Beyond the call of duty

USQ staff members contribute to the community in many ways, and it’s not always after work hours that their expertise is needed.

Faculty of Sciences Senior Technical Officer Kim Larsen is a volunteer scientific advisor in the Scientific Branch of Queensland Fire and Rescue.

Kim carries a pager with him to work each day as he is on 24-hour call.
He has an agreement with USQ to attend training days as approved duties, and also to attend call-outs and be on hand to offer advice during work hours.

In an average year he deals with five or six calls relating to incidents, and attends about three or four jobs.
The area he covers can extend 200 kilometres from Toowoomba.

Kim said most jobs only took two to three hours, although there had been a recent incident at Beef City where 900 litres of super-cooled ammonia was spilled. It took about seven hours to clean up.

Kim was part of a team which monitored the spill and advised on the clean-up.  Some of his work can be done over the phone, particularly as it allows Kim to use a computer to gather vital information.

Over the past few years there have been a number of jobs relating to ‘white powder’ incidents, attended by a number of Scientific Advisors around the state. Usually it’s when someone sends white powder through the post, as was done recently to the Toowoomba Mayor.

Kim’s chemistry-lab-in-a-box comes in handy for the jobs which require on-the-spot testing.

Kim has worked at USQ for more than six years, although his association with the university goes back about 20 years.

In the eighties he did an Associate Diploma of Applied Science. He returned a few years later to do a Bachelor of Science degree majoring in Chemistry.

Kim is a chemistry and physics technician in Biological and Physical Sciences. His work includes chemistry demonstrations for students in undergraduate chemistry classes and support to post-graduate students.

He also has the enviable task of working with the wine-making classes at Stanthorpe, in his role supporting the Bachelor of Technology (Wine) degree.