Highlights
In this role, you will work closely with plant leadership, employees, Corporate Safety, and regulatory agencies to strengthen safety practices, improve workplace conditions, and build meaningful employee involvement in safety. Analyze injury and safety trends, conduct risk-ranking activities, and lead employee safety teams focused on inspections, investigations, ergonomics, emergency preparedness, and other improvement opportunities.
Numbers & Facts
| Location | Allendale, MI |
| Industry | Food and Beverage Production |
| Company Size | 2,500 to 4,999 employees |
| Year Founded | 1950 |
| Website | http://www.leprinofoods.com/careers/ |
Description
Within our 300-person manufacturing facility in Allendale - Leprino is seeking a Plant Safety Leader to lead safety and health programs that reduce workplace risk, prevent injuries, and maintain compliance across plant operations. In this role, you will work closely with plant leadership, employees, Corporate Safety, and regulatory agencies to strengthen safety practices, improve workplace conditions, and build meaningful employee involvement in safety.
What You'll Do:
- Lead the plant's safety and health programs, including injury prevention, risk reduction, regulatory compliance, safety education, and emergency preparedness.
- Develop and facilitate new-hire orientation, compliance training, job-specific safety education, train-the-trainer programs, and ongoing safety communications.
- Conduct workplace inspections and hazard assessments, coordinate required equipment and permit inspections, and ensure corrective actions are completed.
- Analyze injury and safety trends, conduct risk-ranking activities, and lead employee safety teams focused on inspections, investigations, ergonomics, emergency preparedness, and other improvement opportunities.
- Partner with plant leaders, supervisors, and frontline employees to strengthen safety practices and increase employee involvement throughout the facility.
- Implement and maintain programs that support federal, state, and local safety requirements, including OSHA regulations, required reporting, and recordkeeping.
- Represent the plant during OSHA, EPA, and applicable state regulatory inspections and coordinate responses with plant and corporate leadership.
- Lead incident/near-miss investigations, root cause analysis, corrective actions, and communication of key learnings across the plant.
- Review proposed plant and equipment changes to identify safety risks and support management-of-change activities before implementation.
- Partner with Engineering and Maintenance to strengthen Process Safety Management (PSM), Risk Management Plan (RMP), and HAZMAT programs.
- Coordinate HAZMAT certification and refresher training, emergency response drills, PSM committee meetings, emergency-response planning, and relationships with local response agencies.
- Lead and mentor plant safety employees while partnering closely with the Plant Manager, Corporate Safety, and functional leaders across the facility.
You Have At Least (Required Qualifications):
- A bachelor's degree in Safety Management or a related field, or equivalent relevant industry experience.
- Five years of professional safety experience, including substantial experience within a manufacturing environment.
- One year of experience leading, mentoring, or delegating work to others.
- Working knowledge of federal and state health and safety regulations, including OSHA 29 CFR 1910 General Industry Standards.
- Experience conducting root cause analysis and supporting injury prevention and corrective-action programs.
We Hope You Also Have (Preferred Qualifications):
- An Associate Safety Professional (ASP) or Certified Safety Professional (CSP) certification.
- Experience within dairy, food, beverage, or another regulated manufacturing environment.
- Experience supporting PSM, RMP, HAZMAT, emergency response, or similar industrial safety programs.
- Active involvement with professional safety organizations or industry networks.
At Leprino, we believe in equal employment opportunity and make employment decisions based on each individual's unique talents, experience, skills, and knowledge; we do not discriminate on the basis of any personal characteristics. We know we are better together and are committed to creating an inclusive and supportive culture in which all employees can thrive.
Offering You In Return:
A chance to be part of a global team of individuals passionate about producing and delivering high-quality products that help feed and nourish families around the world. Leprino could not be where it is today without our incredible employees. That is why we share in our success together by rewarding you for your hard work. Hiring great people who are in it for the long run is our goal. Through competitive salaries and bonuses, life, medical/dental/vision coverage, voluntary benefits, employee assistance programs, wellness incentives, tuition assistance, vacation, ten paid holidays, sick time, paid parental leave, annual merit increases, as well as the LFC Profit-Sharing & 401(k) plan. Your impact will be noticed and rewarded, as you seek to further our company, our customers, and one another.
Our Story:
Leprino's history dates back to the 1950s, when Jim Leprino first started making small batches of mozzarella for local markets and eateries in the Little Italy neighborhood of Denver. We've grown a bit since then. Today, Leprino is the world's largest manufacturer of mozzarella and lactose, and a leading producer of whey protein. Still owned by the Leprino family, our sights are set to be the "World's Best Dairy Food and Ingredient Company." From a small corner grocery store we have grown to over 5,500 employees throughout the globe. Will you join us on our journey?
About Company
Overview We’re Leprino Foods Company – the leading producer of mozzarella cheese and related whey & lactose products in the USA. Our heritage of entrepreneurial growth & innovation, exceptional customer service, and top-quality products continue to define our business success and company culture every day. Our customers include leading pizza companies, consumer food manufacturers, and food distributors. Given our industry leading technology (we hold more patents on mozzarella cheese-making technology than any other producer), and quest for future growth, we’re expanding our international capabilities as well. Our Singapore hub and joint venture with Glanbia Cheese, UK positions us in key markets across the world.
From our headquarters in Denver to our production plants located across the country, our growth continues to provide exciting career opportunities. It’s our vision to become the world’s best dairy foods ingredients producer, and we’re looking for great people to help us get there. If you have a strong work ethic, a focus on providing excellent service to external and internal customers, an innovative spirit that’s not satisfied with status quo, and a passion for producing quality products and services, we’d be excited to have you join our organization.
Culture
Our unwavering commitment to product quality and unparalleled customer service encompasses simple principles that guide the efforts of every member of the Leprino Foods' team.
Quality
Service
Innovation
People
Perpetuating a fulfilling, challenging and safe work environment that encourages continuous improvement, provides equal opportunity, offers economic satisfaction through the recognition and rewarding of achievement, and ensures we maintain a healthy respect for our competitors, customers, suppliers and fellow employees in a clean and safe work environment.
Ethics
Conducting our affairs and nurturing our relationships with customers, suppliers, co-workers, mutual interest groups and others in a forthright and ethical manner.
Citizenship
Recognizing our responsibilities toward, and encouraging involvement in, our industry and local communities while respecting individual freedom of choice and maintaining the highest standards of environmental and regulatory compliance.
Benefits Click to learn more
Our Story Behind the superior quality and performance of our cheese lies the legacy of a man with a vision - to make the finest mozzarella cheese available anywhere.
Mike Leprino, Sr. arrived in America in 1914 with little more than fierce determination and a tough set of principles. In 1950 with the help of his family, Mike Leprino began making small batches of ricotta and mozzarella cheese for delivery to local grocery stores. An uncompromising commitment to product quality and customer service fueled demand for Leprino cheese.
Today the company he founded is the world's largest producer of mozzarella cheese and remains singularly focused upon making the finest cheese and whey products.
Results Through People
Environment
Our employees perform their best and feel considerable pride because they are active contributors to the continued success of the largest mozzarella maker in the world - and especially to the continued success of our customers. Employee teams propose and implement ideas to improve our products, service and technology, and track their success. In fact, our employees frequently surpass their own records when it comes to safety standards and innovative processes.
Culture
The culture of Leprino Foods Company is one of hard work, striving for excellence, high expectations and pride. To be successful requires high energy and passion, with a desire to take on challenges and do what it takes to keep Leprino Foods at the top of its industry. The hard work encountered here proves to be worthwhile when considering that we work for a market leader with great financial security and long-term stability. We are extremely committed to quality and to customer service.
At Leprino Foods, we believe:
Employees of Leprino Foods Company will agree that most positions and departments offer a high level of growth to the employees. This comes from both promotional advancement and personal growth opportunities. In addition, we offer an extensive list of training opportunities to all levels of employees. This can range from PC training and operator training all the way to leadership training and ways to further develop the competencies possessed by successful leaders.
Mission and Philosophies
Our mission and philosophy at Leprino Foods is to establish, through our actions, an unparalleled standard of excellence in people, products, and service while increasing our market share and perpetuating a healthy company that appropriately rewards all our efforts and investments. We believe that the health and longevity of our company can best be achieved through an uncompromising commitment by all of us to Leprino Quality as a way of life. Leprino Quality is exemplified by an attitude of continuous improvement in each of the following areas:
As an employee of Leprino Foods, you will have a chance to make a difference by joining one of the many Leprino Employee Involvement Teams and Task Forces.
We all benefit from these teams by having employees bring better problem solving, new ideas, and efficiencies to the Company. Team members benefit personally as well. Through involvement in one or more of these teams, members enhance their knowledge of Leprino’s operations and get the opportunity to work with people outside their normal contacts, doing tasks outside their normal scope of work. Team members also learn basic tools to help identify and work through problems – tools that will help them every day in their job and their personal life.
Community Involvement
Each of our locations has employees active in the communities they work and reside in. Leprino Foods is involved either by sponsorship, participating in, or donating to many worthwhile events.
College Recruiting Click to learn more
Equal Opportunity/Affirmative Action Employer
From our headquarters in Denver to our production plants located across the country, our growth continues to provide exciting career opportunities. It’s our vision to become the world’s best dairy foods ingredients producer, and we’re looking for great people to help us get there. If you have a strong work ethic, a focus on providing excellent service to external and internal customers, an innovative spirit that’s not satisfied with status quo, and a passion for producing quality products and services, we’d be excited to have you join our organization.
Culture
Our unwavering commitment to product quality and unparalleled customer service encompasses simple principles that guide the efforts of every member of the Leprino Foods' team.
Quality
Service
Innovation
People
Perpetuating a fulfilling, challenging and safe work environment that encourages continuous improvement, provides equal opportunity, offers economic satisfaction through the recognition and rewarding of achievement, and ensures we maintain a healthy respect for our competitors, customers, suppliers and fellow employees in a clean and safe work environment.
Ethics
Conducting our affairs and nurturing our relationships with customers, suppliers, co-workers, mutual interest groups and others in a forthright and ethical manner.
Citizenship
Recognizing our responsibilities toward, and encouraging involvement in, our industry and local communities while respecting individual freedom of choice and maintaining the highest standards of environmental and regulatory compliance.
Benefits Click to learn more
Our Story Behind the superior quality and performance of our cheese lies the legacy of a man with a vision - to make the finest mozzarella cheese available anywhere.
Mike Leprino, Sr. arrived in America in 1914 with little more than fierce determination and a tough set of principles. In 1950 with the help of his family, Mike Leprino began making small batches of ricotta and mozzarella cheese for delivery to local grocery stores. An uncompromising commitment to product quality and customer service fueled demand for Leprino cheese.
Today the company he founded is the world's largest producer of mozzarella cheese and remains singularly focused upon making the finest cheese and whey products.
Results Through People
Environment
Our employees perform their best and feel considerable pride because they are active contributors to the continued success of the largest mozzarella maker in the world - and especially to the continued success of our customers. Employee teams propose and implement ideas to improve our products, service and technology, and track their success. In fact, our employees frequently surpass their own records when it comes to safety standards and innovative processes.
Culture
The culture of Leprino Foods Company is one of hard work, striving for excellence, high expectations and pride. To be successful requires high energy and passion, with a desire to take on challenges and do what it takes to keep Leprino Foods at the top of its industry. The hard work encountered here proves to be worthwhile when considering that we work for a market leader with great financial security and long-term stability. We are extremely committed to quality and to customer service.
At Leprino Foods, we believe:
- Exceptional customer service is the attitude of caring among all our employees that motivates them to go beyond traditional boundaries in order to facilitate the realization of our Vision.
- Exceptional customer service involves serving others as each of us would like to be served.
- Exceptional customer service must be pro-active, not reactive. It means anticipating a customer’s needs.
- Exceptional customer service is not limited to external customers, it must also be extended to our internal customers, to fellow employees, to our suppliers, and to all other business contacts.
- Exceptional customer service takes everyone’s efforts. One employee with a lack of effort can create poor customer service.
- Exceptional customer service is fundamental to achieving our Vision. It is not a vision in and of itself.
Employees of Leprino Foods Company will agree that most positions and departments offer a high level of growth to the employees. This comes from both promotional advancement and personal growth opportunities. In addition, we offer an extensive list of training opportunities to all levels of employees. This can range from PC training and operator training all the way to leadership training and ways to further develop the competencies possessed by successful leaders.
Mission and Philosophies
Our mission and philosophy at Leprino Foods is to establish, through our actions, an unparalleled standard of excellence in people, products, and service while increasing our market share and perpetuating a healthy company that appropriately rewards all our efforts and investments. We believe that the health and longevity of our company can best be achieved through an uncompromising commitment by all of us to Leprino Quality as a way of life. Leprino Quality is exemplified by an attitude of continuous improvement in each of the following areas:
- Product Quality: Operating our facilities in a neat, clean, orderly, and well-maintained fashion while producing distinctively superior quality cheese and whey products that add value to our customers’ businesses.
- Customer Service: Perpetuating a proactive customer-centered attitude among all of us, which produces distinguished service in every aspect of our internal and external customer relationships.
- Leadership and Innovation: Breaking traditional barriers and constantly expanding the horizons of our industry through bold leadership in product and process technology which continues to create new standards of excellence in product value.
- People: Perpetuating a fulfilling and safe work environment that:
- Values the importance of clean, organized, and well-maintained facilities,
- Encourages the involvement of everyone in the business problem-solving, decision-making process, while not tolerating Company politics,
- Fosters a willingness to innovate and stretch personal and collective boundaries,
- Provides equal opportunity for personal and leadership development,
- Promotes company pride though an unselfish, teamwork-driven attitude among all of us,
- Offers economic satisfaction through the recognition and rewarding of individual and collective contributions, and
- Maintains a focus on safety in all aspects of our business.
- Ethics: Conducting our affairs and nurturing our relationships with customers, suppliers, co-workers, mutual interest groups and others in a forthright and ethical manner.
- Citizenship: Recognizing our responsibilities toward, and encouraging involvement in, the communities of which we are a part, while respecting individual freedom of choice, and maintaining the highest standard of environmental and regulatory compliance.
As an employee of Leprino Foods, you will have a chance to make a difference by joining one of the many Leprino Employee Involvement Teams and Task Forces.
We all benefit from these teams by having employees bring better problem solving, new ideas, and efficiencies to the Company. Team members benefit personally as well. Through involvement in one or more of these teams, members enhance their knowledge of Leprino’s operations and get the opportunity to work with people outside their normal contacts, doing tasks outside their normal scope of work. Team members also learn basic tools to help identify and work through problems – tools that will help them every day in their job and their personal life.
Community Involvement
Each of our locations has employees active in the communities they work and reside in. Leprino Foods is involved either by sponsorship, participating in, or donating to many worthwhile events.
College Recruiting Click to learn more
Equal Opportunity/Affirmative Action Employer