Process Safety Engineer

About the Role

This position is part of the process safety team at our Pennington, Alabama facility, reporting directly to the Chemical Process Safety Manager. The Process Safety Engineer will drive and support value-based strategies, provide technical direction, and influence leadership for process safety.

About the Facility

Georgia-Pacific’s Naheola Mill is a manufacturing site for the company’s well-known consumer products business. More than 950 employees produce a wide range of products, including Angel Soft® bath tissue, Sparkle® paper towels, and bleached paperboard used in Dixie® paper cups and plates. The mill is the largest employer in the community and actively supports local outreach, workforce development, and education.

The area offers a mild climate, low cost of living, and easy access to the Gulf Coast’s resort communities and beaches. It is also a sportsman’s paradise, with world-class hunting and recreational opportunities along the Tombigbee River.

Responsibilities

• Provide process safety leadership for the site, collaborating with the mill’s Leadership Team to ensure process safety systems reduce risk and maintain compliance.
• Foster process safety ownership within the organization through leadership, coordination, and coaching in alignment with risk-based process safety and Principle Based Management (PBM®).
• Lead risk assessments at the facility, including anticipating, identifying, and evaluating hazards, as well as formal Process Hazard Analyses (PHAs).
• Apply Process Safety Competency principles to integrate process safety as an operating discipline across all relevant roles at the mill.
• Assist Safety & Health (S&H) leadership in developing short- and long-term process safety objectives, targets, strategies, and measures to prioritize and mitigate risks.
• Utilize metrics to monitor process safety compliance.
• Review and validate process equipment design specifications, safeguard specifications, and operating procedures.
• Support and lead process incident investigations, developing effective corrective actions to prevent recurrence.
• Manage the mill’s process safety information, including P&IDs, PFDs, chemical compatibility matrices, and review new chemical approval requests.
• Serve as a mentor for technical and hourly employees to embed process safety as an everyday mission for continuous improvement in daily operations.

Requirements

• Bachelor’s Degree or higher in Chemical, Mechanical Engineering, Safety, or a related engineering/technical field.
• Three (3) or more years of experience in process engineering, process safety, mechanical integrity, or reliability within a PSM-regulated operation.
• Experience with Process Safety regulations, specifically 29 CFR 1910.119 and 40 CFR 68.
• Experience with Process Hazard Analysis (PHA).

Qualifications (Preferred)

• Five (5) or more years of experience in a process safety role or equivalent engineering experience with responsibility for a PSM-regulated asset or operation.
• Experience with Mechanical Integrity processes.
• Experience in the pulp & paper industry.
• Knowledge of manufacturing processes and basic equipment operation.