What does an environmental compliance specialist do?
The job of an environmental compliance specialist is to inspect the industrial sources of pollution that cause environmental hazards and make sure companies adhere to the state and federal environmental laws. Most of your work will revolve around investigating complaints of alleged violations of environmental laws, such as excessive emissions and illegal dumping. Other duties include collecting evidence, such as water samples, for laboratory analysis, conducting research on the environmental effect of waste material from manufacturing industries, and developing the waste management program.
Environmental compliance specialist responsibilities
Here are examples of responsibilities from real environmental compliance specialist resumes:
- Work on a team that implement and achieve ISO 14001 certification.
- Provide EHS regulatory compliance services to several federal government clients and manage hazardous waste documentation databases.
- Provide training on the SDS.
- Provide oversight to contractors and company employees in the implementation of these projects.
- Automate all ISO forms and documents to a digital format to facilitate document controls and improve turnaround time.
- Compile monthly, quarterly and annual environmental reports to governing agencies in each state, as well as EPA.
- Institute shop-specific MSDS stations with weekly updates/inspection.
- Provide compliance paperwork to EPA, and interface with corporate leadership to modify or adapt necessary changes/improvements.
- Supervise demolition and abatement of asbestos and lead containing materials; coordinate selection of contractors and third party oversight consultants.
- Supervise facility and material flow diagram design/drafting via AutoCAD, and final permit renewal application documents preparation for TCEQ evaluation/approval.
- Participate in PSM, PSSR, and PHA processes.
- Collect water samples and perform bacteriological and chemical analysis of sample utilizing GPS.
- Perform horizontal and vertical control survey utilizing GPS methods and supplementing vertical control with differential leveling techniques.
- Streamline regulatory recordkeeping by revising existing inspection/maintenance processes to include environmentally-requir information, to eliminate duplication of effort.
- Present corporate HSE awareness topics to pipeline and terminal facility personnel.
Environmental compliance specialist skills and personality traits
We calculated that 7% of Environmental Compliance Specialists are proficient in Hazardous Materials, Corrective Action, and Environmental Regulations. They’re also known for soft skills such as Analytical skills, Communication skills, and Problem-solving skills.
We break down the percentage of Environmental Compliance Specialists that have these skills listed on their resume here:
- Hazardous Materials, 7%
Maintain inventories of hazardous materials and hazardous waste using waste tracking systems to ensure that materials are handled properly.
- Corrective Action, 6%
Conducted safety compliance and environmental compliance inspections to identify apparent and potential hazards that required corrective action.
- Environmental Regulations, 5%
Conduct on-site evaluations of hazardous and universal waste generators (industrial and hospitals) to ensure compliance with applicable environmental regulations.
- Air Emissions, 4%
Submit Semi-Annual and Annual Air Emissions Inventory Report.
- Compliance Reports, 4%
Prepared and submitted all required reports, notices, regulatory correspondence and non-compliance reporting.
- RCRA, 4%
Managed 90-day RCRA HazWaste storage facility, constantly updating inventory of all material to ensure regulatory compliance.
"hazardous materials," "corrective action," and "environmental regulations" are among the most common skills that environmental compliance specialists use at work. You can find even more environmental compliance specialist responsibilities below, including:
Analytical skills. The most essential soft skill for an environmental compliance specialist to carry out their responsibilities is analytical skills. This skill is important for the role because "environmental scientists and specialists base their conclusions on careful analysis of scientific data." Additionally, an environmental compliance specialist resume shows how their duties depend on analytical skills: "water quality: coordinate field inspections, sampling, and data collection activities associated with tpdes programs. "
Communication skills. Many environmental compliance specialist duties rely on communication skills. "environmental scientists and specialists may need to present and explain their findings to audiences of varying backgrounds and write technical reports.," so an environmental compliance specialist will need this skill often in their role. This resume example is just one of many ways environmental compliance specialist responsibilities rely on communication skills: "fostered communication between project applicants and regulatory agencies to address potential problems with projects. "
Problem-solving skills. This is an important skill for environmental compliance specialists to perform their duties. For an example of how environmental compliance specialist responsibilities depend on this skill, consider that "environmental scientists and specialists try to find the best possible solution to problems that affect the environment and people’s health." This excerpt from a resume also shows how vital it is to everyday roles and responsibilities of an environmental compliance specialist: "investigated complaints regarding wastewater pretreatment, stormwater and hazardous materials/wastes activities; prepared incident reports; analyzed data and resolved issues. ".
See the full list of environmental compliance specialist skills
The three companies that hire the most environmental compliance specialists are:
- Black & Veatch82 environmental compliance specialists jobs
- State of Georgia: Teachers Retirement System of Georgia18 environmental compliance specialists jobs
- American Water11 environmental compliance specialists jobs
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Compare different environmental compliance specialists
Environmental compliance specialist vs. Air pollution inspector
Specialists are employees who are responsible for specific tasks or activities in the department they are assigned to. The actions or tasks they work on are related to their educational background or work experiences. They are usually highly skilled in specializations related to the work they are assigned to. Specialists are also highly trained on the competencies that are required of their specialty. As such, they are focused on the skills and competencies that are needed to enhance their experience in their specific field further.
There are some key differences in the responsibilities of each position. For example, environmental compliance specialist responsibilities require skills like "hazardous materials," "corrective action," "environmental regulations," and "compliance reports." Meanwhile a typical air pollution inspector has skills in areas such as "inspection reports," "air pollution control," "federal air," and "public health." This difference in skills reveals the differences in what each career does.
The education levels that air pollution inspectors earn slightly differ from environmental compliance specialists. In particular, air pollution inspectors are 7.5% less likely to graduate with a Master's Degree than an environmental compliance specialist. Additionally, they're 1.2% less likely to earn a Doctoral Degree.Environmental compliance specialist vs. Sanitation inspector
Each career also uses different skills, according to real environmental compliance specialist resumes. While environmental compliance specialist responsibilities can utilize skills like "corrective action," "environmental regulations," "air emissions," and "compliance reports," sanitation inspectors use skills like "food safety," "usda," "food preparation," and "investigation findings."
Sanitation inspectors earn lower levels of education than environmental compliance specialists in general. They're 6.7% less likely to graduate with a Master's Degree and 1.2% less likely to earn a Doctoral Degree.What technology do you think will become more important and prevalent for environmental compliance specialists in the next 3-5 years?
Shannon Farrell Ph.D.
Assistant Professor, SUNY College of Environmental Science and Forestry
Environmental compliance specialist vs. Industrial waste inspector
The required skills of the two careers differ considerably. For example, environmental compliance specialists are more likely to have skills like "hazardous materials," "corrective action," "air emissions," and "compliance reports." But a industrial waste inspector is more likely to have skills like "pollution prevention," "destructive testing," "inspection reports," and "on-site inspections."
Most industrial waste inspectors achieve a similar degree level compared to environmental compliance specialists. For example, they're 3.8% less likely to graduate with a Master's Degree, and 1.2% less likely to earn a Doctoral Degree.Environmental compliance specialist vs. Specialist
Types of environmental compliance specialist
Updated January 8, 2025
