Description

Are you passionate about keeping people safe and mitigating risk?

Rainbow Municipal Water District is hiring someone to lead its risk management, environmental, and health and safety programs.  This is an exciting opportunity for the right candidate to promote a culture of safety and make a difference for a workforce that makes a difference in our community.

The Safety & Risk Management Officer is a "department of one" position. The selected candidate will be in charge of environmental compliance, health and safety training programs, personal protective equipment inventory, safety inspections, accident and liability investigations, emergency preparedness, worker's compensation and liability claims, safety-sensitive driving programs, and all related recordkeeping and communication.

This is a big job with a big impact.

While no two days will be the same, these are some of the most important responsibilities:

• Keep our team safe. This means informing employees and management about potential hazards and ensuring they are trained on how to implement safety controls.
• Prevent toxic exposures. You will ensure that all hazardous materials are properly labeled and stored, and that team members know where to find the information they need to know about to handle any hazardous materials they may encounter.
• Ensure compliance. Help us meet the requirements of the alphabet soup of regulatory agencies, related policies, and reporting portals: CalOSHA, EPA, APCD, CalOES, CARB,  FEMA, NIMS, CERS, DOORS, IIPP, EAM, ERP, PPE, DER, CPP, and so on...
• Process claims. This includes worker's compensation claims and liability claims against the District. 
• Conduct inspections. You will proactively assess our work sites, construction sites, and facilities to identify and remedy hazards and ensure staff are following safe work practices. 
• Investigate incidents. Whether it's an accident, a near-miss, or a liability claim, you will be the primary investigator for most incidents. As such, you will need to know what questions to ask, how to follow document trails, how to create a written report that clearly and objectively portrays events, how to conduct root-cause analysis, and how to make appropriate corrective action recommendations. 
• Help us prepare for emergencies. This means ensuring our emergency response plan, evacuation plan, COVID-19 prevention plan, and other related plans are up to date and our workforce knows what will be expected of them in an emergency.
• Administer our safe driver program. You will be in charge of ensuring that all District drivers are qualified to drive a District vehicle under our policies and be the Designated Employer Representative for our DOT safety-sensitive driver program. 
• Maintain immaculate records. Whether it's training records, policy updates, or investigations, you'll keep records organized so they can be found at a moment's notice.

Requirements

The ideal candidate has several years of related experience and offers exceptional communication and organizational skills, as well as a keen attention to detail.

If this sounds like you, then consider applying:

• You have experience leading an environmental health and safety program, preferably at a water agency, other underground utility company, or a closely related industry.  
• You have related education such as a Bachelor's Degree in industrial hygiene, or specialized certification such as Certified Safety Professional (CSP), Certified Utilities Safety Administrator (CUSA), Certified Occupational Safety Specialist (COSS), Certified Occupational Safety Manager (COSM), or Associate in Risk Management (ARM). 
• You are self-driven and comfortable working independently and can take general guidance and manage your time proactively to achieve goals. 
• You have exceptional communication skills, which you can adapt to the audience, setting, and mode of communication. Whether it's building rapport with team members, delivering training without putting anyone to sleep, drafting a clear and concise staff report, or drafting a complex policy, you can do it effectively.
• You have a strong sense of integrity, which means you are the kind of person who will triple-check the details to be sure all the facts are right before you present information, make a recommendation, or submit a request for approval.
• You get things done on time, because you track deadlines meticulously, apply your organizational skills to plan your time, and are adept at removing roadblocks to get results. 
• You have excellent research and analysis skills and can synthesize technical information from complex regulations and understand how to apply it to the District's operations. 
• You keep meticulous records, and live by the saying "If it's not documented it didn't happen."