Safety Manager
Smurfit Westrock•Covington, VA
•$130,125 - $216,875•Onsite
About The Position
Smurfit Westrock is seeking a Health and Safety Manager for their Covington, VA location. This role is a key member of the mill leadership team, reporting directly to the General Manager. The Health and Safety Manager will lead the site's safety strategy, champion a world-class safety culture, and drive continuous improvement programs to protect employees while supporting operational performance. This is a visible leadership role that involves partnering with frontline teams, leading a professional safety team, and creating safer, more reliable, and engaged workplaces.
Requirements
- Bachelor’s degree in safety, engineering, industrial hygiene, or a related technical field; equivalent safety leadership experience will be considered.
- Minimum 8+ years of progressive safety leadership experience in heavy manufacturing, pulp and paper, chemical, energy, or similar industrial environments.
- Demonstrated success leading safety teams and influencing organizational culture.
- Strong working knowledge of OSHA regulations, safety management systems, industrial hygiene principles, and regulatory compliance requirements.
- Must be an effective speaker and be able to clearly articulate complex technical and regulatory requirements in simple and understandable terms.
- Experience driving measurable improvements in safety performance and organizational culture.
- Proven ability to influence leaders and employees at all levels of the organization.
- A self-starter with a proactive mindset and the ability to work independently.
- Proficient in use of Microsoft Word, Excel, PowerPoint, and web-based data management systems.
- Committed to the values of Safety, Loyalty, Integrity and Respect.
Nice To Haves
- Certified Safety Professional (CSP) or equivalent professional certification.
- Experience with Process Safety Management (PSM).
- Experience implementing Human & Organizational Performance (HOP), Learning Teams, or operational learning programs.
Responsibilities
- Develop and execute the mill's health and safety strategy, goals, metrics, and improvement initiatives.
- Champion a culture of safety excellence, accountability, learning, and continuous improvement.
- Lead implementation and sustainability of Smurfit Westrock's Safety Excellence System.
- Serve as the site leader for Human and Organizational Performance (HOP) and Learning Culture initiatives.
- Foster an environment where employees actively identify risks, learn from events and near misses, and continuously improve work systems.
- Maintain a strong presence in the field, spending approximately 60% of your time engaging employees, coaching leaders, conducting observations, and assessing risk.
- Collaborate with operations, maintenance, engineering, reliability, and environmental teams to integrate safety into business decisions and daily operations.
- Support Process Safety Management (PSM) compliance and performance.
- Lead contractor safety programs, outage safety planning, and shutdown activities.
- Lead, coach, and develop a team of safety professionals.
- Partner with Occupational Health resources to support injury prevention, workers' compensation, return-to-work programs, and wellness initiatives.
- Coordinate site safety training and compliance programs.
- Ensure compliance with OSHA, NFPA, ANSI, and company standards.
- Lead incident investigations, corrective action development, and organizational learning activities.
- Serve as the primary liaison with regulatory agencies, insurance carriers, and safety-related external partners.
- Manage site safety budgets, emergency preparedness programs, and crisis response processes.
Benefits
- Comprehensive training with numerous learning and development opportunities.
- An attractive salary reflecting skills, competencies, and potential.
- Benefits package to include medical, dental, vision, life insurance, 401k with match, tuition reimbursement, employee discounts, employee referral bonus, and much more!
- short-term bonus incentive
- health, dental and vision insurance
- flexible spending accounts or health savings accounts
- retirement savings plans
- life and disability insurance programs
- paid sick leave as required by applicable state/local law
- 15 days of paid vacation
- 11 days of paid holidays
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What This Job Offers
Job Type
Full-time
Career Level
Senior
