Director of Enterprise Safety and Environment

Johnson Brothers•St. Paul, MN

6d•Hybrid

About The Position

Johnson Brothers is seeking a Director of Safety, Environmental Compliance & Risk Management to lead enterprise safety, fleet safety, environmental compliance, regulatory compliance, training, incident management, and operational risk reduction programs across our multi-state beverage distribution network. The ideal candidate brings strong technical knowledge, practical field experience, sound judgment, and the ability to turn complex regulatory and operational issues into clear, usable tools and guidance for business leaders. The Director of Enterprise Safety and Environment leads the development of an enterprise safety culture where every employee takes ownership of identifying hazards, reporting concerns, and preventing injuries through coaching, accountability, and continuous improvement. The Director also provides leadership for employee safety, fleet safety, environmental compliance, emergency preparedness and response, incident management, and operational risk reduction across all Johnson Brothers locations. This role develops and maintains company-wide policies, procedures, forms, training, reporting systems and tools, and compliance programs that support safe and compliant operations in warehousing, transportation, delivery, sales, merchandising, and office environments. The Director serves as the primary internal subject matter expert for federal and state OSHA and EPA, FMCSA, environmental compliance, incident investigation, root cause analysis, corrective and preventive action planning, and safety performance improvement. The role partners closely with Operations, Fleet, Human Resources, Legal, Facilities, Security, Risk Management, Regional and Branch leadership to identify risk, improve systems, reduce injuries and accidents, and build local capability through practical tools, training, coaching, and data-driven guidance.

Requirements

Bachelor’s degree in Occupational Safety, Environmental Health, Risk Management, Engineering, Industrial Hygiene, Business, Logistics, or a related field.
Equivalent combination of education and relevant experience may be considered.
10 or more years of progressive experience in safety, environmental compliance, transportation safety, risk management, regulatory compliance, or related operational leadership.
Experience supporting multi-state operations.
Experience in warehousing, distribution, transportation, logistics, manufacturing, food/beverage distribution, or similar operational environments.
Experience interpreting and applying OSHA, DOT/FMCSA, and environmental compliance requirements.
Experience leading incident investigations, root cause analysis, and corrective/preventive action planning.
Experience developing policies, procedures, training, forms, audits, and compliance tools.
Experience working with senior leaders, field leaders, regulators, vendors, insurers, and legal partners.
Strong knowledge of occupational safety and health regulations and DOT/FMCSA requirements relating to wholesale warehousing and distribution.
Working knowledge of environmental compliance requirements applicable to warehouse and distribution operations.
Working knowledge of FDA packaged food and beverage related regulations related to warehousing and transportation.
Ability to translate complex regulatory requirements into plain-language, practical operational guidance, policies, procedures, forms, and training materials.
Strong root cause analysis and corrective action planning skills.
Effective written and verbal communication skills; including in person, by phone, through virtual meetings, and in writing.
Strong analytical skills with the ability to identify trends and recommend practical solutions.
Ability to influence leaders and teams without direct authority.
Strong project management and follow-through skills.
Ability to manage multiple priorities across a distributed business.
Sound judgment when handling regulatory, legal, personnel, and operational risk issues.
Proficiency with Microsoft Office tools (specifically Excel and PowerBI), reporting tools, safety management systems, and telematics systems.
Current or actively developing proficiency with emerging AI technologies, prompting, and Agent creation to support improvement of operational performance and decision-making.
Work is performed in office, warehouse, distribution, fleet, and field environments.
Business travel to branch locations, up to 40%.
May occasionally work outside normal business hours to support incidents, regulatory matters, emergencies, or operational needs.
Must be able to walk warehouse and fleet areas, climb stairs, observe operational work, and participate in site assessments.
May be exposed to active warehouse and delivery environments, including moving equipment, vehicle areas, loading docks, weather conditions, and other operational hazards.
Must be able to use required personal protective equipment where applicable.

Nice To Haves

Professional certification such as CSP, ASP, SMS, ARM, CHST, or similar.
DOT/FMCSA compliance experience.
Environmental compliance experience related to distribution, warehousing, fueling, stormwater, waste, or spill prevention.
Experience with Workday Learning, learning management systems, incident reporting and management systems, dashboards, or safety technology platforms.

Responsibilities

Lead company-wide safety strategy and continuous improvement initiatives.
Develop, maintain, and improve enterprise safety policies, procedures, forms, standards, and guidance documents.
Establish practical safety expectations for branch leaders, supervisors, drivers, warehouse employees, sales teams, and support functions.
Provide guidance to Executive and Functional leaders on business threats, hazard identification, risk reduction, and regulatory compliance.
Drive a safety culture where every employee takes ownership of identifying hazards, reporting concerns, and preventing injuries through coaching, accountability, and continuous improvement.
Develop, maintain, and report on KPIs and metrics that provide insight into safety performance, organizational behaviors, system effectiveness, and risk reduction efforts, including TRIR/DART rates, near-miss reporting, CAPA closure rates, vehicle accident rates, workers’ compensation trends, and audit and compliance metrics.
Lead function related aspects of new facility startups, expansions, and new acquisition integrations to ensure consistent enterprise safety standards.
Develop and manage the enterprise safety budget including training, consulting, technology, PPE, fleet safety initiatives, and environmental compliance programs.
Chair the Enterprise Safety Committee by establishing governance processes, reviewing enterprise safety performance, identifying emerging risks, prioritizing improvement initiatives, and communicating recommendations to executive leadership.
Serve as a corporate subject matter expert for Federal and State OSHA and environmental requirements, and FMCSA.
Lead activities related to regulatory inspections, inquiries, investigations, citations, abatement responses, and related agency communications.
Ensure adequate processes to maintain required compliance records, reports, and documentation.
Monitor regulatory changes, identify, and communicate practical impacts to affected business leaders.
Partner with Legal, Human Resources, Operations, and outside counsel when needed.
Oversee applicable environmental compliance programs, including facility-level environmental plans, permits, inspections, reporting, and corrective actions.
Support stormwater, spill prevention, hazardous materials, waste, fueling, and other environmental compliance activities as applicable to beverage warehousing and distribution operations.
Coordinate with environmental consultants and regulatory agencies as needed.
Provide practical guidance to branch leaders on environmental risk controls and documentation requirements.
Lead the fleet safety strategy for CDL and non-CDL delivery vehicles and related transportation operations.
Support driver safety programs, accident prevention, DOT compliance, and corrective action processes.
Partner with Fleet, Operations, Human Resources, and Branch leaders to address driver risk, vehicle accident trends, and repeat issues.
Support development and maintenance of driver training curriculum, driver trainer expectations, and train-the-trainer programs.
Lead company processes for reporting, investigating, and analyzing injuries, vehicle accidents, property damage, environmental incidents, near misses, and significant safety concerns (pSIF/SIF).
Lead and provide coaching and training on the corrective and preventive action (CAPA) process, driving effective root cause analysis and action plan completion to meet company objectives.
Prepare summaries, lessons learned, and recommendations for leadership review.
Develop, maintain, and improve safety-related training content, programs, and learning assignments.
Partner with Human Resources, Workday/LMS administrators, Operations, and vendors to develop, assign, track, and improve required safety training.
Create practical training materials, job aids, supervisor guides, forms, and reference tools.
Support trainer qualification processes for safety-critical activities such as powered industrial trucks, driver training, and other operational risk areas.
Conduct site safety assessments, compliance reviews, and operational risk evaluations.
Identify hazards, compliance gaps, best practices, and improvement opportunities.
Provide written findings, practical recommendations, and partner in the development of action plans with branch and senior leaders.
Follow up on corrective actions and support sustainable implementation.
Coach leaders on recognizing risk, improving controls, and preventing repeat incidents.
Support emergency preparedness planning, response procedures, and crisis management activities.
Provide guidance for severe weather, workplace violence, fire, spill, medical emergency, natural disaster, and other emergency scenarios.
Partner with Security, Facilities, Operations, Communications, and leadership on emergency messaging and response coordination.
Support branch readiness through plans, drills, tools, and practical guidance.
Effectively analyze data to identify patterns, incident trends, and recurring hazards, process failures, training gaps, and systemic risk.
Develop reports, dashboards, scorecards, and trend summaries for leadership and branch teams.
Use data to prioritize safety initiatives, resource allocation, and corrective actions.
Communicate findings in a clear, practical, and actionable format.
Manage relationships with safety consultants, environmental consultants, insurance partners, training vendors, technology providers, and regulatory specialists.
Evaluate tools, services, and systems that improve safety performance, compliance management, reporting, or operational risk control.
Lead direct reports and support development of safety team capability.
Partner with senior leaders, branch leaders, supervisors, and employees across multiple states.
Influence without direct authority by providing practical guidance, coaching, and data-supported recommendations.
Balance enterprise consistency with local operational needs.
Represent the safety function professionally in cross-functional projects and leadership discussions.

Benefits

Reduction in employee injury, vehicle accident rates, and overall operational risk exposure.
Effective identification, prioritization, and mitigation of enterprise safety and compliance risks.
Improvement in regulatory compliance performance and successful resolution of inspections, complaints, and investigations.
Timely and sustainable closure of corrective and preventive actions resulting from incidents, audits, inspections, and assessments.
Increased organizational capability to identify hazards, investigate incidents, and implement systemic preventive actions.
Consistent execution of safety, environmental, fleet, and compliance programs across all Johnson Brothers operations.
Increased participation in proactive safety activities, including observations, hazard reporting, and near-miss reporting.
Continuous improvement in safety culture, leadership engagement, and accountability throughout the organization.
Reduction in workers' compensation, vehicle accident, regulatory, and other controllable risk-related costs.
Development of scalable systems, training programs, and technology solutions that improve compliance, efficiency, and risk management performance.