinary and consistent support of the Universitys occupational health and safety management system. Systematically monitors measures and evaluates Faculty health and safety performance for regulatory/institutional compliance to identify risks effectiveness of institutional and Faculty systems and recommend areas for improvement to Faculty senior management.

• Industrial Hygiene and Monitoring: Performs lower order occupational hygiene interventions and monitoring including preliminary investigations noise monitoring air sampling etc. For more complex issues coordinates industrial hygiene studies with an Industrial Hygienist. Observes analyzes and recommends control and mitigations to minimize occupational health risks in laboratory environments.

• Laboratory Safety Consultations: Offers tailored safety consultations to researchers faculty and staff on laboratory practices equipment use and emergency preparedness. Reviews and advises on standard operating procedures (SOPs) for higher-risk activities. Collaborates with other health and safety specialists on topics such as laser radiation and biosafety.

• Program and Protocol Support: Maintains the OHSMS Chemical Management program working in collaboration with the various Faculties and Services implementing regulatory requirements as well as best practices. Assists in the development implementation and continuous improvement of laboratory safety programs and procedures. Supports the laboratory decommissioning processes ensuring safe removal and disposal of hazardous materials. Contributes to the development and execution of emergency response protocols for chemical spills exposures and other incidents.

What you will bring:

• Post secondary education (e.g. bachelors or masters degree) in occupational health and safety environmental sciences chemical engineering - occupational hygiene - or acceptable related field (such as chemistry biochemistry etc.).

• Minimum of 5 years progressive experience in occupational health and safety environmental management risk management occupational hygiene regulatory/consulting field emphasizing health safety and/or environmental programs.

• Successful completion of required security clearance(s) (e.g. Contract Security Program Controlled Goods Program etc.)

• Experience in a research academic or related workplace an asset. Experience in a supervisory/management capacity as asset.

• Professional designation CRSP (Canadian Registered Safety Professional) CRST (Canadian Registered Safety Technician) ROH (Registered Occupational Hygienist) or ROHT (Registered Occupational Hygiene Technician) an asset.

• Demonstrated understanding of risk management and occupational health and safety legislation and their applicability in a highly specialized and complex research-based laboratory environment.

• Experience and knowledge in strategic plan development applying municipal provincial and federal standards related to occupational health and safety.

• Experience in developing implementing and auditing comprehensive safety management systems aligned with organizational goals and legislative requirements.

• Ability to apply structured decision-making and advanced analytical techniques to diagnose root causes and develop evidence-based risk-informed solutions.

• Experience in assessing regulatory requirements and writing policy as well as methods and procedures for ensuring compliance and reducing risk

• Experience in developing and implementing risk management or health and safety programs

• Superior communication and interpersonal skills to be able to work with management academic and support personnel as well as student populations (graduate and undergraduate)

• Ability to build trusting and collaborative relationships with the Faculty and other stakeholders

• Demonstrated ability to lead incident response and crisis management initiatives including risk mitigation stakeholder communication and post-incident analysis.

• Ability to plan organize and prioritize workload and work in a fast-paced and complex environment

• Experience in designing and delivering OHS training programs using adult education principles and evaluating training effectiveness.

• Demonstrated initiative and autonomy in leading safety initiatives and driving continuous improvement.

• Ability to apply quality management principles to enhance safety systems and ensure continuous improvement

• Bilingual French and English (spoken and written)

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Key Competencies at uOttawa:
Here are the required competencies for all or our employees at uOttawa:

Planning: Organize in time a series of actions or events in order to realize an objective or a project. Plan and organize own work and priorities in regular daily activities.
Initiative: Demonstrate creativity and initiative to suggest improvements and encourage positive results. Is proactive and self-starting. Show availability and willingness to go above and beyond whenever it is possible.
Client Service Orientation: Help or serve others to meet their needs. This implies anticipating and identifying the needs of internal and external clients and finding solutions on how to meet them.
Teamwork and Cooperation: Cooperate and work well with other members of the team to reach common goal(s). Accept and give constructive feedback. Able to adjust own behaviour to reach the goals of the team.

The University of Ottawa embraces diversity and inclusion in the workplace. We are passionate about our people and committed to employment equity. We foster a culture of respect teamwork and inclusion where collaboration innovation and creativity fuel our quest for research and teaching excellence. While all qualified persons are invited to apply we welcome applications from qualified Indigenous persons racialized persons persons with disabilities women and LGBTQIA2S persons. The University is committed to creating and maintaining an accessible barrier-free work environment. The University is also committed to working with applicants with disabilities requesting accommodation during the recruitment assessment and selection processes. Applicants with disabilities may contact to communicate the accommodation need. All qualified candidates are encouraged to apply; however Canadians and permanent residents will be given priority.

Note: if this is a union position: The hiring process will be governed by the current collective agreement related to the union affiliation noted above; you can click here to find out more.

If this is a front-line position with responsibilities to interact with students selected candidates must be rated at the Low Advanced proficiency level or higher for both oral comprehension and reading comprehension in their second official language. The rating is determined by a proficiency test designed by the Official Languages and Bilingualism Institute.

Prior to May 1 2022 the University required all students faculty staff and visitors (including contractors) to be fully vaccinated against Covid-19 as defined in Policy 129 Covid-19 Vaccination. This policy was suspended effective May 1 2022 but may be reinstated at any point in the future depending on public health guidelines and the recommendations of experts.