Vice President of Health

PRIMARY FUNCTION:

The Vice President of Health & Safety plays a key leadership role as a member of our extended leadership team, responsible for setting the strategic direction and leading the execution of enterprise-wide health and safety function. This role is responsible for establishing overall health and safety strategies grounded in robust performance metrics and evidence-based best practices and for driving the innovation, implementation and management of health and safety programs across multiple audiences. This role is critical in ensuring continuous enhancement of a culture of safety, compliance, and wellness, to not only meet but exceed industry standards and regulatory requirements.

This role leads a corporate team of 11 and a matrixed field-based team of over 120, dedicated to overall safety performance, occupational health and workers compensation, process safety management, fleet and security management and reports to the Chief Human Resource Officer. This leader will work closely with Wayne-Sanderson Farm’s Senior Leadership team to ensure our health and safety programs and practices are strongly aligned with business strategy to enable superior safety outcomes.

This is an exciting opportunity for an experienced leader to have a significant positive impact across a 26,000-employee workforce by continually enhancing a strong safety culture and enabling operational excellence.

KEY RESPONSIBILITIES:

1. Strategic Leadership

• Develop and implement a comprehensive Health & Safety strategy that aligns with company goals and regulatory standards, while fostering a culture of safety and compliance across all levels of the company
• Serve as a safety advocate at the executive level, influencing key decision-makers to prioritize health and safety in all aspects of the business.
• Build and maintain strong relationships with key internal and external stakeholders, including regulatory bodies, industry groups, and employee representatives.
• Drive continuous improvement in safety performance by engaging employees at all levels, creating awareness, and empowering them to actively participate in maintaining a safe work environment.
• Champion a culture of safety awareness and accountability at all organizational levels, ensuring consistent and comprehensive adoption of practices and policies.
• Collaborate with operations, HR, legal, and other departments to ensure seamless integration of health and safety standards within all business processes and initiatives.

2. Program Development and Execution

• Oversee the development and management of comprehensive health and safety programs, including health and safety standards and policies, emergency preparedness and safe work practices
• Oversee the creation and delivery of training programs designed to educate employees on health and safety protocols and mitigate complacency
• Work closely with operations leadership to ensure that safety measures and programs are effectively integrated into daily activities and achieving desired outcomes
• Implement a continuous improvement framework for health and safety processes, identifying areas for improvement and leading initiatives to advance safety performance and program effectiveness

3. Risk Management and Compliance

• Ensure regular risk assessments, safety audits, and hazard analyses are conducted across facilities to identify potential workplace hazards. Develop and implement strategies and proactive measures to address and mitigate identified risks
• Take a leading role in crisis management, business continuity planning and emergency response planning, ensuring the organization is prepared for and can effectively respond to major incidents or emergencies
• Establish and oversee incident investigation processes for accidents, injuries or illnesses, ensuring thorough identification of root causes and implementation of corrective actions to prevent future incidents. Maintain accurate and timely reporting of all incidents, injuries, and near misses
• Keep current on OSHA and other local, state, and federal regulations, and implement systems and processes to monitor regulatory changes and ensure enterprise-wide compliance
• Ensure the effective management of workers compensation, partnering effectively with third party administrators and driving continuous improvement

4. Analytics

• Set aggressive goals and utilize metrics to assess the overall safety performance of the organization
• Establish, monitor, and report on key performance indicators (KPIs) related to safety performance, accident rates, and regulatory compliance, presenting findings and strategic recommendations to the executive team and relevant stakeholders
• Utilize data analytics to identify trends and necessary mitigation actions, and drive enhancements in health and safety practices across the organization

5. Functional Leadership

• Foster a high-performing health and safety team, providing clear goals and coaching across the function
• Identify and develop a strong pipeline of health and safety talent to meet future needs of the company
• Develop and manage the budget for the health and safety function, ensuring optimal allocation of resources to meet strategic objectives

EDUCATION & CERTIFICATION:

• Bachelor's or Master’s degree in Occupational Health & Safety, Industrial Hygiene, or a related field.
• Certified Safety Professional (CSP), Certified Industrial Hygienist (CIH), or similar certifications are preferred.

EXPERIENCE & REQUIREMENTS:

• Minimum of 15 years of progressive experience in health and safety and operational roles, with at least 8 years in a senior leadership role
• Proven experience leading the health and safety function in a manufacturing or industrial environment, preferred experience within protein processing
• Experience effectively leading and coaching a large virtually dispersed team
• Advanced knowledge of OSHA and other relevant regulatory frameworks, and best-in-class health and safety practices, methodologies and tools
• Strong track record of strategic leadership of health and safety program implementation, change management, and process adoption
• Expert business partner, adept at fostering strategic partnerships with business stakeholders
• Strong influencing skills and executive presence to drive superior health and safety outcomes
• Track record of leading the successful alignment of company health and safety policies, approaches and processes
• Demonstrated ability to leverage external and internal resources and mobilize a network to execute quickly, effectively, and consistently in a fast-paced business environment.
• Ability to think creatively and drive innovation with demonstrated growth mindset
• Strong decision-making and problem-solving skills; proven research skills to gather data, best practices, and input to ensure sound judgment
• Excellent written, verbal, and visual communication skills across all levels of the organization.
• Strong organizational skills with the ability to prioritize and manage multiple projects while maintaining attention to detail
• Experience effectively leading a virtual team
• Demonstrated experience in hazardous material emergency response plan & team development, implementation, & administration
• Ability to travel approximately 30% of the time to company locations

SUPERVISORY RESPONSIBILITIES:

This role is a Leader of Leaders role with required competencies: Strategic Agility, Business Acumen, Building Effective Teams, Customer Focus and Command Skills

CORE COMPETENCIES:

• Leadership & Influence: Ability to lead and inspire change within the organization, fostering a safety-first culture.
• Action Oriented: Takes initiative and drives results with energy and focus. Quickly identifies issues, takes ownership, and implements solutions efficiently.
• Strategic Thinking: Proven ability to develop forward-looking strategies that meet operational needs while reducing risk and improving safety outcomes.
• Communication & Collaboration: Strong ability to communicate complex safety and regulatory matters across various organizational levels, from frontline employees to senior executives.
• Problem Solving & Decision-Making: Expertise in analyzing complex safety issues, making sound decisions, and implementing practical solutions to mitigate risk and prevent future incidents.
• Technical Expertise: Deep knowledge of safety regulations, industrial hygiene, ergonomics, and best practices within the meat/poultry processing industry.

SAFETY REQUIREMENTS:

• Follow and ensure others follow departmental and company safety policies and programs
• Wear required protective equipment in all areas where mandatory

PHYSICAL REQUIREMENTS:

• Ability to work Non-standard shifts (Holiday, Weekend, extended) as needed per business need
• Ability to remain stationary for extended periods
• Ability to navigate through manufacturing environments

WORK ENVIRONMENT

While performing the duties of this job, the employee is regularly exposed to risk of injury in an office and manufacturing environment. Duties include a typical office setting with regular visits into the processing and production environments. Reasonable accommodations may be made to enable individuals with disabilities to perform the essential functions.

We are an equal opportunity employer and all qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex, national origin, disability status, protected veteran status, or any other characteristic protected by law.