Measures of Success
- EHS regulatory and company requirements are consistently met.
- High-risk hazards are identified and corrected promptly.
- Corrective actions are completed on time and effectively closed.
- Injuries, repeat incidents, and recurring findings show measurable improvement.
- Leaders demonstrate ownership and accountability for EHS performance.
- Employees actively report concerns and consistently follow safe work practices.
- Environmental compliance requirements are maintained and issues promptly resolved.
- The EHS team effectively balances strategic priorities with day-to-day execution.
EHS Manager
Morbark, LLC | Winn, Michigan
Position Summary
The EHS Manager leads the development and execution of Morbark’s environmental, health, and safety strategy across a 1.1-million-square-foot manufacturing facility. This is a hands-on leadership role responsible for establishing effective EHS systems, ensuring regulatory compliance, anticipating risk, recognizing gaps, and driving improvements through completion.
This leader translates EHS priorities into practical improvements across the manufacturing operation. The EHS Manager establishes site strategy, compliance expectations, performance measures, and management systems while partnering with leaders and employees to integrate environmental, health, and safety requirements into daily operations. Success requires strategic thinking, regulatory knowledge, a strong floor presence, and the ability to drive accountability and measurable results.
Key Responsibilities
EHS Strategy and Leadership
- Develop and execute the site environmental, health, and safety strategy aligned with operational priorities, regulatory requirements, workforce needs, and manufacturing risks.
- Establish an annual EHS improvement plan with defined priorities, owners, timelines, resources, and measurable outcomes.
- Maintain an EHS compliance calendar covering required inspections, monitoring, reporting, permit renewals, training, and regulatory submissions.
- Identify emerging EHS risks and recurring compliance issues, prioritize corrective actions, and drive improvements through completion.
- Integrate EHS requirements into production planning, equipment purchases, capital projects, facility changes, and new or modified processes.
- Recommend investments based on regulatory requirements, risk reduction, operational impact, and long-term effectiveness.
- Define and maintain the site EHS management system, including policies, responsibilities, performance measures, escalation requirements, and management-review processes.
Environmental Compliance
- Maintain oversight of site environmental compliance requirements, including applicable air, wastewater, stormwater, waste, chemical management, and spill-prevention programs.
- Ensure required environmental permits, plans, inspections, monitoring, records, and regulatory submissions are maintained and completed on time.
- Coordinate environmental sampling, reporting, and specialized technical support with qualified internal or external resources as needed.
- Serve as the site point of contact for environmental regulatory matters and ensure identified compliance issues are appropriately addressed and closed.
- Evaluate environmental requirements associated with significant process, equipment, chemical, or facility changes.
- Ensure spills, releases, permit deviations, or other environmental incidents are properly reported, investigated, and corrected.
Manufacturing Floor Leadership
- Maintain a visible, consistent presence throughout the facility, engaging employees and leaders across shifts.
- Proactively identify unsafe conditions, behaviors, equipment, and processes; initiate immediate controls when needed and implement lasting solutions.
- Partner with Operations, Maintenance, Engineering, HR, and other departments to eliminate hazards and strengthen safe work practices.
- Exercise authority to stop unsafe work and coordinate corrective action before work resumes.
- Ensure safety expectations are practical, understood, and consistently applied.
Performance Measures and Follow-Through
- Develop and maintain safety dashboards that track both preventive activity and incident outcomes.
- Establish measures for hazard identification, corrective action closure, repeat findings, training completion, inspections, and incident trends.
- Create a reliable process for assigning action owners, setting deadlines, escalating overdue items, and verifying completion.
- Validate the effectiveness of corrective actions through follow-up observations, employee feedback, and trend analysis.
- Present performance, unresolved risks, and improvement priorities to site leadership with clear recommendations.
Risk Assessment and Incident Prevention
- Lead risk assessments and job hazard analyses for manufacturing tasks, equipment, and work areas.
- Strengthen programs addressing risks such as machine guarding, lockout/tagout, powered industrial trucks, welding and hot work, material handling, ergonomics, and chemical exposure.
- Lead incident and near-miss investigations to identify root causes and implement corrective actions that prevent recurrence.
- Use incident data, inspections, and employee input to identify patterns and address issues before injuries occur.
- Coordinate industrial hygiene assessments and exposure controls as needed.
Safety Systems and Compliance
- Maintain site safety policies, procedures, records, and programs consistent with applicable requirements and company standards.
- Lead safety inspections, audits, and assessments; ensure findings result in timely, verified corrective action.
- Serve as the primary site contact for occupational safety inspections and coordinate responses with appropriate company partners.
- Maintain emergency response plans and coordinate drills, readiness reviews, and follow-up improvements.
- Establish safety expectations for contractors, vendors, and visitors.
Employee Engagement and Leadership Accountability
- Build employee trust through responsiveness, practical problem-solving, and consistent follow-through.
- Coach supervisors and managers on hazard recognition, safe work practices, incident response, and their responsibility for safety performance.
- Develop and deliver training that reflects actual work conditions and confirm employees can apply what they learn.
- Lead an action-oriented safety committee with clear priorities, assigned responsibilities, and measurable progress.
- Encourage hazard and near-miss reporting, communicate actions taken, and close the loop with employees.
- Partner with HR and Operations to reinforce consistent accountability for safety expectations.
Qualifications
- Bachelor’s degree in occupational safety, environmental health and safety, engineering, or a related field, or an equivalent combination of education and relevant experience.
- Five or more years of progressive safety experience in manufacturing, including responsibility for leading site programs and driving improvements.
- Experience supporting a large, complex manufacturing operation; heavy equipment or metal fabrication experience preferred.
- Demonstrated success developing safety strategies and independently executing improvements through completion.
- Working knowledge of applicable occupational safety requirements, manufacturing hazard controls, environmental requirements, including air emissions, wastewater, stormwater, hazardous and non-hazardous waste, chemical management, spill prevention, and regulatory reporting.
- Experience conducting risk assessments, root cause investigations, audits, and corrective action verification.
- Ability to develop dashboards, analyze trends, and turn findings into clear operational priorities.
- Strong communication, coaching, project management, and cross-functional leadership skills.
- Professional safety certification, such as CSP or ASP, preferred.
Critical Competencies
- Proactive ownership: Recognizes issues early and takes responsibility for resolving them.
- Strategic judgment: Focuses resources on the risks and improvements that matter most.
- Execution and follow-through: Turns plans into action, removes barriers, and verifies results.
- Accountability: Establishes clear expectations, addresses missed commitments, and escalates unresolved risks.
- Practical problem-solving: Develops effective solutions that work in a manufacturing environment.
- Credibility and influence: Builds trust while confidently challenging unsafe practices.