Database staging environment for non-IT personnel

I'm in the process of proposing a database staging environment to my IT department. The idea is that a non-IT person like me (public works data analyst) would have a place to test solutions, and then either implement them in the live environment myself, or ask IT to implement them if needed. There are a few reasons/scenarios where this environment would be beneficial:

1. I have some basic database privileges in our live database environment (create table, create view, etc.). I make schema changes about once a week, but it seems insane for me to test and implement these changes in a live environment. There are countless dependencies on the database, so if something goes wrong, it could be disastrous. I'd much rather test things out ahead of time in a separate environment.
2. I don't have some of the more advanced privileges like create trigger or create function in the live database. This is fine, but I do have a few problems that could be solved by triggers and/or functions. I plan on proposing that I be granted these permissions in the staging environment so that I can develop and test some ideas, and if they work, propose that IT implement them in the live environment.
3. In general, my IT department doesn't have the time or resources to develop solutions for me. It's really that simple. So if I can do the legwork myself, then my problems are much more likely to be solved.

The 'staging environment for non-IT personnel' seems like a sound enough approach to me, but to be honest, I just made the idea up. I have no idea how this is typically done in the IT/database world.

Is there any sort of established IT/Database practice that would fit this scenario? (Am I on the right track when proposing a database staging environment for non-IT personnel?)