Director of EHS and Sustainability at Foremost Farms USA in Baraboo, WI

POSITION SUMMARY

This position leads and provides the strategic direction for Environmental, Health, Safety, and Sustainability for Foremost Farms USA. Collaborating across the organization, this role is responsible for ensuring accident free work environments protecting employees, caring for the environment, and minimizing waste from processes and products, while creating value for the customer. This position oversees the corporate sustainability strategy, ensures compliance with regulatory environmental and safety standards, and leads sustainability practices across operations from farm to customer, in order to limit environmental impact, in accordance with company policies and procedures. This is highly visible, transformational role with a focus on leading change, influencing, communicating, and coordinating, while interacting with key stakeholders, customers, and employees to lead EHS and Sustainability improvement.

ESSENTIAL FUNCTIONS

To perform this job successfully, an individual must be able to perform each essential duty satisfactorily. Reasonable accommodations may be made to enable individuals with disabilities to perform the essential functions. The job description is not designed to cover or contain a comprehensive listing of activities, duties or responsibilities that are required of the employee. Other duties, responsibilities and activities may change or be assigned at any time with or without notice. The essential functions of this job include, but are not limited to:

SAFETY:

• Driving a world class safety culture and safety results across the organization.
• Leading with passion, servant leadership, and a continuous improvement mindset.
• Integrating behavior-based safety programs into manufacturing systems collaborating with Operations.
• Providing guidance and assistance to management to ensure that safety and environmental policies are observed at all plant locations.
• Overseeing company workers compensation strategy to mitigate loss, cost, and risk.
• Inspecting company facilities to detect existing or potential hazards, recommending corrective measures.

SUSTAINABILITY / ENVIRONMENT:

• Developing and communicating EHS/sustainable organizational policy, practices, and strategy.
• Executing strategy to drive sustainability improvement in renewable energy programs, energy use reduction, resource conservation, recycling, carbon footprint, waste elimination, water reduction, and other green initiatives.
• Monitoring the cooperative’s environmental impact and advocates for ways to improve.
• Setting guidelines, metrics, and benchmark for environmental impact.
• Identifying emerging EHS/sustainability issues to proactively prepare the cooperative.
• Developing leading edge pilot projects and programs to enhance sustainability platform, research, member services, and customer expectations.
• Evaluating proposed environmental and safety regulatory changes and laws regarding their potential impact on company operations.
• Preparing relevant information concerning permits and discussions with state local, state, and federal officials concerning regulatory issues.
• Developing and managing sustainability and pollution control programs and policies.
• Providing environmental related training to ensure compliance with company policies.

GENERAL:

• Bringing forward leading industry best practices and programs to add value to the cooperative.
• Participating in appropriate plant, business, farm-related, and customer meetings related to safety, environmental, and sustainability continuous improvement and compliance efforts.
• Developing systems that meet or exceed Federal and State regulatory agency compliance.
• Leading, managing, and participating in as appropriate, incident investigations, insurance inspections, environmental audits and O.S.H.A., E.P.A., D.N.R., and other regulatory agency investigations and inspections.
• Developing, completing and maintaining all required paperwork, records and documents for the EHS function.
• Collaborating with other functions on the property insurance strategy to mitigate loss, cost, and risk.
• Regular and punctual attendance and physical presence in the workplace.
• Timely and accurate completion of duties.
• Frequent travel for work, up to 50% of the time, depending on business requirements.

REQUIRED COMPETENCIES

The following are required competencies of the position that must be met by the employee to successfully perform the essential functions of the job:

• Computer Skills: Ability to operate all information technology related business systems, programs and applications in a manner that achieves efficiency, accuracy, and relevancy of information processing and reporting as it applies to this position.
• Language Skills: Ability to read, analyze and interpret legal cases, general business periodicals, professional journals, or government regulations. Ability to write reports, business correspondence, and safety policies and procedure manuals. Ability to effectively present information and respond to questions concerning safety/environmental issues from groups of managers, executives and employees.
• Mathematical Skills: Ability to calculate figures and amounts relating to safety and environmental procedures. Ability to apply concepts of basic algebra and statistics.
• Reasoning Ability: Ability to solve practical problems and deal with a variety of concrete variables in situations where only limited standardization exists. Ability to interpret a variety of governmental laws and technical information furnished in written, oral, diagram, or schedule form.
• Other Skills & Abilities: Requires the ability to operate a variety of standard business machines, Requires the ability to organize and coordinate safety/loss control procedures. Requires the ability to safely operate a motor vehicle while observing all traffic laws and maintain a valid driver’s license.

PHYSICAL DEMANDS/WORK ENVIRONMENT

The physical demands described here are representative of those that must be met by an employee to successfully perform the essential functions of this job. Reasonable accommodations may be made to enable individuals with disabilities to perform the essential functions.

• Physical Demands – While performing the duties of this job, the employee is regularly required to stand, walk, sit, use hands to finger, handle, or touch objects, tools, or controls, and talk or hear. The employee is occasionally required to reach above shoulders, climb or balance, stoop, kneel, crouch or crawl, taste or smell, and use foot/feet to operate machine controls. The employee must occasionally lift and/or move up to 25 pounds. Specific vision abilities required by this job include close vision, distance vision, color vision, peripheral vision, depth perception, and the ability to adjust focus.
• Work Environment – Employee is occasionally exposed to risk of electrical shock wet and/or humid conditions, fumes or airborne participles. The noise level in the work environment is usually moderate.
• Protective Equipment – Personal protective and/or food safety related equipment, may be required to be worn including, safety glasses, hard hat, hair net and hearing protection, depending on the job being performed

EDUCATION & EXPERIENCE

This position requires a bachelor’s degree in safety, risk management, environmental engineering, environmental health/industrial hygiene or related field of study. Extensive knowledge of regulatory requirements for the industry and region, including OSHA, EPA, DNA, and other federal & state, local standards and regulations are required. Five to ten years of safety, environment, and loss control job-related experience.