We're recruiting on behalf of an established US food manufacturer looking for a Safety Specialist to lead and run the occupational health and safety program at its plant in Hawthorne, New Jersey. This is a full-time, on-site role within the Environmental Health & Safety (EHS) function, reporting into plant leadership. You'll be the go-to person for safety across production, sanitation, maintenance, warehouse and receiving. That means keeping the site OSHA compliant, bringing injury rates down and building a proactive safety culture where everyone on the floor takes ownership. It's a hands-on role with plenty of time spent walking the plant, training teams and working closely with supervisors and employees.
What you'll be doing:- Leading the plant health and safety program, ensuring compliance with OSHA and food manufacturing safety regulations
- Developing and delivering safety training, including new-hire orientation, job-specific and refresher training
- Carrying out safety audits, inspections, risk assessments and job hazard analyses (JHA) on plant equipment such as grinders, mixers, stuffers, wrappers and forklifts
- Investigating incidents, injuries and near-misses, carrying out root-cause analysis and tracking corrective actions to closure
- Writing, maintaining and auditing safety programs and SOPs, including Lockout/Tagout, HazCom (GHS), PPE, Machine Guarding, Powered Industrial Trucks, Confined Space and Emergency Action Plans
- Managing OSHA recordkeeping (300/300A logs), injury reporting and regulatory documentation
- Running the chemical safety and SDS program for sanitation and maintenance chemicals
- Leading the plant Safety Committee and coordinating safety meetings and communications
- Supporting workers' compensation cases and return-to-work/modified-duty coordination with HREnforcing PPE programs and supporting ergonomic assessments on the production lines
- Preparing for and supporting OSHA, customer and third-party audits
- Managing emergency preparedness, including evacuation, fire safety, first aid/CPR, spill response and drills
- Tracking and reporting safety KPIs (incident rates, lost time and leading indicators) to management
- Supporting PSM awareness and emergency response where applicable
- What they're looking for:
- Bachelor's degree in Occupational Health & Safety, EHS or a related field (or equivalent experience)3 to 5 years of safety experience in manufacturing or food production
- Strong knowledge of OSHA regulations and general industry safety standards
- Working knowledge of food manufacturing hazards: machine guarding, Lockout/Tagout, powered industrial trucks, HazCom and ergonomics (ammonia/PSM awareness a plus)
- Experience with OSHA recordkeeping, incident investigation and root-cause analysis
- Confident trainer and communicator who can influence people at all levels
- Bilingual in English and Spanish strongly preferred
- Proficient in Microsoft Office; experience with EHS management software a plusOSHA 30-Hour General Industry and First Aid/CPR/AED preferred; progress toward ASP, CSP or CHST a bonus
- Willing to travel to the company's Florida facility as needed
- Comfortable working on the production floor in cold, wet and noisy environments, and responding to incidents outside normal hours when needed
- What's on offer:
- Base salary of $70,000 to $85,000 The chance to own and shape the safety program at a busy food manufacturing site
- Close collaboration with plant leadership and HR
