Safety Director

About This Role

This working leadership role is accountable for designing, standardizing, and executing safety, occupational health, and transportation safety programs across all Healthcare Linen Services Group (HLSG) plants and fleet operations. The Director of Safety sets standards, verifies compliance, reduces injury frequency and severity, manages regulatory exposure, and partners with Human Resources on workers' compensation outcomes. The role involves regular presence in plants and on docks, with personal response to serious incidents.

Responsibilities

• Own the Company safety program end-to-end, including written programs, standards, procedures, and expectations
• Drive consistent application of safety programs across all plants, brands, and fleet operations
• Build and maintain the annual safety plan with defined objectives, initiatives, and measures
• Report progress to executive leadership on a fixed cadence
• Establish and support plant-level safety committees, ensuring they meet, act, and close findings
• Conduct recurring safety audits and inspections at each facility against a standard scorecard
• Verify corrective actions are completed
• Maintain compliance with OSHA general industry standards across all facilities, including recordkeeping and posting obligations (OSHA 300, 300A, and 301 logs and electronic submission)
• Own core hazard-control programs applicable to laundry processing: lockout/tagout, machine guarding, powered industrial trucks, confined space entry, fall protection, hot work, electrical safety and NFPA 70E, respiratory protection, hearing conservation, emergency action and fire prevention plans
• Own hazard communication and chemical safety including safety data sheet management, labeling, storage, spill response, and eyewash and shower provisions
• Address exposures specific to the industry: heat stress in wash and dry areas, wet-floor slip and fall risk, ergonomic and repetitive-motion exposure at sorting, feeding, and folding stations, cart and material handling, and lifting injuries on both the soiled and clean sides
• Own the bloodborne pathogens exposure control plan, including soiled linen handling procedures, sharps and contaminated-item response, personal protective equipment standards, Hepatitis B vaccination offering, and post-exposure evaluation and follow-up
• Maintain training and procedures that keep soiled-side handling practices consistent with HLAC accreditation standards and healthcare customer expectations
• Support customer, accreditation, and insurance audits as they relate to employee safety, PPE, and handling practice
• Partner with the Transportation team on DOT and Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration operational compliance, providing safety oversight, subject-matter expertise, and independent verification
• Support Transportation on vehicle maintenance file compliance, driver vehicle inspection reporting, annual inspections, and cargo securement
• Review Compliance, Safety, Accountability scores and Safety Measurement System percentiles alongside Transportation
• Concentrate on behavior-driven categories (unsafe driving, hours of service, and driver fitness) and convert deteriorating trends into targeted training and coaching
• Support Transportation in maintaining audit readiness for DOT compliance reviews and new entrant safety audits
• Own the safety training curriculum for plant and fleet employees: new hire orientation, job-specific and hazard-specific training, annual refreshers, and supervisor training
• Ensure training is delivered in the languages the workforce actually speaks, including Spanish where market demographics warrant
• Coach plant managers and supervisors to own safety as a line responsibility
• Assess safety, DOT, and loss exposure at acquisition targets and newly acquired plants
• Produce a prioritized remediation plan with cost and timeline
• Bring acquired locations onto HLSG safety programs, training standards, recordkeeping, and testing programs
• Support plant expansions, relocations, and start-ups so that safety requirements are addressed in design

Requirements

• 8+ years of progressive safety, occupational health, or risk management experience, including 3+ years in a multi-site leadership role
• Demonstrated experience across both industrial or manufacturing safety and Department of Transportation/FMCSA compliance
• Ability to provide safety oversight of a transportation function owned by a dedicated team
• Bachelor’s degree in Occupational Safety, Industrial Hygiene, Engineering, Transportation, Business, or a related field, or an equivalent combination of education, certification, and experience
• Working command of OSHA general industry standards and recordkeeping, and of FMCSA regulations covering driver qualification, hours of service, controlled substance and alcohol testing, and vehicle maintenance
• Experience managing regulatory inspections, citations, and agency interaction
• Experience with workers’ compensation claims management, return-to-work programs, and loss analysis
• Demonstrated ability to investigate incidents to root cause and drive corrective action to verified closure across multiple locations
• Strong communication and influence skills, with the credibility to hold plant and regional leadership accountable and the judgment to escalate when necessary
• Willingness to travel regularly to assigned facilities and to respond to serious incidents outside normal business hours
• Valid driver’s license and acceptable motor vehicle record

Nice to have:

• Certified Safety Professional (CSP), Associate Safety Professional (ASP), Occupational Health and Safety Technologist (OHST), or Certified Industrial Hygienist (CIH)
• Certified Director of Safety (CDS), Certified Safety Supervisor (CSS), or comparable transportation safety credential
• OSHA 30-hour general industry, and OSHA 500/501 authorized trainer status
• Experience in commercial or healthcare laundry, or in another high-heat, high-humidity, chemical-intensive processing environment such as food and beverage, textiles, or paper
• Experience with bloodborne pathogens exposure control in a healthcare-adjacent operation, and familiarity with HLAC accreditation standards
• Experience standing up or standardizing safety programs across newly acquired locations
• Experience administering or overseeing telematics, camera, or event-recorder programs in a route-based fleet
• Experience with J.J. Keller or comparable DOT compliance management software and managed services
• Bilingual in English and Spanish, or demonstrated experience delivering safety training to a multilingual workforce
• Experience with environmental compliance obligations including wastewater discharge permits and chemical reporting

Benefits

• Annual performance incentive of up to 20% of base salary, tied to recordable injury and lost-time rates, preventable accident frequency, training completion, audit performance, and workers’ compensation cost outcomes

About the Company

Healthcare Linen Services Group (HLSG) is a leading provider of mission-critical healthcare linen management services, operating processing plants across the Midwest, Central, and South-Central United States through a family of premier regional brands. HLSG has grown rapidly through both organic expansion and acquisition, and is a repeat Great Place to Work–certified employer.