Imagine you are sitting in an emergency vehicle with sirens blaring and lights flashing as you race to the scene of a collision. You are a hazardous materials specialist and a member of your city's hazmat emergency response team. You have been called from your regular duties to assess a potentially dangerous situation. According to officials on the scene, a fertilizer truck carrying dangerous goods was broadsided by another vehicle, and the damaged fertilizer tanker is leaking an odorous substance into the streets.
As a hazardous materials specialist, you have responded to dozens of scenes like this, and you know how to get the job done safely. Once you arrive at the wreck, you put on your hazmat suit and adjust your breathing apparatus—every inch of your body is covered and protected. Now you are ready to cross police barriers and approach the collision site. The team's manager will be directing the team from outside the hot zone; you watch that person carefully for instructions.
First, you are told to take a quick look around the scene to determine if there are any obvious hazards, such as telephone lines or open gas lines, that could pose additional problems for the hazmat team. Next, you look for dangerous goods placards on the tanker, which will tell you what the truck was hauling, along with the Material Safety Data Sheets (MSDS) that have information on the substance, including what to do in an emergency. Other team members have been working on stopping the leaking tanker and containing the spill. Once the substance has been confirmed and you know what you're dealing with, you and your team can begin cleaning up and disposing of the fertilizer.
Duties vary significantly from job to job, but the following list includes typical job duties one might encounter as a hazardous materials specialist:
If you are a high school student considering a career as an environmental geophysicist, you should have a keen interest in:
If you are a post-secondary student considering a career as an environmental geophysicist, the following programs are most applicable.
In most cases, the minimum education requirement to work as an environmental geophysicist is a graduate degree. Pursuing a master’s or doctoral degree in fields related to environmental geophysics can enhance your expertise, career prospects, and ability to contribute to the field. These advanced degrees offer specialized knowledge and skills highly valued in both the professional and academic worlds.
In many provinces, geophysicists must obtain registration and licensure with their provincial association as a Professional Geoscientist (P.Geo.). The certification process for geophysicists is similar to that of engineering professions and is typically overseen by the same regulatory body.
Our Environmental Professional (EP) designation can also help you progress in your chosen environmental career.
Technical Skills
Personal and Professional Skills
Environmental employers look for professionals who can combine technical knowledge with soft skills. Watch our free webinar “Essential Not Optional: Skills Needed to Succeed in Canada’s Environmental Industry” or take our Essential Skills courses.
As key executive leaders who shape their company’s sustainability policy, CSOs work in many different types of organizations. Common employers of CSOs include:
Search for jobs on the ECO Canada Job Board.
If you are a post-secondary student seeking a CSO role in the future, consider pursuing a university degree related to:
In addition to the educational fields mentioned above, you will also need extensive management experience to become a CSO, with well-developed human resources management and leadership skills. Consider educational seminars or post-graduate studies that will hone your analytical thinking, such as:
Our Environmental Professional (EP) designation can also help you progress in your chosen environmental career.
Technical Skills
Personal and Professional Skills
Environmental employers seek professionals who combine technical knowledge with personal and professional skills. Watch our free webinar “Essential Not Optional: Skills Needed to Succeed in Canada’s Environmental Industry” or take our Essential Skills courses.
My chemistry skills helped me to get a job as a lab technician after I graduated from high school. I have always enjoyed being active, so I joined the volunteer fire department in my community. The decision to leave the laboratory and take fire-fighting training was not a hard one for me to make. It was the beginning of a full-time fire-fighter career. Over the last twenty years, the fire department has evolved from dealing directly with emergency situations involving dangerous goods to a growing awareness of how people’s activities affect the department.
I was part of the first full-time hazardous materials response team in our region. We are responsible for stopping the leak or spill, neutralizing the product and ensuring the right people are involved to close the loop on the hazardous material cleanup. My role as a Shift Instructor got me a full-time training position in the Fire Department Academy. The most practical knowledge of how to do my present position as a Hazardous Materials Coordinator came from working as a Hazardous Materials Officer in charge of several large scale incidents, including an oil refinery fire and gasoline and propane tanker rollovers.
There is a never-ending learning curve in this type of work. My department was the first in Canada to take live agent training in weapons of mass destruction and is always looking at environmental issues and training opportunities to be prepared for unexpected events. The city fire department where I work is one of the very few in the world that are ISO 14001 registered. It is a demanding task to gain and keep this registration but it is also a significant accomplishment that others in my profession aspire to. The future of Hazardous Materials Specialists is changing. There will be more of a community focus with a greater emphasis on the investigation of polluters.
Fire departments will take a compliance approach, looking to stop pollution and fix problems before they become environmental issues. Hazardous Materials Specialists will have opportunities to take lead roles in remediation of sites, consulting to business and advising other government or city departments about environmental impacts. My first fire chief told me "The day you come to work and not like it is the time to leave.” Fortunately, I enjoy everything about my job. If you share the same enthusiasm for interaction with people, excitement on the job and seeing immediate positive results as I do, this may be the career for you.
Take some related post-secondary education and be in good physical condition. You can enter the fire department as a firefighter and with training and experience move yourself up to other positions. My position as a Hazardous Materials Coordinator is a day job with a week once per month on call. Normal daily routines include meetings, managing projects, developing priorities and responding to emergencies. The skill sets required for this work range from the analysis of infrared instrument data, to patching holes in railcars, to dealing with explosive weapons. In an emergency situation I coordinate regulatory agencies and manage the hazardous materials incident.
These situations involve interaction with personnel from Alberta Environment, Department of Fisheries and Oceans, Environment Canada, Bylaw Officers, Police Tactical Units, RCMP and the City Environmental Management Unit. It is an advantage to be able to see my position from many angles as I can assess the impacts of hazardous materials on the environment, coordinate an effective cleanup and learn how to prevent future environmental hazards. All across the country cities are facing a problem of discarded needles in parks and playgrounds.
My department has established a needle recovery program that the Center for Disease Control (CDC) in Atlanta, USA has referred to as the best they have seen. The CDC intends to use our program as a template for other communities. I have also made a contribution to the management of chemical fires. After experiencing a large oil refinery fire my department realized we had no practical means of determining whether the air downwind of a chemical fire contained enough hazardous material to justify evacuating the neighborhood. To solve this problem I coordinated the development of a portable air-monitoring unit. This positively pressurized, vehicle-based lab can position itself downwind of a fire, sample the plume and provide analysis from inside the vehicle. We have recently started to use this new equipment and I anticipate it will help us save people’s lives as well as protect the environment.
Marine geologists are classified into the following occupational grouping:
NOC Code: 21102 – Geoscientists and oceanographers
The National Occupational Classification (NOC) provides a standardized language for describing the work performed by Canadians in the labour market. It gives statisticians, labour market analysts, career counsellors, employers, and individual job seekers a consistent way to collect data and describe and understand the nature of work within different occupations.
See ECO’s Blue National Occupational Standard for a career competency profile for a marine geologist that outlines the specific skills, knowledge, and behaviours required for individuals to perform effectively in this particular role. This profile is a benchmark for training and development, ensuring consistency and quality across professions within the blue economy.
Dans un esprit de respect, de réciprocité et de vérité, nous honorons et reconnaissons Moh’kinsstis, le territoire traditionnel du Traité 7 et les pratiques orales de la confédération des Pieds-Noirs : Siksika, Kainai, Piikani, ainsi que les nations Îyâxe Nakoda et Tsuut’ina. Nous reconnaissons que ce territoire abrite la Nation métisse de l’Alberta, la région 3 au sein de la patrie historique des Métis du Nord-Ouest. Enfin, nous reconnaissons toutes les nations qui vivent, travaillent et se divertissent sur ce territoire, et qui l’honorent et le célèbrent.
In the spirit of respect, reciprocity, and truth, we acknowledge that we live, work, and gather on the traditional territories of the peoples of Treaty 7, including the Blackfoot Confederacy—comprising the Siksika, Kainai, and Piikani Nations—as well as the Îyâxe Nakoda and Tsuut’ina Nations.
This land, known as Moh’kinsstis in the Blackfoot language and encompassing what is now Districts 5 and 6, is also home to the Métis Nation of Alberta, Region 3, within the historical Northwest Métis homeland.
We recognize and honour the deep connection these Nations have to the land, and we are grateful for the opportunity to share in its stewardship.
As we continue our work, we commit to learning from Indigenous knowledge systems, uplifting Indigenous voices, and fostering relationships rooted in equity, understanding, and reconciliation.
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