Environmental Operations Compliance Specialist

Lowe's Companies, Inc. • Mooresville, NC

21h • Onsite

About The Position

This position is based at our headquarters in Mooresville, North Carolina. Our corporate office is a space where you can collaborate and do your best work. Take a walk, grab a bite (or a cup of coffee), work out or get a check-up – we invest in you so you can find your inspiration. Your Impact The Environmental Operations Compliance Specialist is primarily responsible for monitoring and supporting all store, supply chain, and corporate locations to ensure compliance with federal, state, and corporate environmental and hazardous materials (HazMat), and hazardous waste regulations, policies, and procedures. This requires review of HazMat data sources to look for trends and risks and includes some travel to stores and other facilities to conduct audits and train staff. Due to the nature and types of products that a home improvement retailer carries each of our store and supply chain locations are registered with the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) as hazardous waste generators and must understand and manage requirements as well as ensure programs comply with the regulations under the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA) as well as be able to respond directly to and directly engage Federal, State and Local regulatory agencies when it comes to HazMat, hazardous waste, and environmental compliance issues and regulatory inspection and prepare formal responses. The Environmental Operations Compliance Specialist will have primary responsibility for the management of the Lowe’s HAZMAT App used by all store locations for managing hazardous wastes – this includes providing direct support and training on the HazMat App utilized by all store locations on their Zebra devices as well as all troubleshooting, responding to store inquiries, and working directly with IT business partners to make needed updates and enhancements to the App as well as using the data collected by the App to run compliance audits and look for hazardous waste trends and compliance risks. The environmental Operations Compliance Specialist will routinely with Lowe’s store and distribution center employees and, when necessary, federal, state, and local regulatory agencies to negotiate and ensure compliance with corporate programs and policies This includes researching deficiencies and violations noted by regulatory agencies, taking the needed steps to correct these issues and/or challenge their regulatory basis as well as prepare and submit a formal response to the inspection; to accomplish this, the Environmental Operations Compliance Specialist must be able knowledgeable with and able to apply regulations to Lowe’s procedures. Including regulations set forth by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), Department of Transportation (DOT), Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA), and National Fire Protection Association (NFPA). The Environmental Compliance Specialist will collaborate directly with leadership including the Environmental Compliance Manager and the Director of Hazardous Materials and Environmental Compliance at the corporate location as well as Area, Regional, and Divisional Asset Protection and Operational Staff to report audit and review findings and be able to act as a technical resource to all Lowe’s store, supply chain, and corporate locations. Additionally, the Environmental Operations Compliance Specialist will be responsible for the maintenance of and updates to the Supply Chain DMS files that catalog HazMat item data and produce the DOT required HazMat shipping papers for all of the Limited Quantity (Lowe’s HAZCODE 2 items) and lithium battery items that are shipped to our stores in AK and HI via vessel (ship) as well as the fully regulated chemical and lithium battery items that are shipped to all store locations from Lowe’s RDC locations. This process requirement will continue to grow and evolve as Lowe’s continues to grow HazMat item offerings and maximize the HazMat item efficiencies flowing through supply chain locations.

Requirements

• Bachelor's degree in environmental, hazardous materials, hazardous waste or equivalent experience
• 6 years' experience in related field
• 3 years of experience in developing and presenting training material
• 3 years of knowledge of federal, state, and local laws and regulations governing hazardous materials and hazardous waste (e.g., EPA RCRA, DOT, NFPA, Clean Water Act, OSHA Hazard Communication/Hazardous Waste Operations)
• Experience managing vendor relationships
• Availability to be on call (on a rotational schedule) to manage emergency response calls after business hours

Nice To Haves

• 3 Years of experience working for a mass retailer, home improvement retailer, or other multi-location employer
• Experience interacting with company and regulatory officials from government agencies
• Certified Hazardous Materials Manager (CHMM)

Responsibilities

• Performs the internal facility audit process by reviewing HazMat data, conducting process reviews as well as performing facility visits and conference calls to audit compliance with environmental, hazardous materials, and hazardous waste programs; sharing and updating business plans (e.g., Hazardous Materials Business Plan (HMBP), EPA Spill Prevention Control and Countermeasure (SPCC) EPA Tier II bulk chemical reports, hazardous waste reports and hazardous waste manifests applicable to each location, ensuring each facility understands the requirement and has access to the current plans; promptly revising plans based on federal, state, and local regulatory requirements and requests; providing timely technical support to all locations and escalating issues as needed to corporate management team; tracking awareness of regulatory changes or emerging environmental regulations in all 50 states and assessing the level of impact to Lowe’s operations; reporting audit findings to the Environmental Compliance Manager; maintaining hazardous waste site identification numbers and generator status as well as related annual reporting requirements. This will require routine interaction with 3rd party service vendors that directly support the team as well as governmental regulatory agencies and inspectors.
• Supports regulatory inspections (federal, state, local) by tracking all inspections and ensuring all issues are understood and addressed appropriately at the facility; identifying the local Program Agencies associated with each facility and tracking all related permit and license requirements and renewals; engaging regulatory officials during and/or following inspections to act as point of contact for process; helping manager prepare formal responses to regulatory agency inspection notices; reporting agency inspections to corporate team.
• Be the subject matter expert on the Lowe’s HazMat App utilized by all store locations on their Zebra devices. The Environmental Compliance Coordinator must understand all functional aspects of the HazMat App to be able to provide efficient and timey support to all store users as well as always look for proactive ways to update/enhance the App and the data that is captured from all stores to ensure efficiencies at the store level and compliance with regulatory standards.
• Research and maintain HazMat item database that contains all regulatory data needed for the HazMat shipping paper process. This is required for all regulated item shipments to our AK and HI stores that are shipped over water to ensure all maritime (IMDG) regulations are met as well as for fully regulated HazMat items that shipped thru Lowe’s RDC and DFC locations to all store locations as well as Direct to Customer.
• Supports Lowe’s HazMat, hazardous waste, and environmental compliance programs by providing technical support, guidance, and feedback regarding the maintenance and ongoing development and growth of programs, policies job aids, and procedures; providing education and guidance to associates as necessary. Additionally, assist with supporting the team by being available as needed to manage after-hours emergency response spill incidents.
• Pursues self-development and effective relationships with others by organizing resources and information; openly sharing information, advice, and expertise with coworkers and customers; influencing others through technical explanations and examples; providing occasional mentoring to team members; seeking performance feedback; adapting to and learning from change, difficulties, and feedback
• Completes work assignments by applying up-to-date expertise in subject area; leveraging an understanding of policies, data, and resources to support projects or initiatives; collaborating cross-functionally to solve business problems; identifying and monitoring priorities, deadlines, and expectations; communicating progress and information; identifying, recommending, and implementing ways to address improvement opportunities.
• Special hazardous waste disposal projects as requested, such as buybacks, Non-productive inventory, or product changeouts (i.e. paint tint replacement). Research disposal requirements, work with applicable 3rd party disposal vendors to develop scope of work and price estimates and manage process thru completion.

What This Job Offers

• Job Type: Full-time
• Career Level: Mid Level