How to become Environmental Compliance Inspector in 2024

Environmental Compliance Inspector Inspect and investigate sources of pollution to protect the public and environment and ensure conformance with Federal, State, and local regulations and ordinances.

Environmental Compliance Inspector is Also Know as

In different settings, Environmental Compliance Inspector is titled as

  • Air Permitting and Enforcement Inspector
  • Compliance Investigator
  • Enforcement Officer
  • Environmental Compliance Inspector
  • Environmental Inspector
  • Environmental Protection Specialist
  • Environmental Quality Analyst
  • Resource Conservation and Recovery Act Enforcement Officer (RCRA Enforcement Officer)
  • Toxics Program Officer
  • Waste Management Specialist

Education and Training of Environmental Compliance Inspector

Environmental Compliance Inspector is categorized in Job Zone Four: Considerable Preparation Needed

Experience Required for Environmental Compliance Inspector

A considerable amount of work-related skill, knowledge, or experience is needed for these occupations. For example, an accountant must complete four years of college and work for several years in accounting to be considered qualified.

Education Required for Environmental Compliance Inspector

Most of these occupations require a four-year bachelor's degree, but some do not.

Degrees Related to Environmental Compliance Inspector

Training Required for Environmental Compliance Inspector

Employees in these occupations usually need several years of work-related experience, on-the-job training, and/or vocational training.

Related Ocuupations

Some Ocuupations related to Environmental Compliance Inspector in different industries are

What Do Environmental Compliance Inspector do?

  • Determine the nature of code violations and actions to be taken, and issue written notices of violation, participating in enforcement hearings, as necessary.
  • Examine permits, licenses, applications, and records to ensure compliance with licensing requirements.
  • Prepare, organize, and maintain inspection records.
  • Interview individuals to determine the nature of suspected violations and to obtain evidence of violations.
  • Prepare written, oral, tabular, and graphic reports summarizing requirements and regulations, including enforcement and chain of custody documentation.
  • Monitor follow-up actions in cases where violations were found, and review compliance monitoring reports.
  • Investigate complaints and suspected violations regarding illegal dumping, pollution, pesticides, product quality, or labeling laws.
  • Inspect waste pretreatment, treatment, and disposal facilities and systems for conformance to federal, state, or local regulations.
  • Inform individuals and groups of pollution control regulations and inspection findings, and explain how problems can be corrected.
  • Determine sampling locations and methods, and collect water or wastewater samples for analysis, preserving samples with appropriate containers and preservation methods.
  • Verify that hazardous chemicals are handled, stored, and disposed of in accordance with regulations.
  • Research and keep informed of pertinent information and developments in areas such as EPA laws and regulations.
  • Determine which sites and violation reports to investigate, and coordinate compliance and enforcement activities with other government agencies.
  • Observe and record field conditions, gathering, interpreting, and reporting data such as flow meter readings and chemical levels.
  • Learn and observe proper safety precautions, rules, regulations, and practices so that unsafe conditions can be recognized and proper safety protocols implemented.
  • Evaluate label information for accuracy and conformance to regulatory requirements.
  • Inform health professionals, property owners, and the public about harmful properties and related problems of water pollution and contaminated wastewater.
  • Analyze and implement state, federal or local requirements as necessary to maintain approved pretreatment, pollution prevention, and storm water runoff programs.
  • Perform laboratory tests on samples collected, such as analyzing the content of contaminated wastewater.
  • Review and evaluate applications for registration of products containing dangerous materials, or for pollution control discharge permits.
  • Research and perform calculations related to landscape allowances, discharge volumes, production-based and alternative limits, and wastewater strength classifications, making recommendations and completing documentation.
  • Participate in the development of spill prevention programs and hazardous waste rules and regulations, and recommend corrective actions for hazardous waste problems.
  • Maintain and repair materials, work sites, and equipment.
  • Conduct research on hazardous waste management projects to determine the magnitude of problems and treatment or disposal alternatives and costs.
  • Respond to questions and inquiries, such as those concerning service charges and capacity fees, or refer them to supervisors.
  • Prepare data to calculate sewer service charges and capacity fees.

Qualities of Good Environmental Compliance Inspector

  • Problem Sensitivity: The ability to tell when something is wrong or is likely to go wrong. It does not involve solving the problem, only recognizing that there is a problem.
  • Written Comprehension: The ability to read and understand information and ideas presented in writing.
  • Oral Expression: The ability to communicate information and ideas in speaking so others will understand.
  • Oral Comprehension: The ability to listen to and understand information and ideas presented through spoken words and sentences.
  • Deductive Reasoning: The ability to apply general rules to specific problems to produce answers that make sense.
  • Inductive Reasoning: The ability to combine pieces of information to form general rules or conclusions (includes finding a relationship among seemingly unrelated events).
  • Written Expression: The ability to communicate information and ideas in writing so others will understand.
  • Near Vision: The ability to see details at close range (within a few feet of the observer).
  • Flexibility of Closure: The ability to identify or detect a known pattern (a figure, object, word, or sound) that is hidden in other distracting material.
  • Information Ordering: The ability to arrange things or actions in a certain order or pattern according to a specific rule or set of rules (e.g., patterns of numbers, letters, words, pictures, mathematical operations).
  • Speech Clarity: The ability to speak clearly so others can understand you.
  • Speech Recognition: The ability to identify and understand the speech of another person.
  • Category Flexibility: The ability to generate or use different sets of rules for combining or grouping things in different ways.
  • Perceptual Speed: The ability to quickly and accurately compare similarities and differences among sets of letters, numbers, objects, pictures, or patterns. The things to be compared may be presented at the same time or one after the other. This ability also includes comparing a presented object with a remembered object.
  • Far Vision: The ability to see details at a distance.
  • Number Facility: The ability to add, subtract, multiply, or divide quickly and correctly.
  • Fluency of Ideas: The ability to come up with a number of ideas about a topic (the number of ideas is important, not their quality, correctness, or creativity).
  • Mathematical Reasoning: The ability to choose the right mathematical methods or formulas to solve a problem.
  • Visualization: The ability to imagine how something will look after it is moved around or when its parts are moved or rearranged.
  • Selective Attention: The ability to concentrate on a task over a period of time without being distracted.
  • Speed of Closure: The ability to quickly make sense of, combine, and organize information into meaningful patterns.
  • Originality: The ability to come up with unusual or clever ideas about a given topic or situation, or to develop creative ways to solve a problem.
  • Auditory Attention: The ability to focus on a single source of sound in the presence of other distracting sounds.
  • Memorization: The ability to remember information such as words, numbers, pictures, and procedures.
  • Visual Color Discrimination: The ability to match or detect differences between colors, including shades of color and brightness.
  • Time Sharing: The ability to shift back and forth between two or more activities or sources of information (such as speech, sounds, touch, or other sources).
  • Hearing Sensitivity: The ability to detect or tell the differences between sounds that vary in pitch and loudness.
  • Depth Perception: The ability to judge which of several objects is closer or farther away from you, or to judge the distance between you and an object.
  • Finger Dexterity: The ability to make precisely coordinated movements of the fingers of one or both hands to grasp, manipulate, or assemble very small objects.
  • Multilimb Coordination: The ability to coordinate two or more limbs (for example, two arms, two legs, or one leg and one arm) while sitting, standing, or lying down. It does not involve performing the activities while the whole body is in motion.
  • Spatial Orientation: The ability to know your location in relation to the environment or to know where other objects are in relation to you.
  • Trunk Strength: The ability to use your abdominal and lower back muscles to support part of the body repeatedly or continuously over time without "giving out" or fatiguing.
  • Control Precision: The ability to quickly and repeatedly adjust the controls of a machine or a vehicle to exact positions.
  • Arm-Hand Steadiness: The ability to keep your hand and arm steady while moving your arm or while holding your arm and hand in one position.
  • Static Strength: The ability to exert maximum muscle force to lift, push, pull, or carry objects.
  • Response Orientation: The ability to choose quickly between two or more movements in response to two or more different signals (lights, sounds, pictures). It includes the speed with which the correct response is started with the hand, foot, or other body part.
  • Sound Localization: The ability to tell the direction from which a sound originated.
  • Manual Dexterity: The ability to quickly move your hand, your hand together with your arm, or your two hands to grasp, manipulate, or assemble objects.
  • Extent Flexibility: The ability to bend, stretch, twist, or reach with your body, arms, and/or legs.
  • Stamina: The ability to exert yourself physically over long periods of time without getting winded or out of breath.
  • Dynamic Strength: The ability to exert muscle force repeatedly or continuously over time. This involves muscular endurance and resistance to muscle fatigue.
  • Reaction Time: The ability to quickly respond (with the hand, finger, or foot) to a signal (sound, light, picture) when it appears.
  • Rate Control: The ability to time your movements or the movement of a piece of equipment in anticipation of changes in the speed and/or direction of a moving object or scene.
  • Gross Body Coordination: The ability to coordinate the movement of your arms, legs, and torso together when the whole body is in motion.
  • Gross Body Equilibrium: The ability to keep or regain your body balance or stay upright when in an unstable position.
  • Peripheral Vision: The ability to see objects or movement of objects to one's side when the eyes are looking ahead.
  • Glare Sensitivity: The ability to see objects in the presence of a glare or bright lighting.
  • Night Vision: The ability to see under low-light conditions.
  • Speed of Limb Movement: The ability to quickly move the arms and legs.
  • Wrist-Finger Speed: The ability to make fast, simple, repeated movements of the fingers, hands, and wrists.
  • Explosive Strength: The ability to use short bursts of muscle force to propel oneself (as in jumping or sprinting), or to throw an object.
  • Dynamic Flexibility: The ability to quickly and repeatedly bend, stretch, twist, or reach out with your body, arms, and/or legs.

Tools Used by Environmental Compliance Inspector

  • Aluminum ladders
  • Atmosphere monitors
  • Bacon bomb samplers
  • Benthic grab samplers
  • Bladder pumps
  • Bottom fill bailers
  • Box corers
  • Bucket augers
  • Centrifugal water sampling pumps
  • Chlorine samplers
  • Chlorophyll-a probes
  • Colorimetric field sampling devices
  • Composite liquid waste samplers COLIWASA
  • Conductance meters
  • Continuous flame ionization detectors FID
  • Continuous water quality monitors
  • Dataloggers
  • Desktop computers
  • Differential photometers
  • Dissolved oxygen probes
  • Double check valve bailers
  • Ekman grab samplers
  • Enzyme immunoassay kits
  • Extractive Fourier transform infrared FTIR spectrometers
  • Flowmeters
  • Fuel fluorescence detectors FFD
  • Graphite furnace atomic absorption GFAA spectrometers
  • Gravity corers
  • Ground penetrating radar GPR
  • Groundwater sampling peristaltic pumps
  • Hand corers
  • Hand sampling pumps
  • Headspace vials
  • Helium-neon lasers
  • Hydraulic vibracorers
  • Inductively coupled plasma ICP spectrophotometers
  • Infrared IR spectrometers
  • Interferometers
  • Ion selective electrode ISE testers
  • Kemmerer depth samplers
  • Laboratory analytical balances
  • Laboratory dropping pipettes
  • Laptop computers
  • Laser-induced breakdown spectrometers LIBS
  • Laser-induced fluorescence LIF instruments
  • Liquid chromatographs LC
  • Liquid grab samplers
  • Magnetic locators
  • Mass spectrometers
  • Measuring cylinders
  • Membrane interface probes MIP
  • Mercury vapor analyzers
  • Mobile cone penetrometer MCP systems
  • Optical beamsplitting devices
  • Passive diffusion bag PDB samplers
  • pH indicators
  • Photoionization detectors PID
  • Piezoelectric sensors
  • Ponar dredge samplers
  • Pond samplers
  • Portable gas chromatographs GC
  • Portable mass spectrometers MS
  • Portable two way radios
  • Power augers
  • Progressive cavity sampling pumps
  • Reciprocating piston sampling pumps
  • Rotary hammer systems
  • Russian peat borers
  • Sample bottles
  • Sample collection chambers
  • Sampling triers
  • Sand corers
  • Scaffolding
  • Sediment sieves
  • Shelby tube samplers
  • Specific conductance probes
  • Spectrophotometers
  • Split core samplers
  • Split spoon samplers
  • Suction-lift pumps
  • Surface acoustic wave sensors SAWS
  • Syringe pumps
  • Thief samplers
  • Total petroleum hydrocarbon TPH analyzers
  • Turbidity probes
  • Ultraviolet fluorescence UVF test kits
  • Van Dorn samplers
  • Van Veen grab samplers
  • Volatile organic compound VOC measurement devices
  • Waste pile samplers
  • Wastewater samplers
  • Water quality data sondes
  • Water sampling gear pumps
  • Weighted bottle samplers
  • Wheaton dip samplers
  • Wireline samplers
  • X ray fluorescence XRF spectrometers

Technology Skills required for Environmental Compliance Inspector

  • Adobe Acrobat
  • Autodesk AutoCAD
  • Database software
  • DQO-PRO
  • Enterprise resource planning ERP software
  • Environmental Knowledge and Assessment Tool EKAT
  • Field Operations and Records Management System (FORMS) II Lite
  • Fully Integrated Environmental Location Decision Support FIELDS
  • Geographic information system GIS software
  • HRS Quickscore
  • Mass Flux Toolkit
  • Microsoft Access
  • Microsoft Excel
  • Microsoft Office software
  • Microsoft Outlook
  • Microsoft PowerPoint
  • Microsoft Project
  • Microsoft SharePoint
  • Microsoft Word
  • Monitoring and Remediation Optimization System MAROS
  • Rapid Assessment Tools R.A.T.
  • Salesforce software
  • SAP software
  • Spatial Analysis and Decision Assistance SADA
  • Sustainable Management Approaches and Revitalization Tools SMARTe
  • Tibco Scribe Software
  • UNIX
  • Word processing software