Safety Manager - Mill Plant & Building Materials Distribution

Position Summary

We are seeking an experienced and proactive Safety Manager to lead and oversee all safety, health, and environmental initiatives for our mill plant and building materials distribution operations. This position is responsible for developing and maintaining a strong safety culture, ensuring compliance with applicable OSHA and regulatory requirements, identifying and mitigating workplace hazards, and providing safety leadership across manufacturing, warehouse, loading, transportation, and distribution activities.

The ideal candidate will have hands-on experience in an industrial, manufacturing, construction materials, warehouse, or distribution environment and be comfortable working directly with employees, supervisors, managers, contractors, and senior leadership.

Key Responsibilities

Safety Leadership & Program Management

• Develop, implement, and continuously improve the company's safety programs, policies, procedures, and training.

• Promote a proactive safety culture focused on injury prevention, employee accountability, and continuous improvement.

• Conduct regular safety inspections, audits, and workplace observations throughout the mill, warehouse, yard, loading areas, and distribution operations.

• Identify unsafe conditions and behaviors and ensure timely corrective action.

• Establish safety goals, track performance, and provide regular reports to management.

• Lead safety meetings, toolbox talks, and employee safety initiatives.

Regulatory Compliance

• Ensure compliance with applicable OSHA, EPA, DOT, and other federal, state, and local safety and environmental regulations.

• Maintain required safety records, documentation, inspections, permits, and reports.

• Stay current with changes to safety regulations and industry best practices.

• Coordinate and support regulatory inspections and respond to findings or corrective-action requirements.

Mill & Plant Safety

• Oversee safety practices related to mill and plant equipment, production processes, material handling, and maintenance activities.

• Monitor machine guarding, electrical safety, confined spaces, fall protection, hot work, and other high-risk activities.

• Conduct job hazard analyses and risk assessments for production and maintenance tasks.

• Partner with maintenance and operations teams to address equipment and process hazards.

• Support management of contractor and vendor safety while working on company property.

Distribution Safety

• Oversee safety practices involving forklifts, powered industrial trucks, loaders, cranes, conveyors, pallet handling, and other material-handling equipment.

• Ensure proper traffic management and separation of pedestrians and mobile equipment.

• Monitor loading and unloading operations and yard activities.

• Support safe lifting, stacking, storage, packaging, and movement of building materials.

• Ensure employees receive appropriate training and certification for equipment they operate.

• Work with transportation and logistics teams to promote safe vehicle operations.

Training & Employee Engagement

• Develop and conduct safety orientation and ongoing safety training for employees.

• Maintain training records and ensure required certifications remain current.

• Train employees and supervisors on hazard recognition, PPE, emergency procedures, LOTO, fall protection, forklift safety, and other applicable topics.

• Coach supervisors and employees on safe work practices.

• Encourage employee participation in safety committees, reporting programs, and continuous improvement initiatives.

Incident & Injury Management

• Lead investigations of workplace injuries, near misses, property damage, and other incidents.

• Identify root causes and develop corrective and preventive actions.

• Maintain accurate incident records and prepare reports for management.

• Monitor injury trends and develop programs to reduce recurring incidents.

• Coordinate with HR, management, insurance carriers, and other appropriate parties regarding workers' compensation and return-to-work matters.

Emergency Preparedness

• Develop and maintain emergency response and evacuation procedures.

• Coordinate emergency drills and preparedness activities.

• Support response planning for fires, chemical spills, severe weather, equipment incidents, medical emergencies, and other potential events.

• Maintain relationships with local emergency response agencies when appropriate.

Environmental & Workplace Health

• Support environmental compliance and waste-management programs.

• Monitor workplace exposures and coordinate industrial hygiene assessments when necessary.

• Ensure proper PPE selection, availability, and use.

• Partner with management to address noise, dust, chemical, respiratory, ergonomic, and other occupational hazards.

Qualifications

• 4+ years of progressive safety experience, preferably in manufacturing, milling, construction materials, warehouse, distribution, or another industrial environment.

• Strong working knowledge of OSHA regulations and industrial safety practices.

• Experience conducting incident investigations, safety audits, risk assessments, and employee training.

• Experience with manufacturing equipment, material handling, forklifts, heavy equipment, or distribution operations preferred.

• Strong communication, leadership, coaching, and problem-solving skills.

• Ability to work effectively with employees at all levels of an organization.