Head of Safety (Manufacturing/Construction)

About the Role

The Head of Safety (Manufacturing/Construction) is responsible for developing, implementing, and continuously improving the company’s safety and risk management programs across both prefabrication operations and field installation crews. This role leads the organization in creating a best-in-class safety culture focused on proactiveness and accountability embedded directly into production. The position minimizes risk exposure and reduces incident rates and EMR through effective incident prevention, training, enforcement, and claims management practices ensuring compliance with regulatory requirements and company policy. The Head of Safety operates at both a strategic and operational level, partnering with executive leadership, field & prefab facility operations, and project teams to embed safety into all aspects of work execution.

Responsibilities

• Promote a Safety Culture:
  • Champion a "think safe- work safe" culture across all levels of the organization and collaborate with management and employees to motivate and ensure engagement and accountability in safety initiatives.
  • Establish and communicate a clear company-wide safety vision, strategy, and expectations aligned with “best-in-class” performance.
  • Drive a behavior-based safety culture that emphasizes safe production as the expectation, not a tradeoff.
  • Ensure employees at all levels are expected to identify hazards, empowered to initiate improvements or stop work, and held accountable for unsafe behaviors.
  • Lead initiatives that reinforce daily safety ownership at the crew or jig level.
  • Partner with operations leadership to integrate safety into planning, scheduling, and production expectations.
  • Drive consistency across multiple crews, foremen, and jobsites, often under varying GC-controlled environments.
  • Align internal culture with external site rules (GCs/owners) while maintaining company standards.
  • Ensure immediate correction of unsafe behaviors, unsafe conditions, and non-compliance with company or GC standards.
  • Create a structured system for progressive discipline and corrective action tracking.
• Risk Assessment and Mitigation:
  • Conduct regular site and prefab facility inspections, audits, and job hazard analyses (JHAs) to proactively identify potential hazards and implement corrective measures.
• Training and Education:
  • Oversee the development of safety training programs for employees, managers, and subcontractors on safe work practices, hazard recognition, emergency response, and proper handling of materials or equipment.
  • Develop front-line supervisors’ safety leadership so that safety is owned at the crew level, not just by the safety staff.
• Claims Management & Risk Control:
  • Actively manage WC, GL, and Auto claims across insurance carriers, third-party administrators, legal, and internal HR/Operations.
  • Implement best practices in reducing claim severity and return-to-work programs.
  • Identify root causes to feed changes back to training and enforcement.
• Policy and Program Development:
  • Create, implement, and update comprehensive health and safety policies, procedures, and manuals in compliance with regulatory requirements.
• Data Analysis and Metrics:
  • Oversee tracking, analysis, and reporting on safety Key Performance Indicators (KPIs), trends, and incident rates to leadership to drive continuous improvement.
  • Oversee Safety Manager’s development of project and task-specific safety programs such as JSAs.
  • Attend Safety Manager-led Safety Committee meetings to receive feedback and drive safety initiatives.
  • Oversee Safety Manager pre-planning jobsite meetings and attend or conduct meetings when required.
  • Ensure all employees achieve proper training requirements as per OSHA and company standards; facilitate training for site personnel if necessary.
  • Stop any violation or unsafe practice immediately.
  • Oversee Safety Manager-led investigation of incidents, root cause analysis, reporting, trend development, and corrective actions.
  • Annually review and update the company Health and Safety Program to ensure compliance with local, state, and federal regulations.
• Other duties and projects as assigned.

Requirements

• Associates or bachelor’s degree in Occupational Safety, Environmental Health, Industrial Engineering, or related fields.
• OSHA 30 Construction Industry and/or General Industry Certification.
• CSP, CSD, OSHA 500, CHST (preferred).
• 7-10 years’ experience in a safety leadership role proven to establish and improve safety culture.
• Proficiency in MS Office 365.
• Prior experience in conducting safety training both on-site and in a classroom setting.

Preferred Qualifications

• Prior experience in a field construction role.
• Knowledge in advanced manufacturing technology and welding.
• Previous work in an industrial construction environment.

Skills

• Strong ability to drive behavior change across field and prefab facility operations.
• Deep understanding of trade contractor operations.
• Experience with multi-site, crew-based production environments.
• Expertise in claims management and cost control.
• Ability to bring structure and consistency across decentralized operations teams.
• Balance of enforcement, coaching, and operational alignment.
• Ability to improve the immediate performance of others, facilitate skill development, and give feedback effectively.
• Self-motivated to grow personally and professionally through ongoing education.
• Ability to sense the feelings, needs, perspectives, and concerns of others to build relationships.
• Effective communication skills (listening, speaking, and behaving) to build relationships.
• Ability to evaluate, select, and act on various methods and strategies for solving problems and meeting objectives.
• Ability to communicate to educate or influence decisions.
• Ability to convince others to accept a position, proposal, or plan of action.
• Ability to develop and use effective strategies, change management, and interpersonal skills to influence others.
• Ability to identify or participate in identifying changes and new approaches to benefit employees, customers, and the organization.

Physical Requirements

• Full dexterity of hands and arms.
• Ability to see objects both close and far away.
• Ability to focus on specific sounds in noisy environments.
• Must be fit for duty and not under the influence of mind-altering or performance-altering substances at any time.
• Must not possess or use mind or performance-altering substances while performing any company task.

Supervisory Responsibilities

• Oversee Safety Manager.
• Oversee admin services staff with partial safety admin responsibilities.

Benefits

• Medical Insurance
• Medical Gap Insurance
• Dental Insurance
• Vision Insurance
• Basic Life and AD&D Insurance
• Basic Short-Term Disability
• Voluntary Long-Term Disability
• Employee Assistance Program
• 401K
• Employee Referral Program

The following PA Act 153 clearances, or proof of application of clearances, are required beginning employment and as a condition of continued employment: Pennsylvania Child Abuse History Clearance, Pennsylvania State Police Criminal Record Check, FBI Fingerprint Criminal Background Check.