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EHS Month Part 3: Lesson Learned - Know What You Don’t Know

August 9th, 2021

Those of us in the EH&S world know the term “lesson learned”. It’s used regularly to reflect on past incidents or “experiences” to evaluate, and potentially change, the way we do things moving forward.  As part of EH&S Month, it seemed appropriate to approach this blog in this same way.  

I started my career in the figurative, “toilet bowl,” of our industry…hazardous waste (the place we send the stuff we don’t want or need anymore).  Sampling drums, roll-off bins, and tankers for a hazardous waste treatment, storage, disposal facility in Connecticut...it wasn’t pretty…it wasn’t glamorous…and yes, at times it could be dangerous.  It was not the start to a career I had in mind with a degree in “environmental science” from a 4-year university. However, with proper training, understanding of the tasks and hazards at hand, and management oversight, it turned into one of the safer and more valuable jobs I’ve ever held.

Looking back, I did not think I was directly improving EH&S in the world. I was merely getting my foot in the door. I was earning a paycheck at my first real job in my chosen career.  The last thing on my mind was how that job would mold my career in EH&S, or how it might provide me with “lessons learned” for the several jobs I’ve had since.  I spent about three years dabbling in waste management, and I learned a LOT. But it was what I didn’t learn that would make an impact on my career in EH&S.

First, on what I did learn. I learned about the hazardous materials surrounding each of us in all aspects of life, and how to safely interact with those materials. I learned how to protect myself and others while working around those materials, and how to look up and research the laws and regulations associated with those materials. I learned how to recognize safe and unsafe conditions, and how to tell others around me about those hazards.  Sound familiar?  If you are at all involved in EH&S…it should!  These “skills” don’t just apply to hazardous waste, they are applicable to many EH&S regulations and policies today.

What didn’t I learn? We have all heard the expression “you don’t know what you don’t know”. I’ve found my own sweet spots in EH&S by learning more about those topics I did not understand well. I’m not an expert in air permitting and will never master that the OSHA radiation protection guide is 10mW/cm2 for incident electromagnetic energy for frequencies from 10 MHz to 100GHz.  I now know I don’t need to know all of this because I have access to a great team and the ability to research.  I can look up 29 CFR 1910.97 for OSHA regulation on non-ionizing radiation.  I can find someone at HRP Associates who I can volley air questions towards when I’m neck deep in an EH&S audit (I see you Allison T.)  

These are my “lessons learned.”  Use the knowledge gained from working for a local municipality’s environmental health division, for small and large consulting/engineering firms, and from an EH&S position at a U.S. national laboratory. These roles provided me with an ability to recognize my knowledge strengths while at the same time realizing my blind spots.  Continue to improve my skill set and exercise the desire to keep up with the everchanging EH&S world (emerging contaminants such as PFAS, novel coronaviruses, permit procedures at federal, state, and local agencies, etc.). Finally, continually reach out to your team so you can help them with their own “what I don’t know” areas.
 

Joe Pickard, Senior Consultant at HRP Associates, Inc.