Health & Safety Manager

Under the direction of the Director of Operations, the Health & Safety Manager is responsible for leading the company's health and safety function across a growing organization of approximately 300+ employees. This role provides strategic and operational leadership for the design, implementation, ownership, and continuous improvement of the company's Safety Management System (SMS). The Manager will partner with leaders across departments, and ensure health and safety programs are scalable, compliant, effective, and aligned with business growth. This position is accountable for building a strong safety culture, strengthening due diligence, improving leading and lagging safety performance, and ensuring the organization is audit-ready and positioned for long-term success. Based out of Delta BC with occasional commute to Hope BC. Key Responsibilities What Success Looks Like The Health & Safety Manager successfully establishes the Safety Management System as a living, company-wide operating framework; strengthens leadership accountability; develops the Safety Advisor and broader organization; improves audit readiness and compliance performance; reduces risk exposure; and helps create a workplace where safe work is fully integrated into how the business operates every day. H&S Leadership and Strategy • Own the company's Safety Management System (SMS), including implementation, governance, maintenance, and continuous improvement, ensuring the system remains practical, scalable, and aligned with operational growth. • Lead the rollout of the SMS across all departments and sites, including standards, procedures, training, accountabilities, documentation, and performance monitoring. • Develop and execute the company's annual health and safety strategy, objectives, and roadmap in alignment with operational priorities and risk profile. • Provide leadership, coaching, and direction to the Safety Advisor, while establishing clear priorities, development plans, and performance expectations for the safety function. • Serve as the primary internal subject matter expert and strategic advisor to operations leadership on occupational health and safety risk, compliance obligations, and best practices. • Partner with managers and supervisors to embed safety responsibilities into daily operations, leader standard work, and decision-making processes. • Build a proactive safety culture by promoting accountability, visible leadership, employee engagement, hazard reporting, and continuous improvement. • Support the company's long-term maturity in health and safety management by benchmarking programs, identifying improvement opportunities, and leading strategic initiatives that strengthen overall organizational capability. Compliance and Governance • Ensure compliance with applicable occupational health and safety legislation, regulations, standards, and internal requirements, including WorkSafeBC expectations and other relevant provincial and federal requirements. • Manage the company's relationship with WorkSafeBC, including correspondence, inspections, reporting, claims-related matters, and ongoing engagement to support compliance, due diligence, and a constructive working relationship. • Monitor current and emerging occupational health and safety legislation, regulatory changes, and industry expectations; assess organizational impact; and ensure the company remains compliant with all current and future applicable legal and regulatory requirements. • Lead and support internal and external safety audits, including readiness for COR-style, client, insurer, or regulatory audits where applicable. • Ensure safety documentation, records, postings, permits, manuals, and required program materials are accurate, current, and readily accessible. • Provide oversight and leadership to the Joint Health and Safety Committee (JHSC), ensuring meetings are effective, compliant, action-oriented, and aligned with organizational priorities. Risk Management, Incident Prevention & Emergency Preparedness • Lead enterprise and site-level risk assessments, hazard identification processes, inspections, and audits to ensure effective controls are implemented and sustained. • Oversee incident, injury, and near-miss reporting, investigation, root cause analysis, corrective action management, and organizational learning to reduce recurrence. • Ensure emergency preparedness and response plans are developed, tested, maintained, and aligned with site-specific hazards and business continuity needs. • Manage safety-related corrective action systems to ensure timely closure, verification of effectiveness, and clear accountability. • Drive contractor and visitor safety expectations, including onboarding requirements, site rules, permit controls, and performance monitoring. • Support capital projects, operational changes, and new initiatives by ensuring safety requirements are incorporated into planning, design, commissioning, and execution. Training, Engagement & Operational Support • Own the organization's safety training framework, including orientation, annual refresher training, supervisor capability building, contractor expectations, and competency tracking. • Partner with HR, operations, engineering, facilities, and people leaders on return-to-work, modified duties, contractor safety, change management, and workplace wellness initiatives. • Oversee WorkSafeBC claims management processes in partnership with HR and operational leaders, including claim administration, modified duty coordination, return-to-work support, trend analysis, and opportunities to reduce claim frequency and duration. Performance, Reporting & Continuous Improvement • Set, track, analyze, and communicate leading and lagging health and safety KPIs, ensuring performance is clearly reported upward to senior leadership and downward to managers, supervisors, and employees to drive accountability and continuous improvement. • Prepare executive summaries and communicate key risks, incidents, trends, and strategic recommendations to the Director of Operations and senior leadership team. Qualifications and Experience • Degree, diploma, or certificate in Occupational Health and Safety, Environmental Health and Safety, or a related discipline. • Professional designation such as CRSP, CRST, NCSO, CHSC, or equivalent is considered a strong asset. • Minimum 7-10 years of progressive health and safety experience, including experience in a leadership or management capacity. • Demonstrated experience implementing, leading, or significantly improving a Safety Management System or occupational health and safety management framework. • Strong knowledge of WorkSafeBC requirements, occupational health and safety legislation, incident investigation practices, and audit readiness. • Experience leading health and safety programs in manufacturing, food production, cannabis, pharmaceutical, warehousing, distribution, greenhouse, or other operational environments with frontline workforces is strongly preferred. • Proven ability to lead change, influence leaders at all levels, and translate regulatory requirements into practical operational standards. • Strong experience with risk assessment, inspections, incident investigations, root cause analysis, corrective actions, and emergency preparedness. • Experience supervising or mentoring safety professionals, advisors, coordinators, or cross-functional safety leads is preferred. • Highly effective communication, facilitation, coaching, and stakeholder management skills. • Strong analytical skills, including the ability to interpret safety data, identify trends, and develop practical action plans. • Proficient in Microsoft Office applications; experience with safety management systems, reporting tools, and digital compliance platforms is an asset. • High level of integrity, professionalism, judgment, and accountability. Compensation $90,000.00 - $115,000.00 per year