“Every time a regulation changes, it creates a whole domino effect.”
Soon after landing a position as an environmental health and safety manager for a pharmaceutical company, Linda Barcomb realized she needed to develop some practical on-the-job skills.
“Every time a regulation changes, it creates a whole domino effect,” she says. “As a manager, you have to be sure that applicable site changes occur; you have to update training content, and you have to update site communications.”
Barcomb who completed the UCSC Extension dual Environmental Health and Safety and Occupational Health and Safety Management certificate program still references her notes from her “Industrial Hygiene” and “Toxicology, Principles” when she needs a quick refresher on the job.
“Because of UCSC Extension, I got all the background information I needed to start implementing programs,” she says.
EH&S managers must be equipped with both subject area knowledge and the soft skills necessary to translate technical information to their teams.
“UCSC Extension’s program was very practical; it taught me how to do what I needed to do the next day at work.”
After gaining the practical skills she needed at UCSC Extension, Barcomb went on to complete a master’s degree in Environmental Management at the University of San Francisco. She later referred one of her employees to UCSC Extension.
“The highest recommendation I can make is that I saw a lot of growth in one of my direct reports after she completed the program,” she says. “Because of the courses she took at UCSC Extension, she was able to explain to people why we’re doing what we do, and how to stay compliant.”
Barcomb completed the dual certificates in the early 2000s and later returned for annual trainings.
Update
Last we heard, she was an EHS manager at Stanford University School of Medicine.