Senior Specialist, Environment and Sustainability

Lehigh Valley Health Network•Allentown, PA

22h•Onsite

About The Position

Oversees compliance, safety-driven quality control and improvement, and administrative functions within the Environment and Sustainability Department (ESD). The role supports the everyday management of hazardous materials, waste management, sustainability, environmental services, landscaping, snow removal, and pest management services at acute, sub-acute, and physician practice sites across the LVHN Region. Serves as a liaison between LVHN Jefferson-approved vendors and stakeholders across the organization, including Infection Prevention, Occupational Safety Management, Emergency Management, Fire Safety, Accounts Payable, Real Estate, campus operations and facilities management, Start Up Services, Strategic Sourcing, Value Analysis, Patient Safety, LVHN Quality, Public Safety/Security, IS&T, DOE, Joint Commission Accreditation, Risk Management, and LVHN Legal. The position helps maintain operational excellence and legal and regulatory compliance, and supports timely account maintenance while fostering transparency, accuracy, and service.

Requirements

Master’s degree in a healthcare, business, public health, or science discipline, or five years of experience in an acute, sub-acute, or physician practice setting, or as a consultant, surveyor, or compliance auditor.
Two years in a supervisory position or subject matter expert role assessing and mitigating compliance risk and hazard exposure.
Strong computer skills, including Microsoft Office—particularly Excel statistics, spreadsheet development, and Pivot Tables—and PowerPoint for reports and presentations; MS Teams.
Strong critical thinking, interpersonal, team-building, and liaison skills for working with Jefferson LVHN colleagues, vendors, and regulatory agents.
Deadline-driven, highly organized, and able to monitor and assess personal and stakeholder performance, complete assessments on time, and take corrective action.
Ability to communicate effectively in writing and verbally with all levels of the Jefferson LVHN network, with strong editorial skills.
Ability to incorporate continuous quality improvement principles into activities and operations.
Willingness to be mentored in human factors engineering (HFE), systems safety, and/or instructional design techniques.
Pennsylvania driver's license required upon hire.

Nice To Haves

Master’s degree in a healthcare, public health, or science discipline and an MBA.
Seven years of experience in an acute, sub-acute, or physician practice setting, or as a consultant, surveyor, or compliance auditor.
Three years in a supervisory position or subject matter expert role assessing and mitigating compliance risks and hazard exposure.
One year of experience in human factors and/or systems safety management, with an emphasis on developing a high-reliability organization and Just Culture.
Experience with Lean/Six Sigma.
Experience with environmental reporting and permitting.
Knowledge of Joint Commission regulations and compliance, particularly as they apply to waste management and related regulatory requirements.
Experience in healthcare administration, healthcare informatics, value analysis, safety management, industrial hygiene, hazardous materials management, and/or sustainability.
Strong emotional intelligence and relationship-building and negotiation skills, including the ability to persuade others to identify hazards and inadequate system performance to support quality improvements.
Experience with MS Forms, MS Visio, MS SharePoint, Qualtrics, Tableau, Articulate 360, Camtasia, or other screen-capture software.
Experience with online course development, learning management system administration, and website maintenance.
Background in occupational, environmental, or systems safety; hazardous materials waste management; emergency management; infection prevention; environmental services management; employee health; risk management; quality; patient safety; patient experience; high reliability; human factors engineering; or systems thinking.
Certified Hazardous Materials Manager (CHMM).
CHESP — Certified Healthcare Environmental Services Professional (American Hospital Association), upon hire.
CHSP — Certified Healthcare Safety Professional (International Board for Certification of Safety Managers), upon hire.
CIC — Certified in Infection Control (Certification Board of Infection Control and Epidemiology), upon hire.
HEM — Healthcare Environmental Manager (Emergency Care Research Institute), upon hire.

Responsibilities

Manage the tactical and strategic compliance duties of ESD, including compliance with EPA/PADEP, Joint Commission, DOT, DOH, OSHA, and Pennsylvania state regulations through periodic assessments, reporting, and corrective actions.
Develop and administer mechanisms and tools for environmental rounding, system tracers, audits, and QA/QC surveys; track performance and recommend improvements to compliance and safety-critical waste management systems.
Review and revise hazardous materials and waste management (HMWM), sustainability, and vendor management policies, processes, contracts/MSAs, and procedures.
Manage vendor activity that creates, updates, or terminates LVHN vendor accounts, maintaining accurate correspondence between active service and invoicing.
Assess the financial and safety-management impact of daily waste-stream handling and provide recommendations to management and senior leadership when requested.
Serve as a subject matter expert and liaison among LVHN-approved vendors, regulatory agencies, Legacy Jefferson, and Jefferson Lehigh stakeholders on waste management processes.
Support Legacy Jefferson efforts related to HMWM, vendor performance assessment, Joint Commission Sustainability Certification, knowledge management, learning, and training.
Develop and monitor KPIs, dashboards, and performance metrics for program performance, credentialing, and enrollment processes; recommend corrective actions as needed.
Develop and administer education, training, and information-management mechanisms, including ESD website maintenance, to support consistent and verifiable knowledge transfer.
Create documents and update mission-critical ESD processes and procedures to meet HMWM requirements, Joint Commission regulations and elements of performance, and expectations of LVHN senior leadership and the LVHN Board.