Safety Manager – Industrial Field Services
Career Path to Safety Director
Location: Company headquarters, with extensive travel to customer and project locations
Employment Type: Full-time
Reports To: President
Travel: Approximately 65%, including overnight and short-notice travel
About the Position
We are seeking an experienced, hands-on Safety Manager to lead and improve our company-wide safety program. This position supports approximately 70 field-service employees working in demanding industrial environments. Individual projects may include crews of approximately 22 employees working at a customer facility at one time.
This is not primarily a desk-based position. The Safety Manager must be comfortable visiting active industrial jobsites, conducting audits, coaching supervisors and employees, investigating incidents, leading training, maintaining regulatory compliance, and reporting directly to executive leadership.
The successful candidate will have the authority to stop work when an imminent danger, serious unsafe condition, or material safety violation is identified. The Safety Manager will also have the authority to remove unsafe equipment from service and require corrective action, retraining, or additional qualifications before work resumes.
Primary Responsibilities
Safety Program Leadership
- Develop, manage, and continuously improve the company’s safety program.
- Maintain compliance with applicable OSHA, MSHA, state, local, customer, insurance, and contractual requirements.
- Prepare an annual safety plan that includes training requirements, audit schedules, performance measures, and improvement priorities.
- Maintain the company safety manual, policies, procedures, forms, inspection documents, and training materials.
- Serve as the company’s principal safety contact for customers, insurance representatives, regulatory agencies, and contractor-prequalification organizations.
Field Audits and Jobsite Inspections
- Maintain a regular and visible presence at active field-service projects.
- Conduct planned and unannounced safety audits at customer locations.
- Evaluate compliance with company policies, customer requirements, OSHA standards, MSHA standards, and accepted safe-work practices.
- Inspect work areas, access systems, tools, equipment, rigging, lifting devices, mobile equipment, personal protective equipment, permits, and required documentation.
- Document findings, assign corrective actions, establish completion dates, and verify that corrections are effective before closing the finding.
- Recognize strong safety performance while addressing unsafe conditions and work practices.
- Provide management with clear recommendations for coaching, retraining, recognition, or corrective action.
Pre-Job Safety Planning
- Review customer safety requirements before employees are assigned or dispatched.
- Participate in project kickoff and preconstruction meetings when project risks or customer requirements warrant involvement.
- Assist with site-specific safety plans, job hazard analyses, job safety analyses, lift plans, rescue plans, and required permits.
- Confirm that employees have the required training, certifications, personal protective equipment, site credentials, and customer orientations before work begins.
- Verify that subcontractors and temporary employees meet company and customer safety requirements.
Training and Employee Qualifications
- Develop and maintain a company-wide training and certification matrix.
- Conduct new-hire safety orientation and recurring employee training.
- Deliver or coordinate OSHA, MSHA, First Aid, CPR, AED, and task-specific training within the limits of current instructor authorizations.
- Develop practical toolbox talks, safety alerts, supervisor materials, and lessons-learned communications.
- Monitor qualification and certification expiration dates.
- Ensure employees do not perform regulated or safety-sensitive work without current qualifications.
- Coach supervisors on conducting effective pre-shift meetings, toolbox talks, hazard reviews, and employee safety interventions.
Incident and Near-Miss Management
- Manage the reporting and investigation of injuries, property damage, vehicle accidents, near misses, and unsafe conditions.
- Respond promptly to significant incidents and travel to the location when an on-site investigation is required.
- Lead investigations using a disciplined root-cause process.
- Identify immediate causes, contributing factors, organizational issues, and required corrective actions.
- Determine OSHA and MSHA recordability and reporting requirements in coordination with company leadership and professional advisors.
- Maintain required OSHA logs and supporting records.
- Work with Human Resources and the company’s insurance carrier on workers’ compensation claims, medical restrictions, return-to-work programs, and claim management.
- Communicate lessons learned and monitor trends to identify recurring risks.
Compliance Systems and Recordkeeping
- Manage the company’s safety information and standing in systems such as:
- Avetta
- ISNetworld
- PEC Safety
- PICS or its successor platform
- Safety council systems
- Customer-specific contractor portals
- Maintain required insurance certificates, safety statistics, training records, written programs, regulatory information, and customer documentation.
- Identify and correct deficiencies that could affect customer access, bidding eligibility, contractor approval, or company reputation.
- Maintain organized and accurate safety records using Procore and other approved company systems.
- Protect confidential medical, personnel, and investigation information.
Executive Reporting and Leadership
- Prepare a weekly safety and reputation report for the President.
- Report incidents, investigations, field audits, corrective actions, training status, expiring credentials, customer-platform standing, regulatory concerns, positive observations, and emerging risks.
- Communicate serious hazards or compliance issues immediately rather than waiting for a scheduled report.
- Present safety performance during management and operating-review meetings.
- Develop field supervisors into stronger day-to-day safety leaders.
- Build productive relationships with field employees, project managers, operations leaders, customers, and executive management.
Required Qualifications
- At least five years of progressively responsible safety experience in industrial construction, industrial maintenance, heavy manufacturing, mining, field service, or a closely related environment.
- At least two years of safety leadership, supervision, or company-wide safety-program management experience.
- Demonstrated experience auditing active field crews and addressing hazards in real time.
- Current OSHA #500 or OSHA #501 qualification. Candidates holding both are preferred.
- Current MSHA-approved Part 48 instructor authorization, commonly referred to as an MSHA Blue Card.
- Current First Aid, CPR, and AED certification.
- First Aid, CPR, and AED instructor authorization, or the ability to obtain it promptly after employment.
- Working knowledge of OSHA and MSHA requirements applicable to industrial construction, maintenance, mining, and customer-site work.
- Strong knowledge of:
- Fall protection
- Confined-space entry
- Lockout/tagout
- Cranes, hoisting, and rigging
- Forklifts and powered industrial trucks
- Aerial lifts and mobile elevating work platforms
- Welding, cutting, and hot work
- Personal protective equipment
- Experience conducting audits, documenting findings, assigning corrective actions, and verifying completion.
- Experience investigating injuries, near misses, property damage, and vehicle incidents.
- Working knowledge of workers’ compensation, return-to-work practices, and injury recordkeeping.
- Strong proficiency with Microsoft Excel, Word, PowerPoint, Outlook, Teams, and Project.
- Ability to learn and effectively use Procore, training systems, safety-management software, and customer portals.
- Strong written, verbal, presentation, training, and interpersonal communication skills.
- Valid driver’s license and the ability to meet company vehicle and insurance requirements.
- Ability and willingness to travel extensively and work nights, weekends, holidays, or extended hours when required.
Preferred Qualifications
- Degree in occupational safety and health, industrial safety, engineering, construction management, industrial technology, or a related field.
- Certified Safety Professional, Construction Health and Safety Technician, Occupational Hygiene and Safety Technician, or a comparable professional designation.
- Both OSHA #500 and OSHA #501 trainer qualifications.
- Experience supporting heavy mechanical repair, rigging, welding, or equipment installation.
- Experience in cement, lime, mining, pulp and paper, industrial minerals, or other heavy-manufacturing facilities.
- Experience managing Avetta, ISNetworld, PEC Safety, PICS, safety council systems, and customer contractor portals.
- Experience using Procore Safety tools or a comparable field safety-management system.
- Experience working directly with OSHA, MSHA, customers, insurance carriers, and workers’ compensation representatives.
- Experience developing supervisors and establishing clear safety accountability throughout an organization.
Travel and Working Conditions
This position requires frequent travel to active industrial facilities throughout the company’s operating territory.
The Safety Manager must be able and willing to:
- Travel overnight approximately 65% of the time.
- Travel on short notice following a serious incident or customer concern.
- Work during nights, weekends, holidays, outages, and extended shifts.
- Work around extreme heat, cold, dust, noise, weather, moving equipment, elevated work areas, and active industrial operations.
- Walk and stand for extended periods.
- Access stairs, ladders, platforms, scaffolds, and elevated structures.
- Enter restricted or confined-space areas when properly trained and authorized.
- Wear all required personal protective equipment.
- Pass a respirator fit test.
Reasonable accommodations will be provided in accordance with applicable law.
Career Path to Safety Director
This position is intentionally structured as a two-year development path toward becoming the company’s Safety Director.
During the first year, the Safety Manager will be expected to learn the company’s operations, establish credibility with field employees, assess the current safety program, improve the audit and corrective-action process, standardize policies and training, and establish reliable reporting and recordkeeping systems.
During the second year, the successful candidate will be expected to lead company-wide safety strategy, manage the safety budget, present safety performance to executive leadership, develop a scalable safety organization, and demonstrate the ability to lead other safety personnel, consultants, and trainers.
Progression to Safety Director will depend on performance, leadership development, professional qualifications, company growth, and organizational needs.
What We Offer
- Direct access to executive leadership.
- Meaningful authority to improve field safety and company performance.
- Work that supports critical manufacturing plants and industrial infrastructure.
- A clear professional-development path toward Safety Director.
- Medical, dental, and vision coverage.
- Paid vacation and paid holidays.
- 401(k) plan with company match.
- Annual safety and performance bonus.
- A work environment built on trust, teamwork, accountability, open-mindedness, and direct communication.
Pay: $120,000.00 - $130,000.00 per year
Benefits:
- 401(k)
- 401(k) matching
- AD&D insurance
- Dental insurance
- Flexible spending account
- Health insurance
- Health savings account
- Life insurance
- Paid time off
- Vision insurance
Work Location: Hybrid remote in Pendergrass, GA 30567