V-tech Environmental Services is Featured in WorkSource of the South Plains Business Highlight Story
Local Business Receives Training and Once in a Lifetime Opportunity
V-tech Environmental Services, a locally owned business in Lubbock, has recently returned from New Orleans after fourteen months of assisting in the clean-up efforts following Hurricane Katrina and Hurricane Rita. V-tech was contracted by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to perform environmental consulting and recovery of abandoned cylinders and containers. V-tech owner Polly Vann attributes this success in part to WorkSource for the skills development training provided to her
employees in 2005.
In 2005, V-tech applied for a WorkSource Skills Enhancement Grant to train its incumbent workers in the field of biotechnology. WorkSource funded the application in the amount of $5,000 which was used to enhance the skills of five V-tech employees by way of individualized training curriculum. Employees received training in Emergency Response, Project Management, Radiation Safety, Hydrogen Sulfide Safety and Customer Service. V-tech matched the WorkSource skills training grant with a guaranteed salary increase for those employees who completed the training and created two new jobs within the company.
Ms. Vann attributes a great deal of the business’s recent success to the training project funded by WorkSource. “The skills grant gave us the tools to effectively respond in a national disaster such as Hurricanes Rita and Katrina. Our firm was able to provide twelve emergency response technicians for that project alone. And, we were able to hire three people who were unemployed when the call came from the U.S. EPA to respond.
Upon completion of the customized training, V-tech was able to receive certification as an emergency responder, which ultimately positioned the business to partner with the EPA to assist in providing emergency response technicians for the disaster recovery plan for the New Orleans area.
In addition, Ms. Vann believes that without this much-needed training, her staff would not have gained the experience and knowledge necessary to seek licensure under the Department of State Health Services Radiation Program for the management and disposal of Naturally Occurring Radioactive Materials.
James Beavis of V-tech managed the 510 Hazardous Waste Collection area for 5 months. His crew was responsible for receiving and classifying over 100,000 drums of unknown content.
Barrett Pierce of V-tech is shown with a U.S. EPA On-Scene Commander (OSC). Both men were assessing the condition of an abandoned waste oil tank lying in the marsh.