Safety Specialist II

Job Details: Job Location: KC Plant - Kansas City, MO, Position Type: Exempt, Salary Range: Undisclosed, Safety Engineer II is a safety support position assisting the Safety Manager and Plant Manager in planning, organizing and implementing the safety management process.

Duties and Responsibilities

Maintain safe and healthy workplace:

Inspect facilities, machinery and safety equipment to identify and correct potential hazards and to ensure safety regulation compliance.  Evaluate adequacy of actions taken to correct inspection violations.
Recommend process and product safety features that will reduce employees' exposure to chemical, physical and biological work hazards.
Inspect and monitor the adequacy and functionality of safety devices on machinery.  Review plans and specifications for new machinery or equipment to determine whether all safety requirements have been met.
Interact with employees to obtain information about work environment and workplace incidents.
Plant industrial hygiene coordinator for monitoring chemical, biological and physical agents. Conduct or direct testing of air quality, noise, temperature or radiation levels to verify compliance with health and safety regulations.
Plan and conduct industrial hygiene research.  Research human performance or health factors related to engineering or design activities.
Encourage employees to report unsafe or unhealthful conditions.
Ensure compliance with company, local, state and federal regulations, Milbank’s policies and programs on health, environmental and safety issues.
Complete internal EHS compliance reports.
Provide technical assistance and guidance to the plant by leading safety committee team and safety meetings.
Address safety issues or concerns with all levels of employees, holding everyone accountable.

Investigate workplace accidents:

Investigate workplace accidents and near misses and complete all appropriate reports.  Compile, analyze and interpret statistical data for occupational illnesses, accidents and near misses.
Inform employees of actions to take in the event of a work-related injury.
Ensure corrective actions are followed to prevent recurrence of accidents.
Manage worker’s compensation and process for returning to work.

Ensure employees are adequately trained to perform their work safely:

Train and develop supervisors on department-specific and plant-specific safety requirements.
Ensure employee receive proper safety training prior to permitting them to work. 
Inform new hires and transferred employees of the hazards associated with the work they are to perform prior to beginning the work.
Inform employees of the requirements to use any personal protective equipment.
Inform employees of the procedures to follow in the event of an emergency.
Inform employees on how to report unsafe or unhealthy conditions.
Conduct "Toolbox" safety meetings.
Develop and maintain job hazard analyses and deliver training to new employees or when improvements or deficiencies are identified.
Ensure that employees perform work safely. 
Monitor employee behavior to ensure that work is being performed safely.
Take prompt action to correct any unsafe or unhealthful actions or behaviors including lock out tag out of equipment.

Continuous Improvement/Lean Enterprise:

Develop and implement best practices leading to improvements in lean manufacturing concepts and product safety.
Support the implementation of the 5S workplace organization processes in the plant through direct project involvement and through fellow team members.
Utilize systems, including tools such as visual management, problem solving, standard work and kaizen.
Adhere to and promote the HR Pledge.
Cooperate and commit in a team environment to achieve goals and deliverables.
Resolve difficult or complicated challenges using the problem-solving process.
Actively embrace our core principles.

Competencies

Safety and manufacturing at Milbank are team endeavors; communication and teamwork are essential to who we are and how we succeed.

Speak clearly and persuasively in positive or negative situations, demonstrate group presentation skills and ability to conduct meetings.
Embrace and enjoy a diverse working environment, understanding the strengths the differences of each of us bring to the team.
Involve the hourly production team members in problem solving and process improvement.
Foster and encourage an atmosphere of responsibility, safety and pride in all who function on the team.

A Safety Specialist will:

Be a leader, coach, mentor and subject matter expert for the safety policies and procedures.
Will be responsible for the development, documentation and implementation of safety policies and procedures.
Have a fundamental understanding of supplier relations and performance, leadership, training, interpersonal relationships, improvement systems and professional ethics.
Have a basic understanding of the audit process including types of audits, planning, preparation, execution, reporting results and follow-up.
Be able to develop and implement safety programs, including tracking, analyzing, reporting and problem solving.
Have a thorough understanding of problem solving and safety improvement tools and techniques. This includes knowledge of management and planning tools, safety tools, preventive and corrective actions and how to overcome barriers to safety improvements.
Be able to acquire and analyze data using appropriate standard quantitative methods for a spectrum of business environments to facilitate process analysis and improvements.

Travel Required:  Less than 15%

Hours:   Regular 40-hour workweek.  Overtime as needed.

Working Conditions:  Office and/or manufacturing plant floor setting.  Required to sit, stand and frequently move about the facility.  Required to use safety glasses and other PPE in specific areas.  May occasionally be required to lift or move up to 50 lbs.  

The intent of this job description is to provide a representative summary of the essential duties and responsibilities performed by incumbents of this job.  Incumbents may be requested to perform job-related tasks other than those specifically presented.
Qualifications: Position Qualifications

Education:   Associate’s or bachelor’s degree in occupational safety or related field desired, Associate Safety Professional certification or Certified Safety professional. Two year’s safety experience in a manufacturing environment.

Experience/Skills/Abilities:

Required:

Two years’ safety experience in a manufacturing environment.
Highly motivated with ability to gain knowledge of Occupational Health and Safety Act regulations.
Ability to use standard office software programs, including spreadsheets, databases, word processing and audiovisual presentations.

Knowledge of local, state and federal regulations and reporting requirements.
Knowledge of safe work behaviors and interpretation of EHS data.
Demonstrate ability to evaluate environmental health and safety related risks.
Strong communication and interpersonal skills with ability to work closely with all levels of the organization.
Ability to develop policies, programs and deliver training on relevant topics.
Knowledge of OSHA Cooperative Programs.
Knowledge of exposures to biological, chemical and physical agents in the work environment.
Knowledge of hazardous waste management and related regulations.