Safety Specialist

Worcester Polytechnic Institute•Worcester, MA

18h•Onsite

About The Position

The Safety Specialist provides support to faculty, students, and staff to help facilitate, assess, and promote a safe and healthy working environment across campus. The responsibilities of this position will be to develop and implement key safety programs including but not limited to control of hazardous energy, elevated work, electrical safety, compressed gas safety, and hot work. This position will work under the direct supervision of the EHS Executive Director and will also perform routine EHS tasks such as audits and inspections, learning events, support the advancement of the EHS Management System and work to advance a proactive safety culture at WPI. In addition, this position will also be involved with environmental compliance, emergency response and other safety and OSHA compliance related projects.

Requirements

Bachelor’s degree in chemistry, biology, occupational health and safety, or related field required.
4-6 years’ experience required.

Responsibilities

Develop and implement key safety programs including but not limited to control of hazardous energy, elevated work, electrical safety, compressed gas safety, and hot work.
Conduct periodic audits of programs to ensure effective implementation across the campus community.
Conduct required trainings as well as periodic toolbox talks.
Perform routine inspections in research laboratories, laser laboratories, confined space, and other areas to identify unsafe conditions or non-compliance with WPI policies.
Report findings to supervisor and work with faculty, students, and staff to resolve safety issues by recommending corrective actions and following up until resolved.
Assist in reviewing proposed facility and process changes as well as new equipment and chemical purchases to ensure compliance with applicable federal, state, and local requirements.
Develop standard work and checklists for common processes and risks across WPI.
Assist in the development of a fire safety program including a variety of routine tasks to ensure compliance with building codes, insurance standards and University expectations for a safe campus.
Complete comprehensive fire safety inspections and manage the fire extinguisher inventory and inspection process.
Conduct annual inventory of flammable liquids storage for Fire Department permit renewal.
Conduct health and fire safety inspection in campus buildings and perform tests on emergency lighting, emergency call stations, and other life safety equipment.
Respond to emergency situations.
Participate in on-call rotation.
Don personal protection equipment.
Provide technical support to outside responders.
Assess dangerous situations and respond appropriately.
Assist in maintaining an electronic database to record incidents and corrective actions.