One-Man Environmental Disaster

As a company that strives for environmental excellence, I thought we’d take some time this month to consider our antithesis, a man specializing in environmental catastrophe: Thomas Midgley Jr. Once hailed by New Scientist magazine as a “one-man environmental disaster,” Midgley was a chemical engineer largely responsible for the invention of not one, but two […]

Continuous Improvement

I think it’s interesting to look at field work as a series of small actions that reverberate loudly. The care of the collection method, temperature of bottleware, or any number of other minute detail may influence the data collected as well as the decisions made based on that data. When you look at field work […]

Patience and Focus

Field work isn’t always the thrill-a-minute rollercoaster lifestyle one might at a glance presume it to be. A lot of times you’re alone in a field watching water slowly fill a container while a small machine ticks numbers away. And you have to stand there…. and wait for enough time to pass in between readings…. […]

Experience Counts

Oklahoma Environmental Services team in matching shirts and hats smiling next to equipment and vehicles

This month I thought I’d discuss the topic of experience. In a few short months, I’ll have my decadal workiversary, and during my time here at OES, I like to think I’ve learned quite a bit. Not just by doing things wrong, but also by watching other people do things wrong. That’s just a little […]

Spheksophobia

This month I’d like to address more concerns from a field technician’s perspective that might otherwise go unknown by folks not of the outdoorly employed persuasion. Namely BEES! Okay, so not solely bees in particular, they just happen to have a pithier name that’s more fun to yell. Specifically I’d like to address all creatures […]

When It’s Hot Outside…

Group accountability is necessary year-round, but we lean heavily on it in rough weather and tough times.

An Ode to Poison Ivy

poison ivy leaves

It is my intent to draw attention to the daily work life of techs and highlight some aspects that could easily be overlooked by folks who don’t venture outdoors professionally. I’d like to briefly discuss a hazard that doesn’t often get brought up, but that techs nonetheless deal with on the regular, and help make […]