EHS Director

Position Summary

We are seeking an experienced Director of Environmental, Health & Safety (EHS) to lead the company's environmental, health, and safety strategy across its RTE/RTC protein manufacturing operations.

This is a highly visible leadership position responsible for building and sustaining a proactive safety culture across high-volume, fast-paced food manufacturing environments. The Director will partner closely with Operations, Engineering, Maintenance, Quality, HR, and senior leadership to reduce risk, improve employee safety, maintain regulatory compliance, and drive continuous improvement.

The successful candidate will bring significant experience within protein processing, food manufacturing, meat/poultry processing, or another complex high-hazard manufacturing environment, with a strong understanding of OSHA requirements, industrial safety, environmental compliance, workers' compensation, incident investigation, and safety management systems.

The role requires a leader who is comfortable being on the plant floor, challenging unsafe conditions, coaching leaders, developing frontline employees, and holding the organization accountable for measurable safety performance.

Key Responsibilities

EHS Strategy & Leadership

• Develop and execute the company's EHS strategy, policies, programs, and annual improvement plans.
• Establish clear EHS standards, expectations, objectives, and KPIs across manufacturing operations.
• Provide strategic EHS leadership to plant and corporate leadership teams.
• Build a proactive, employee-centered safety culture focused on hazard identification, prevention, accountability, and continuous improvement.
• Serve as the senior EHS subject matter expert to Operations, Engineering, Maintenance, HR, Quality, and Executive Leadership.
• Establish consistent EHS systems and standards across multiple facilities.
• Lead the development and implementation of annual EHS goals, budgets, and capital improvement priorities.

Safety & Injury Prevention

• Lead programs designed to reduce recordable injuries, lost-time incidents, workers' compensation costs, and serious injuries/fatalities.
• Identify and mitigate high-risk activities within protein processing operations.
• Develop and maintain comprehensive programs covering:
  • Machine guarding
  • Lockout/Tagout (LOTO)
  • Electrical safety
  • Powered industrial trucks
  • Ergonomics
  • Material handling
  • Slips, trips, and falls
  • Confined space
  • Fall protection
  • Hazard communication
  • PPE
  • Chemical safety
  • Contractor safety
  • Process and equipment safety
• Conduct regular plant safety assessments and risk evaluations.
• Partner with Engineering and Maintenance to ensure safety is incorporated into equipment design, modification, and capital projects.
• Establish robust pre-startup safety review processes for new equipment and processes.
• Drive ergonomic improvement initiatives in repetitive, high-volume production environments.

Incident Investigation & Corrective Action

• Lead investigations of serious incidents, near misses, recordable injuries, and high-potential events.
• Establish consistent root-cause analysis and corrective-action processes.
• Ensure corrective actions address underlying system failures rather than simply treating symptoms.
• Track corrective actions through completion and verify effectiveness.
• Develop leading indicators that identify risk before an injury occurs.
• Communicate lessons learned across facilities and operations.

Regulatory Compliance

• Ensure compliance with applicable federal, state, and local EHS regulations.
• Maintain strong working knowledge of OSHA requirements and applicable environmental regulations.
• Lead OSHA inspections, responses, citations, and corrective actions.
• Maintain required OSHA records, reporting, documentation, and compliance programs.
• Ensure facilities remain prepared for regulatory inspections and audits.
• Monitor regulatory changes and translate requirements into practical plant-level programs.
• Partner with legal counsel and external regulatory specialists where appropriate.

Environmental Management

• Oversee environmental compliance programs across manufacturing facilities.
• Ensure compliance with applicable air, water, wastewater, stormwater, waste, chemical, and environmental regulations.
• Partner with plant leadership and external environmental resources on permits, reporting, inspections, and corrective actions.
• Develop programs to reduce waste, improve resource utilization, and minimize environmental risk.
• Oversee hazardous and non-hazardous waste management.
• Support sustainability initiatives where aligned with business objectives.

Workers' Compensation & Occupational Health

• Partner with HR, Operations, and insurance providers to manage workers' compensation programs.
• Identify trends in injury types, departments, shifts, jobs, and facilities.
• Develop targeted interventions to reduce injury frequency and severity.
• Establish effective return-to-work and transitional-duty programs.
• Partner with occupational health providers on employee health and injury prevention.
• Analyze claims data and develop strategies to reduce overall workers' compensation exposure.

Training & Safety Culture

• Establish and maintain comprehensive EHS training programs for employees, supervisors, and managers.
• Develop effective frontline training that reflects the realities of protein manufacturing.
• Ensure new hires receive appropriate safety orientation and job-specific training.
• Develop leadership training focused on safety accountability and employee engagement.
• Establish safety communication systems that reach employees across all shifts.
• Promote employee participation in hazard identification and safety improvement initiatives.
• Build and support plant-level safety committees and employee engagement programs.

Auditing & Continuous Improvement

• Establish regular EHS audits and plant assessments.
• Develop standardized audit protocols across facilities.
• Track audit findings, corrective actions, and recurring issues.
• Benchmark performance across plants and identify opportunities for improvement.
• Use data and leading indicators to identify emerging risks.
• Drive continuous improvement using structured problem-solving methodologies.

Leadership & Team Development

• Lead, develop, and mentor the company's EHS team.
• Establish clear expectations and accountability for EHS professionals and plant leadership.
• Develop the capability of plant EHS Managers and safety personnel.
• Build strong relationships with Operations leadership while maintaining EHS independence and accountability.
• Develop succession plans and a strong internal EHS talent pipeline.
• Promote a culture in which safety is viewed as an operational responsibility rather than solely an EHS function.

RTE / RTC Protein Manufacturing Focus

The successful candidate should understand the unique EHS challenges associated with high-volume protein manufacturing, including:

• High-speed production and processing environments
• Meat, poultry, or other protein processing operations
• Repetitive cutting, trimming, packaging, and material-handling activities
• Sharp tools and equipment
• Automated processing and packaging equipment
• High levels of employee interaction with machinery
• Refrigerated and temperature-controlled environments
• Wet and slippery production areas
• Chemical sanitation and cleaning operations
• Steam, hot water, and sanitation hazards
• Ammonia refrigeration environments
• Forklifts and powered industrial trucks
• Ergonomic exposure and repetitive-motion injuries
• High employee turnover and multilingual workforces
• Multiple shifts and 24/7 production environments

Experience operating within a USDA-regulated protein processing environment is highly desirable.

Required Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree in Environmental Health & Safety, Occupational Safety, Industrial Hygiene, Engineering, Environmental Science, or a related discipline.
• 10+ years of progressive EHS experience, preferably within food, protein, meat/poultry processing, consumer packaged goods, or complex manufacturing.
• 5+ years of leadership experience managing EHS teams and influencing plant leadership.
• Strong knowledge of OSHA regulations and US manufacturing safety requirements.
• Demonstrated experience developing and implementing enterprise or multi-site EHS programs.
• Proven record of reducing injuries, improving safety performance, and building safety culture.
• Strong incident investigation and root-cause analysis capabilities.
• Experience with workers' compensation programs and claims management.
• Experience conducting EHS audits and regulatory inspections.
• Strong analytical and problem-solving skills.
• Ability to operate effectively in a fast-paced, high-volume manufacturing environment.
• Willingness to spend significant time on the plant floor and across manufacturing facilities.

Preferred Qualifications

• Experience in RTE/RTC protein, meat, poultry, seafood, or other food processing.
• Experience with USDA-regulated manufacturing environments.
• Experience supporting multiple manufacturing sites.
• CSP, CIH, CHMM, or other relevant professional certification.
• Experience with OSHA VPP or similar safety-management frameworks.
• Experience with behavioral safety / employee engagement programs.
• Experience with industrial hygiene programs.
• Experience with ammonia refrigeration safety.
• Experience with Process Safety Management (PSM) and Risk Management Program (RMP) requirements where applicable.
• Experience implementing EHS management systems.
• Experience with EHS software, incident management, auditing, and reporting platforms.