Director Of Safety - Poultry

The Director of Safety is responsible for developing, leading, and sustaining a comprehensive safety strategy across poultry manufacturing operations. This role drives a proactive safety culture, ensures compliance with OSHA and company standards, and partners with operations leadership to reduce risk, improve performance, and protect employees across all facilities.

Key Responsibilities

Safety Strategy & Governance

• Develop and execute the company's safety vision, strategy, and annual operating plan.

• Establish safety standards, policies, and metrics aligned with regulatory requirements and industry best practices.

• Lead safety governance across all poultry operations, including processing plants, live operations, and support functions.

Regulatory Compliance & Risk Management

• Ensure compliance with OSHA, state, and local safety regulations.

• Oversee incident investigation, root cause analysis, and corrective action implementation.

• Serve as the company lead for regulatory inspections, citations, and enforcement actions.

• Manage workers' compensation programs and support claim reduction initiatives.

Culture & Engagement

• Drive a strong, sustainable safety culture focused on personal accountability, leadership engagement, and frontline ownership.

• Coach plant leaders on safety leadership behaviors and expectations.

• Promote safety awareness through training, communication, and continuous engagement.

Data, Analytics & Continuous Improvement

• Establish and monitor safety KPIs including TRIR, DART, severity rates, and near-miss reporting.

• Analyze trends to identify systemic risks and prioritize improvement initiatives.

• Partner with Operations and Continuous Improvement teams to embed safety into standard work and operational excellence efforts.

Training & Capability Building

• Develop and deploy safety training programs for leadership, supervisors, and hourly employees.

• Ensure effective onboarding and ongoing safety education across all sites.

• Support ergonomics, machine guarding, LOTO, and hazard communication programs.

Cross-Functional Collaboration

• Partner with Operations, Maintenance, FSQA, HR, and Legal to align safety efforts with business objectives.

• Support new facility start-ups, expansions, and capital projects from a safety and risk perspective.

• Lead crisis response related to serious injuries, fatalities, or high-risk incidents.

Qualifications

Required

• Bachelor's degree in Safety, Industrial Hygiene, Engineering, or a related field.

• 10+ years of progressive safety leadership experience in manufacturing, preferably poultry or protein.

• Strong working knowledge of OSHA regulations and safety management systems.

• Proven experience leading safety programs across multiple manufacturing sites.

• Demonstrated ability to influence senior leaders and drive cultural change.

Preferred

• CSP, CIH, or similar professional safety certification.

• Experience in poultry processing, live operations, or other labor-intensive manufacturing environments.

• Familiarity with ergonomics and high-risk industrial operations.

• Bilingual (English/Spanish) preferred.

Physical & Work Environment

• Frequent travel to poultry processing facilities and live operations.

• Exposure to production environments including cold temperatures, noise, and wet conditions during site visits.