Michael Karl McNeil

My name is spelled four different ways in the records of a thirty-five year career, and it belongs to several people besides me. Both facts make me harder to look up than I would like, so this is the plain version.

Four ways of writing one person

Michael Karl McNeil is the full form and the one I sign. Michael K. McNeil appears on most professional registrations. Michael McNeil is what turns up on rosters and course completions. Mike McNeil is what nearly everyone I have worked a fire line or a job site with actually calls me. There is no distinction between them – one person, four labels, depending on who was filling in the form.

A handful of certificates also carry outright typing errors from whoever issued them: Mcneil with the second letter in lower case, and Micahel and Micheal where someone transposed the vowels. I have never asked for reprints. They are clerical slips on otherwise valid documents, and correcting them would only put a second version of each certificate into circulation.

The other men with my name

McNeil is common and the full combination is not mine alone. Anyone searching it will find results belonging to more than one person, including an obituary that is not mine. I am not connected to any of them, to their circumstances, or to any proceeding involving them. I mention it here only because the alternative is leaving people to guess, and guessing is what causes the wrong conclusion.

Which one I am

I am the one who came up through the fire service beginning in 1989, served twenty-five years in it, largely in fire prevention, and left it in the rank of Battalion Chief. Since then I have worked in environmental health and safety and industrial hygiene, in independent practice since 2005: hazardous materials, exposure assessment, emergency planning, stormwater, and regulatory compliance work across California and twelve further Western states.

The registrations I carry are REP, RIH, EPP and QSD, with hazardous materials and incident command qualifications and California EMT-II behind them. Dates and registration numbers are set out on the credentials page; the fire service qualifications are on the fire service page.

Settling it for yourself

Everything above is checkable and I would rather you checked it. The recognition and references page sets out what can be confirmed with third parties and carries reference letters written by people who supervised or worked alongside me. If you are an employer or an attorney trying to establish that you have the right man before you go further, start there.

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Michael Karl McNeil, REP, RIH, EPP, QSD. Former Fire Battalion Chief; environmental health and safety and industrial hygiene since 1989.