Director of Safety & Health

What Success Looks Like

• Safety is treated as an operating value and leadership responsibility across every MEPX business unit.
• Employees and leaders proactively identify risk, stop unsafe work, learn from events, and close corrective actions.
• Safety programs are practical, consistently applied, measurable, and integrated into planning and execution.
• ·OSHA, IOSHA, environmental, customer, insurance, and reporting obligations are managed accurately and promptly.
• Incident frequency, severity, vehicle loss, and preventable risk trend downward through sustained operational improvement.
• The Safety & Health team is visible, responsive, technically competent, and viewed as a trusted business partner.
• Executive leadership receives timely, accurate reporting on material events, trends, exposures, and corrective priorities.

Primary Responsibilities

Enterprise Safety Leadership & Culture

• Develop and lead the enterprise safety and health strategy in alignment with company objectives, Core Values, and operating priorities.
• Build a culture of personal accountability, operational ownership, learning, employee engagement, and continuous improvement.
• Advise the President and executive leadership on significant safety, health, fleet, regulatory, insurance, and operational risks.
• Partner with division and department leaders to integrate safety into estimating, planning, staffing, scheduling, field execution, manufacturing, service, and closeout.
• Maintain a strong field presence and routinely engage employees, supervisors, project teams, customers, and leadership.
• Promote Human and Organizational Performance principles and learning-focused responses while maintaining clear accountability for choices and behaviors.

Safety Management Systems & Risk Control

• Own the development, approval, implementation, maintenance, and continual improvement of company safety policies, standards, procedures, and management systems.
• Establish minimum requirements for pre-task planning, hazard analysis, high-risk work, permitting, inspections, observations, audits, and corrective-action management.
• Ensure programs address the hazards associated with HVAC, plumbing, electrical, energy management, service, construction, manufacturing, cleanroom, radiopharma, fleet, and small general construction operations.
• Lead risk assessments for complex or high-hazard work and ensure practical controls are established before work proceeds.
• Coordinate safety requirements with customers, general contractors, trade partners, insurers, legal counsel, and regulatory agencies as appropriate.
• Evaluate emerging risks, regulatory changes, customer requirements, and industry practices; recommend timely changes to company standards.

Incident Management, Regulatory Compliance & Reporting

• Ensure prompt reporting, triage, investigation, documentation, and follow-through for injuries, illnesses, vehicle incidents, property damage, environmental events, significant near misses, and other serious occurrences.
• Lead or oversee significant investigations using appropriate root-cause and Human Performance methods; focus corrective actions on sustainable risk reduction.
• Immediately advise executive leadership of potentially reportable, high-severity, high-potential, or legally sensitive events.
• Ensure required OSHA and IOSHA notifications, logs, postings, retention, electronic submissions, and annual reporting are completed accurately and on time.
• Serve as the company’s primary safety representative during regulatory inspections, citations, informal conferences, hearings, and related corrective activities in coordination with leadership and counsel.
• Maintain defensible records and provide accurate information for insurance, workers’ compensation, claims, legal matters, and customer inquiries.
• Track corrective actions to verified closure and communicate lessons learned across affected operations.

Training, Competency & Workforce Development

• Establish an enterprise safety training and competency strategy based on job responsibilities, exposure, regulatory requirements, and company standards.
• Ensure effective orientation, toolbox talks, supervisor development, high-risk-work training, stand-downs, refresher training, and continuing education.
• Develop operational leaders’ ability to recognize hazards, coach employees, conduct planning, investigate events, and manage corrective actions.
• Evaluate training quality, participation, comprehension, field application, and sustained competency.
• Maintain reliable training records and systems that support compliance, customer requirements, qualification verification, and workforce planning.

Performance, Analytics & Continuous Improvement

• Establish leading and lagging performance measures, dashboards, review cadences, and clear ownership for improvement priorities.
• Analyze incidents, observations, audits, claims, fleet events, training, corrective actions, and operational trends to identify systemic risk.
• Provide concise monthly and quarterly reporting to leadership, including material risks, decisions needed, actions, owners, and due dates.
• Benchmark company performance and practices against relevant construction, service, manufacturing, and specialty-trade standards.
• Use technology and standardized workflows to improve reporting quality, visibility, accountability, and timely follow-through.
• Partner with Operations, Human Resources, People & Culture, Finance, Fleet, Quality, Legal, and Information Technology on cross-functional improvement initiatives.

Workers’ Compensation, Insurance & Fleet Risk

• Provide leadership oversight for workers’ compensation and return-to-work practices in partnership with Human Resources, Finance, operations, insurers, and medical providers.
• Support claim reviews, loss-control activities, insurance renewals, and implementation of carrier recommendations.
• Oversee the safety aspects of driver qualification, vehicle incident investigation, complaint documentation, coaching, and fleet-risk improvement.
• Identify loss trends and recommend operational, training, equipment, policy, or accountability measures that reduce frequency and severity.

Leadership & Team Accountability

• Lead, organize, coach, and develop the Safety & Health team with clear roles, priorities, workloads, goals, and performance expectations.
• Conduct regular team and individual meetings; provide timely direction, feedback, recognition, and corrective guidance.
• Build appropriate field coverage, technical depth, succession, cross-training, and backup capability.
• Allocate resources based on risk, business needs, project activity, and emerging priorities.
• Work collaboratively with operating leaders while preserving the independence and judgment required to escalate material risk.
• Model professionalism, integrity, respect, responsiveness, accountability, and the MEPX Core Values.

Decision Rights & Authority

• Stop or suspend work when an imminent danger, serious uncontrolled hazard, or material violation exists.
• Escalate significant safety, health, regulatory, environmental, fleet, or insurance risk directly to the President and appropriate executive leaders.
• Establish and administer approved enterprise safety standards, systems, training requirements, reporting practices, and audit processes.
• Require timely investigation, corrective-action ownership, supporting documentation, and verified closure.
• Recommend personnel, disciplinary, operational, equipment, training, or process actions while coordinating employment decisions with Human Resources and accountable operating leadership.
• Represent MEPX with regulators, insurers, customers, industry groups, and professional organizations within approved authority.

Performance Measures

• Safety culture & leadership
  • Visible operational ownership, employee engagement, trusted partnership, and consistent leadership behaviors
• Risk reduction
  • Sustained reduction in serious exposures, repeat events, and preventable loss
• Regulatory compliance
  • Accurate reporting, complete records, timely responses, and effective closure of findings
• Incident management
  • Prompt investigation, sound root-cause analysis, practical corrective actions, and verified effectiveness
• Training & competency
  • Current requirements, qualified employees, effective delivery, and demonstrated field application
• Corrective-action discipline
  • Clear owners and due dates with timely, documented, verified closure
• Team leadership
  • Capable, responsive, field-connected team with clear priorities and development plans
• Executive reporting
  • Concise, accurate visibility into trends, material risk, decisions, and accountability

Qualifications

Required Experience

• Ten or more years of progressively responsible safety and health experience, including leadership of safety professionals and programs across multiple projects, locations, or business units.
• Demonstrated experience in commercial construction, specialty trades, service, manufacturing, industrial, electrical, mechanical, plumbing, fabrication, or similarly complex operations.
• Experience leading regulatory compliance, serious-incident investigations, corrective-action programs, employee training, field audits, and executive reporting.
• Proven ability to influence senior operating leaders, build credibility with field employees, and lead cultural and organizational change.
• Working knowledge of workers’ compensation, insurance loss control, fleet risk, and return-to-work practices.

Education & Preferred Credentials

• Bachelor’s degree in Occupational Safety, Environmental Health & Safety, Construction Management, Engineering, Industrial Hygiene, or a related field; equivalent relevant experience may be considered.
• Certified Safety Professional (CSP) strongly preferred.
• Construction Health & Safety Technician (CHST), Associate Safety Professional (ASP), Occupational Health & Safety Technologist (OHST), Certified Safety & Health Official (CSHO), or comparable credential preferred.
• OSHA 500 and current First Aid/CPR/AED credentials preferred; OSHA 510, MSHA, NFPA 70E, and instructor credentials are beneficial based on assigned scope.

Knowledge, Skills & Competencies

• Executive presence, sound judgment, discretion, and the ability to communicate difficult information clearly and constructively.
• Thorough knowledge of OSHA construction and general-industry requirements and the ability to translate regulations into practical operating expectations.
• Knowledge of electrical safety, fall protection, excavation, confined space, crane and rigging, lockout/tagout, industrial hygiene, environmental exposure, fleet, and other high-risk work relevant to MEPX operations.
• Strong investigation, root-cause analysis, data analysis, problem-solving, written communication, facilitation, coaching, and presentation skills.
• Ability to balance employee welfare, regulatory obligations, customer requirements, business risk, productivity, and practical execution.
• Proficiency with Microsoft 365 and safety, training, incident, analytics, and document-management systems.

Physical & Travel Requirements

• Ability to routinely walk active construction sites, service locations, manufacturing facilities, shops, warehouses, and industrial environments.
• Ability to climb ladders and stairs, access elevated or restricted work areas, wear required personal protective equipment, and work in varying indoor and outdoor conditions.
• Ability to occasionally lift and carry up to 50 pounds.
• Ability to travel throughout company operations and to other locations as business needs require.
• Valid driver’s license with an acceptable driving record.