Head of Environmental, Health and Safety

Location: Valdosta, Georgia | Full-time, on-site

Company Description: Arglass is redefining glass container manufacturing in the United States through flexibility, efficiency, and sustainability. Our next-generation manufacturing approach provides a distinctive alternative to traditional long production runs, helping customers respond to changing market needs while improving environmental performance. We are building a growing manufacturing organization where innovation, operational excellence, and responsible manufacturing go hand in hand. We seek leaders who turn ambitious goals into practical improvements on the plant floor.

Role Description: The Head of Environmental, Health and Safety will lead the development and execution of Arglass’s EHS strategy across its manufacturing operations. This is a visible, hands-on leadership role in a complex, continuously operating industrial environment. The central responsibility is to prevent injuries, occupational illnesses, and environmental incidents by identifying hazards and ensuring effective controls are implemented and sustained. The role requires more than maintaining policies and completing audits: it requires sound technical judgment, consistent follow-through, and the ability to translate findings into measurable improvements. Working closely with operations, maintenance, engineering, human resources, and senior leadership, the Head of EHS will establish clear standards and strengthen accountability throughout the organization. This leader must earn the confidence of plant personnel, constructively challenge unsafe practices, and ensure that production priorities never override safe operating conditions.

Key Responsibilities: Lead EHS strategy and execution. Establish priorities, improvement plans, budgets, and performance measures appropriate to a 24/7 glass manufacturing operation. Maintain practical, effective EHS management systems. Identify and control operational risks. Lead systematic assessments of hazards associated with furnaces and molten glass, heat exposure, machinery, hazardous energy, mobile equipment, elevated work, confined spaces, chemicals, noise, and maintenance activities. Prioritize prevention through design. Work with engineering and maintenance to eliminate hazards and implement engineering controls, including guarding, interlocks, detection systems, and physical separation. Verify that controls remain effective in daily use. Maintain environmental compliance. Oversee applicable permits, monitoring, records, and reporting for air emissions, water, stormwater, waste, and chemical management. Coordinate with regulators, consultants, and testing providers. Strengthen operational safety. Develop and enforce clear requirements for safe work, contractor activities, energy isolation, work permits, and nonroutine tasks. Ensure employees understand when and how to stop unsafe work. Lead incident investigations. Investigate injuries, near misses, environmental events, and high-potential incidents. Identify underlying technical and organizational causes, assign corrective actions, and verify their effectiveness before closure. Integrate EHS into operational changes. Participate in equipment selection, capital projects, process modifications, and startup reviews so that risks are addressed before equipment or processes enter service. Build leadership and employee accountability. Coach managers and supervisors to own EHS performance in their areas. Encourage hazard reporting and employee participation, and ensure concerns receive timely, visible responses. Deliver effective training. Develop role-specific training for employees, supervisors, and contractors. Verify understanding and practical competence rather than relying solely on attendance records. Maintain emergency readiness. Lead emergency planning, drills, and coordination with external responders, including preparedness for fires, chemical releases, severe weather, and medical emergencies. Use data to drive improvement. Report meaningful leading and lagging indicators, identify recurring risks, and provide leadership with clear recommendations. Track overdue actions, critical-control failures, and other warning signs before incidents occur. Lead the EHS function. Develop EHS personnel and coordinate external resources, ensuring consistent standards and effective support across operations.

Qualifications: Bachelor’s degree in Environmental Science, Occupational Health and Safety, Engineering, or a related discipline. Substantial, progressive EHS experience in manufacturing or heavy industry, including leadership responsibility in a complex operating environment. Experience in glass, metals, foundries, chemicals, or other continuous-process industries is particularly relevant. Strong working knowledge of applicable OSHA, EPA, and Georgia environmental requirements, with practical experience managing compliance, inspections, permits, and regulatory reporting. Demonstrated success reducing operational risk through engineering controls, improved work practices, and sustained corrective actions. Experience with industrial hygiene and occupational health programs, including heat stress, noise, dust, and chemical exposure. Proven ability to lead incident investigations, perform root-cause analysis, and distinguish underlying causes from immediate symptoms. Experience integrating EHS requirements into maintenance, contractor management, equipment commissioning, and capital projects. Strong leadership and communication skills, with the ability to gain credibility among hourly employees, supervisors, technical specialists, and senior executives. Sound judgment and the confidence to intervene when conditions are unsafe, combined with a collaborative approach to resolving problems. Strong analytical, organizational, and reporting skills, including disciplined follow-through on commitments. Professional certification such as Certified Safety Professional (CSP), Certified Industrial Hygienist (CIH), or a relevant NEBOSH qualification is preferred.

Working Expectations: This position requires a regular presence on the plant floor and engagement with employees across all shifts. The successful candidate must be comfortable working in an industrial environment and available to support significant incidents, planned shutdowns, and other critical activities outside normal business hours.

What Success Looks Like: Success will be demonstrated by verified reductions in serious risks, effective environmental compliance, timely and lasting corrective actions, and stronger ownership of EHS by plant leadership. Employees should see hazards addressed, feel confident raising concerns, and understand that safe, responsible operation is an essential part of how Arglass performs.