Description
As the Quality Assurance, Food Safety, Environmental, Health, and Safety (EHS) Director, you will have a multifaceted role in ensuring that our products meet the highest standards of quality, safety, and regulatory compliance, while also spearheading comprehensive environmental, health, and safety programs. Your responsibilities encompass overseeing quality assurance and food safety protocols, supporting research and development initiatives for product innovation, and developing, implementing, and managing EHS programs to ensure regulatory compliance and foster a culture of safety excellence within our organization. You will lead efforts to safeguard the well-being of our employees, protect the environment, and minimize operational risks across all aspects of our operations.
Requirements
- Program Development and Implementation: Develop, implement, and manage comprehensive EHS and quality assurance/food safety programs, policies, and procedures tailored to our organization's specific needs and risks. Ensure programs address environmental compliance, occupational health, industrial hygiene, emergency preparedness, workplace safety, quality assurance, and food safety.
- Regulatory Compliance: Stay abreast of federal, state, and local regulations pertaining to environmental protection, occupational safety, health, quality assurance, and food safety. Ensure organization-wide compliance with all applicable laws, permits, standards, certifications, and regulations. Coordinate with regulatory agencies, manage permits, and oversee reporting requirements for both EHS and quality assurance/food safety.
- Risk Assessment and Mitigation: Conduct comprehensive risk assessments to identify potential hazards, environmental impacts, quality risks, and food safety hazards associated with our operations. Develop integrated strategies to mitigate risks, minimize exposure, and prevent incidents through engineering controls, administrative measures, and employee training.
- Training and Education: Develop and deliver integrated EHS, quality assurance, and food safety training programs for employees at all levels. Increase awareness, promote safe work practices, ensure regulatory compliance, and uphold quality and food safety standards. Provide specialized training on hazardous waste management, chemical handling, emergency response, ergonomics, quality control, and food safety protocols (including GFCO and Kosher training).
- Incident Investigation and Analysis: Lead investigations into environmental incidents, occupational injuries, illnesses, quality deviations, and food safety incidents. Determine root causes, contributing factors, and corrective actions needed to address deficiencies and prevent recurrence. Analyze incident data to identify trends and implement proactive measures to improve safety, quality, and food safety performance.
- Emergency Response Planning: Develop and maintain integrated emergency response plans and procedures for various scenarios, including spills, releases, fires, natural disasters, quality deviations, and food safety emergencies. Conduct drills and exercises to test the effectiveness of emergency response protocols and ensure employees are prepared to respond appropriately in crisis situations.
- Environmental Management: Manage integrated environmental compliance programs related to air emissions, water discharges, hazardous waste management, pollution prevention, quality control, and food safety. Implement pollution control measures, monitor environmental performance, and ensure timely reporting and recordkeeping for both EHS and quality assurance/food safety.
- Auditing and Inspections: Conduct integrated audits and inspections of facilities, equipment, processes, and products to assess compliance with EHS, quality assurance, and food safety regulations, standards, policies, and procedures. Collaborate with internal teams and external auditors to address findings and implement corrective actions across all areas.
- Continuous Improvement: Drive continuous improvement in EHS, quality assurance, and food safety performance through integrated data analysis, trend monitoring, and benchmarking against industry best practices. Implement corrective actions and initiatives to enhance safety culture, reduce risks, uphold quality standards, ensure food safety, and achieve operational excellence across all aspects of the organization's operations.
- Leadership Duties:
- Performance reviews and other supervisory duties for assigned team of Quality Technicians.
- Serve as site PCQI for any production needs.
- Serve as the site’s contact for all audits (MDARD, GFCO, Kosher, SQF), and identifying, correcting, and preventing departures from our required processes.
- Make and or approve recipe/formulation changes, as well as distribute approved recipes to other production employees.
Education, Skills & Knowledge
- Bachelor's degree in food science, microbiology, or related field; advanced degree preferred.
- Certification in food safety (e.g., HACCP, PCQI), Human Safety (OSHA 10 or 30 Hour), and quality management systems (e.g., SQF) highly desirable.
- Preference of 1-3 years of experience working in a lab.
- Preference of 2-4 years of managerial experience.
- Well-developed tasting skills
- In-depth understanding of major aspects of cidermaking, laboratory procedures, bottling and production workflow
- Computer proficient in Excel and Word
- Able to work independently with minimal supervision.
- Must have the ability to be on your feet for an entire shift.
- Strong understanding of food safety regulations and standards, including FDA, USDA, and industry best practices.
- Thorough understanding of federal, state, and local EHS regulations and standards, including OSHA, EPA, DOT, and other applicable agencies.
- Excellent analytical skills and attention to detail, with the ability to identify and resolve quality and safety issues effectively.
- Strong communication and leadership abilities, with the capability to collaborate cross-functionally and lead quality improvement initiatives.
- Commitment to continuous learning and professional development in the field of food safety and quality assurance
Working Conditions
- The work for this position will be in a climate-controlled, smoke-free environment.
- The noise level in the work environment is usually moderate with some periods being loud.
- Work will be performed as per the schedule you create for the team. Some weekend work required as needed.
- Must be capable of lifting 50lb multiple times.
Additional Duties: This job description in no way states or implies that these are the only duties to be performed. You will be expected to follow any other job-related instructions and to perform other job-related duties as requested by your supervisor.
