EHS Specialist

About the role

Kemin is seeking an Environmental, Health & Safety (EHS) Specialist to join our team in Des Moines, Iowa. In this role, you will help foster a safe, compliant, and environmentally responsible workplace by delivering training programs, supporting safety and environmental initiatives, and ensuring adherence to regulatory requirements. The ideal candidate is a collaborative, hands-on professional who enjoys partnering with operations teams, including production, maintenance, warehouse, and engineering. This position will play a key role in conducting audits, inspections, and risk assessments to promote continuous improvement, maintain compliance, and minimize workplace risk.

Join the Kemin Team and Transform Lives! We are a privately held, family-owned-and-operated global biotechnology company driven by curiosity and committed to transforming the quality of life for people, pets, and the planet. We create solutions that strengthen health and wellbeing, provide nutrition and immune support for pets and production animals, safeguard the planet’s natural resources, and protect the global food supply chain for generations to come. We supply over 500 specialty ingredients for various industries, including human and animal health and nutrition, pet food, aquaculture, nutraceutical, food technologies, crop technologies, textiles, biofuels, and animal vaccines. We employ 3,500 global employees and operations in 90 countries, including manufacturing facilities in Belgium, Brazil, China, Egypt, India, Italy, San Marino, Singapore, South Africa, and the United States.

Responsibilities

• Develop and present general employee safety and environmental training and train-the-trainer sessions.
• Participate in incident investigations with the support of others to determine probably root causes and develop corrective action plans.
• Conduct inspections and audits, aid in developing corrective action (safety and environmental) and advise responsible management of conditions.
• Provide data collection and reporting, analyze accident trends and participate in the development of recommendations to improve results.
• Maintain records required to support safety requirements and training presentations.
• Assist with development, implementation and maintenance of EHS system policies, programs, and procedures in conjunction with EHS Manager.
• Take an active role in 5S and continuous improvement activities.
• Organize and lead the Safety Stand Down event, with the support of management.
• Help ensure all applicable internal and external reporting requirements are performed accurately and in a timely manner.

Qualifications

• Bachelors Degree in Occupational Safety & Health or other science related discipline such as Chemistry or Engineering highly preferred.
• OSHA 30 certification, First Aid/CPR certified, EMT-B certification, Firefighter 1 & 2 certification.
• Ability to successfully apply safety and/or environmental skills to help solve production issues, recommend process improvements and participate in job hazard analyses and worker safety program development.
• Familiarity with safety and environmental standards and regulations such as 29 and 40 CFR or the ability to learn these provisions of the Code of Federal Regulations along with state safety and environmental regulations.
• Willing to learn or some experience in recognizing, evaluating, and recommending controls for workplace hazards as well as work-related injury and illness.
• Team player able to interact with all levels of the organization to reduce incidents and improve compliance.
• Aptitude for dealing with challenging problems, developing strategies, prioritizing multiple tasks, and supporting the implementation of safety and environmental management programs.
• Have a strong drive to be present on the production floor daily and build relationships with front line team members.
• Ability to demonstrate creative ability in solving technical issues and working with others.
• Excellent oral, written and presentation skills.
• Ability to work in a fast paced and changing environment.
• Must have or can obtain certifications in order to support environmental compliance including air, wastewater, solid waste and hazardous waste (e.g. RCRA, SARA, CERCLA, OSHA, and DOT).