Director, Safety Programs

The Team

The Director, Safety Programs develops and oversees a comprehensive safety program for the protection of employees and assets. The Director provides tactical leadership in the areas of risk analysis and engineering and administrative controls for all business disciplines, including safety program management, accident investigation, safety systems (such as safety climbs), personal protective equipment, fire protection, industrial hygiene, chemical hazards, and ergonomics. The Director also collaborates with senior leaders and the Safety Committee, reporting month-over-month accident and injury statistics and providing specific input regarding risk reduction strategies. The incumbent leads incident responses and orchestrates responses to abnormal events in close coordination with the Network Operations Center. The incumbent will also have an external leadership role as the public-facing safety expert for government, industry associations, and peer companies, as well as for communications with customers and vendors.

What You Need to Succeed

• College degree required, preferably in Occupational Health & Safety, Engineering, or a related field
• Occupational Health & Safety preferred
• Minimum of 10 years’ experience in a safety, operational, or engineering environment
• At least 5 years’ experience leading safety policies and programs
• Self-motivated; able to work both independently to complete tasks and respond to requests and with others to utilize their resources and knowledge to identify high quality solutions.
• Excellent planning skills; ability to effectively manage priorities to meet requirements and deadlines in a dynamic and fast paced environment.
• Excellent leadership skills; ability to influence and inspire action.
• Demonstrated ability to exercise discretion on matters of significance and when handling confidential or sensitive information.
• Demonstrated understanding of current law, regulations, standards, and safety policies as those relate to relevant industries.
• Track record of utilizing safety expertise and experience to make sound business decisions; highly knowledgeable of practices, trends, technology, and information that affect customers, vendors, and the Company.
• Excellent written and oral communication skills across a broad spectrum of recipients, including the ability to present ideas and suggestions clearly and effectively at all organizational levels and with external customers and vendors.
• Demonstrated success at identifying and synthesizing safety information into concise, clear, and influential presentations. Can teach others how to do so as well.
• Ability to identify key contacts for follow up; excellent ability to communicate project status updates to the team and cross-functionally to ensure understanding.
• Strong computer skills, including Microsoft Office suite.

What You Can Offer Us

• Provide strategic oversite of the risk analysis and safety program for both the Company’s U.S. Tower division and Canada.
• Lead the Safety Committee, providing to senior leaders an annual review of safety performance and new opportunities.
• Anticipate, identify, and evaluate hazardous conditions and practices.
• Develop and prescribe hazard control designs, methods, procedures, and programs.
• Implement, administer, and advise others across all disciplines on hazard control programs.
• Measure, audit, and evaluate the effectiveness of hazard control programs
• Report observations that will both minimize operational risks and promote operational efficiencies.
• Continuously enhance and communicate the safety plan based on real-time experiences and facts.
• Work closely with innovation teams involved in developing and deploying new sciences and methodologies to ensure safety design principles are incorporated at the onset of new projects.
• Document repeatable procedural steps to address emergency situations and provide easy access to all employees to safety requirements and guidance documents.
• Provide review and input regarding the content and execution of mandatory employee safety training.
• Provide the Vice President, Compliance & Government Affairs with monthly reports identifying accomplishments, problems, and/or observed trends.
• Work closely with the Vendor Compliance and Legal departments to monitor and screen vendor safety issues, manage safety suspensions or holds, and notify internal teams regarding vendor hold status.
• Support and coordinate initiatives with the Engineering, Network Development—Construction, and Operations departments.
• Maintain the highest levels of internal and external customer relationships.
• Supervise and manage the performance of the Safety Compliance team.
• Foster a strong collaborative team environment.
• Proactively identify and resolve safety violations and personnel issues in conjunction with Human Resources.
• Recruit, develop, and retain staff, partnering with senior management, recruiting, and Human Resources. This includes on-boarding and orientation for new hires.
• Work diligently to elevate team members and others involved in supporting safety initiatives.
• Provide disciplined performance management for the Safety Compliance team. Define and communicate annual goals, perform formal and informal performance reviews, and ensure changes and updates are communicated in a timely and professional manner.
• Other duties as assigned.