Long Overdue Job Update
There are 3 main parts of my job as an Associate Biologist in the Safety Department at the Revlon Research Center (yup, you read that correctly. I'm a biologist, even though I didn't take a single biology class at Muhlenberg.) But my job actually has little to do with biology. Here is a description of the 3 main parts:
Part 1 (The main part): Study Coordinator for safety studies at our outside contract labs - I review the all the formulas for the cosmetics and decide what we have to test and how to test it, depending on the type of product and the types of safety claims Product Development wants to make on it. Then I schedule the test with the contract lab, send samples, go on monitoring visits to make sure the contract lab is following the protocol, get the report, send out memos when the report is complete, repeat process for every study. I also have to budget for these tests based on projections from the chemists.
Part 2 (The most stressful part): Study Coordinator for our In-house 48 Hour Patch Test - The safety test we run most often is a 48 Hour Patch Test, done throughout the industry to test for primary irritation potential. My manager's manager, Victoria, also a relatively new hire (although a much more experienced one, obviously) decided that to save money, we should start running this test in-house. Victoria is brilliant, but she's definitely a big picture person, not a little-detail one. So I do everything from recruiting the panelists, doing the paperwork for the panelists (since the Consumer Evaluations Department, whom we work with for this study and who is supposed to also be involved in this project, but pretends they aren't. This is something they ought to be doing, but won't), screening the panelists, preparing patches with various cosmetics and applying them to the panelists' backs (!), collecting data, and writing the report. Like I said, this was supposed to be a team project, but nobody else really does any of the details, so it's just me. Con. Eval. just thinks they are involved, and Victoria is under pressure from her manager to get the program started and running independently of her, so it's all me. Next patch test is starting Sept 15.
Part 3 (My manager usually works more on this part, but she's on vacation so it's all me for now): Hazmat- I write MSDSs for non-hazardous products (I'll do hazardous products when I get DOT training), and I do weekly inspections to make sure that the hazardous waste is disposed of properly (drums labelled properly, etc) and that the chemists are following safety regulations in the labs. When I first started, there were a shocking number of violations. I actually caught a couple chemists eating M&Ms in the lab while mixing up batches of face cream. Things are improving. There were a couple of accidents and audits from the Dept of Environmental Protection, so I think the chemists and lab managers have been shaken up in a good way.
Then I do some miscellaneous stuff, like coding fragrance raw materials (we hired someone new and she will eventually take this over), the occasional French translation since we do a lot of work with France and get all sorts of French documents from them, and occasionally being a panelist for a claims study and testing a mascara or something. And I get a lot of free and discounted makeup.
I love love love my job. It's so interesting and I know I'm developing so many different skills, science and non-science related.
Argh, there is so much to talk about. I haven't even mentioned. But we have to get ready for Shabbat dinner.
Part 1 (The main part): Study Coordinator for safety studies at our outside contract labs - I review the all the formulas for the cosmetics and decide what we have to test and how to test it, depending on the type of product and the types of safety claims Product Development wants to make on it. Then I schedule the test with the contract lab, send samples, go on monitoring visits to make sure the contract lab is following the protocol, get the report, send out memos when the report is complete, repeat process for every study. I also have to budget for these tests based on projections from the chemists.
Part 2 (The most stressful part): Study Coordinator for our In-house 48 Hour Patch Test - The safety test we run most often is a 48 Hour Patch Test, done throughout the industry to test for primary irritation potential. My manager's manager, Victoria, also a relatively new hire (although a much more experienced one, obviously) decided that to save money, we should start running this test in-house. Victoria is brilliant, but she's definitely a big picture person, not a little-detail one. So I do everything from recruiting the panelists, doing the paperwork for the panelists (since the Consumer Evaluations Department, whom we work with for this study and who is supposed to also be involved in this project, but pretends they aren't. This is something they ought to be doing, but won't), screening the panelists, preparing patches with various cosmetics and applying them to the panelists' backs (!), collecting data, and writing the report. Like I said, this was supposed to be a team project, but nobody else really does any of the details, so it's just me. Con. Eval. just thinks they are involved, and Victoria is under pressure from her manager to get the program started and running independently of her, so it's all me. Next patch test is starting Sept 15.
Part 3 (My manager usually works more on this part, but she's on vacation so it's all me for now): Hazmat- I write MSDSs for non-hazardous products (I'll do hazardous products when I get DOT training), and I do weekly inspections to make sure that the hazardous waste is disposed of properly (drums labelled properly, etc) and that the chemists are following safety regulations in the labs. When I first started, there were a shocking number of violations. I actually caught a couple chemists eating M&Ms in the lab while mixing up batches of face cream. Things are improving. There were a couple of accidents and audits from the Dept of Environmental Protection, so I think the chemists and lab managers have been shaken up in a good way.
Then I do some miscellaneous stuff, like coding fragrance raw materials (we hired someone new and she will eventually take this over), the occasional French translation since we do a lot of work with France and get all sorts of French documents from them, and occasionally being a panelist for a claims study and testing a mascara or something. And I get a lot of free and discounted makeup.
I love love love my job. It's so interesting and I know I'm developing so many different skills, science and non-science related.
Argh, there is so much to talk about. I haven't even mentioned. But we have to get ready for Shabbat dinner.