To win readers over we need to write characters so authentic they feel like real people. How do we do this? By brainstorming a character’s backstory, personality, needs, desires, and their day-to-day world. Lucky for us, one aspect of their daily life is a goldmine of characterization: the type of work they do.  

Think about it: a job can reveal personality, skills, beliefs, fears, desires, and more, which is why Angela Ackerman and Becca Puglisi created The Occupation Thesaurus, a writing guide that profiles 124 possible careers and the story-worthy information that goes with each. To help with this project, I’m sharing my experience as a Hazardous Materials Laboratory Manager below, in case this career is a perfect fit for your character!

You can find the full list of Contributed Occupation Profiles and check out The Occupation Thesaurus: A Writer’s Guide to Jobs, Vocations, and Careers at Writers Helping Writers.

 

OCCUPATION: Hazardous Materials Laboratory Manager

OVERVIEW

As a laboratory Manager I was responsible for maintaining laboratory accreditations, quality control (confirms sample test results), quality assurance (focuses on error prevention in the testing process), overseeing disposal of hazardous waste, managing sampling medium—making sure the sampling solutions and gasses weren’t expired or about to explode, staff training, staff work schedules, employee reviews, resolving disputes, workload balancing, analyzing samples, equipment maintenance, maintaining safety protocols, expert witness testimony, budgeting, sales and marketing.

 

NECESSARY TRAINING

Requires a Bachelor of Science degree in any of the hard sciences, such as chemistry, biology, or industrial hygiene, in addition to certifications specific to the matrix being analysed. Examples for Asbestos would require certifications in microscopy either simple direct microscopy or electron microscopy. Requires the uses of statistical and mathematical calculations based on type of regulated hazardous material. It requires the use and maintenance of personal protective equipment (PPE). Also requires an understanding of local and federal regulations.

 

USEFUL SKILLS, TALENTS, OR ABILITIES

COMPUTER USE, DETAIL-ORIENTED, METHODICAL, DEXTERITY, EXCEPTIONAL MEMORY, PROBLEM SOLVING SKILLS, ABILITY TO CRITICALLY ASSESS DATA, GAINING THE TRUST OF OTHERS, GOOD LISTENING SKILLS, GOOD WITH NUMBERS, INTUITION, KNOWLEDGE OF BASIC CHEMISTRY AND SCIENCE, KNOWLEDGE OF LABORATORY EQUIPMENT, LEADERSHIP, MAKING FRIENDS, MAKING PEOPLE LAUGH, MECHANICALLY INCLINED, MULTITASKING, NETWORKING, ORGANIZATION, OUT-OF-THE-BOX THINKING, PROMOTION, PUBLIC SPEAKING, READING PEOPLE, RESEARCH, SALES, STRATEGIC THINKING, TEACHING, USE OF SCALPELS

 

SOURCES OF FRICTION

Vendors ignoring safety protocols and delivering compressed gas cylinders full of explosive gases into the laboratory by rolling the tanks on the floor instead of securing them to a hand truck.

Lab staff forgetting to secure compressed gas cylinders to their racks.

Improper packaging of hazardous materials delivered to the laboratory for testing, resulting in leaks and exposure to laboratory staff (Lab speak: uncontained samples).

Employees forgetting to turn on overhead ventilation hoods (Lab Speak: hoods) prior to running test samples.

Unauthorized visitors wandering around the laboratory.

Putting food in the chemical’s refrigerator or chemicals in the food refrigerator.

Eating food in the lab, with the potential for hazardous chemical ingestion.

Leaving the chemical refrigerator door open so the chemicals warm to the temperature of ignition (explosion). Can also be caused by prolonged power loss, for example from a storm, volcanic eruption or an earthquake where a back-up generator is damaged or unavailable.

Not wearing appropriate PPE in the laboratory. Also, not wearing appropriate attire for doing testing. Opened toed shoes and sandals are forbidden and certain fabrics should be covered with a laboratory coat when working with specific chemicals. For example, acids eat through cotton and synthetic fabrics can be a fire hazard, which when burning may melt against the skin.

Forgetting to report broken equipment or marking ‘out of service’ so that other staff members prep samples that cannot be processed causing potential for contaminated samples or sample storage issues.

Forgetting to run quality control (QC) samples to support results.

Letting sample processing water baths run dry—can cause fire.

Staff not reacting (nullifying) expired chemicals before adding to disposal drums and/or adding un-reacted chemicals to the wrong waste drum causing a hazardous spill.

Mixing incompatible chemicals. May cause poisonous vapors or fumes, fire or explosion. (Lab speak: fumes contain metal, vapors are gasses only. Example welding fumes or gasoline fumes versus water vapor.)

Staff storing personal items in lab that block access to emergency equipment and spill clean-up supplies.

Poor housekeeping practices by certain staff members causing contamination issues for those working around them and/or cleaning up behind them.

Staff leaving hazardous chemicals uncontained.

Staff not maintaining fire suppression equipment. For example, not recharging fire extinguishers or testing overhead sprinkler system during scheduled maintenance.

Exceeding the regulated pH acidity levels of hazardous waste when submitting it for disposal and causing an accident or death.

Improper disposal of hazardous waste, since hazardous waste disposal can be expensive. Example, pouring it into a stream or river, or burying hazardous waste underground on a construction site or under the home of a rival or competitor.

False positive or false negative results leading to lawsuits from injuries or death.

Upper management ordering lab to process samples improperly or to report results improperly to meet contract turnaround times or meet regulatory limits.

Improper sampling procedure used by client or new laboratory field staff member causing legal issues and/or closing down a job site. Example: a sorbent tube sampled backwards, based on the lab finding all the contaminant in the ‘back’ section of the tube. Relates to client requesting lab results or footnote be removed from laboratory report. See below.

Clients requesting lab results be altered or removed, or footnotes removed to avoid lawsuits or arrest. Example: one sample in the batch exceeds the regulatory limit for the job site to reopen. It can cost thousands or tens of thousands of dollars when this happens.

Auditors and site assessors recording deficiencies for accreditation. This will affect the labs ability to earn or maintain an accreditation which can cause the loss of large commercial, industrial or government contracts.

Failing to provide the correct results on blind QC samples or flunking a performance testing round for accreditation. This can affect the laboratories accreditation overall or can cause a job loss for a staff member if they cannot correctly process samples.

Poor writing skills resulting in confusing comments on the report going to clients, thus causing the client to call the sample results into question. A bit of a stereotype, but relatively few technical people can write in a way understandable to non-technical people, even when they can use proper grammar, because geek speak abounds.

Extramarital affairs between staff members.

Staff anger over internal or external promotions.

Analysts (lab staff) refusal to follow standard operating procedures (SOPs) when performing tests, leading to false positive or false negative sample results.

Staff quitting without giving notice (ghosting the job) in the middle of processing samples and leaving hazardous materials such as acids or oxidizers uncontained.

Alcohol or recreational drug use causing a hazardous spill, fire, explosion or death in the lab.

Equipment theft by a staff member to support a drug habit or the manufacturing of illicit drugs.

Distrust between laboratory field technicians and in-house lab staff.

Laboratory field staff drilling holes in their respirators while taking samples on a job site so they can smoke while working, causing exposure to hazardous chemicals and/or causing a fire or explosion.

Staff members pulling pranks in the laboratory causing injury or death.

 

WRITERS SHOULD KNOW…

Laboratory clients run the gamut from clients who are recently released from prison to clients with PhD’s. Egos tend to be over inflated and very delicate. Not everyone understands the potential dangers they are exposing themselves or others to. Sometimes clients and/or staff are angry and want to do as much damage as possible to those around them. It is a delicate balancing act between deescalating a situation and keeping people safe, and can be emotionally draining.

The CSI crime show effect or Star Trek Tricorder effect on real-world sample analysis causes clients to ask for results in an unrealistically short time frame with perfect results. This does not take into account that different sample types require different preparations and processing procedures and the client must state the specific analyte(s) they want a sample tested for. If not prepared properly, false positives or false negatives will result. The common assumption is labs use tricorders to analyze samples in under a minute, and get perfect results every time. They don’t understand that different material testing varies by parameter (type), for example metals vs. fibers vs. organic solvents vs. pesticides. It can take hours or days depending on the test requirements and/or the number of samples in the queue ahead of them. This is what it sounds like in the real world, “Test to see if my (sample type) has anything toxic in it…” Hazardous materials laboratories are not forensic laboratories.

No hazardous materials laboratory will have carpet installed on the lab floor. This is a huge no-no. It is safe to use vinyl flooring in your setting description. Cleaning staff should never use standard or commercial vacuum cleaners inside a lab.

Laboratory staff tend to give sample processing equipment nicknames sometimes based on either a quirk of the machine or a derivative of the machine’s make and model or based the company that built it. It can also be named after a beloved pet, a favorite sci-fi character or spaceship, or a favorite or reviled family member or in-law.

Have any questions about this job? I’d be happy to answer. Just leave a comment below!