Sr. EHS Specialist

Status: Exempt

Department: Environment, Health & Safety

Position Summary

The Sr. EHS Specialist is responsible for implementing and completing EHS initiatives for manufacturing and lab operations. This role requires a high level of understanding of OSHA Guidelines, New York State DEC regulations and general safety requirements. Teamwork and Communication skills are essential skills for this role as it requires close interaction with the operations and engineering teams to ensure any issues get communicated and resolved in a timely manner. This position will report to the site EHS manager. The ideal candidate should be self-motivated, able to handle multiple project assignments and willing to learn and adapt within a fast-paced organization. Occasional travel is required; 10-25%. The position is located at the facility; remote work is generally not available.

Core Duties and Responsibilities

• Help to implement and monitor EHS activities with the operations team
• Completes routine safety inspections (fire extinguishers, cranes, emergency eye wash stations/showers, forklift, etc), including required electronic checklists, tracking audit findings, responses and audit close-outs; maintains records.
• Deliver training to employees including EHS new hire orientation.
• Coordinate training and licenses for cranes and forklifts.
• Completes JSAs for new equipment and processes.
• Collaborate with supervisors to document PPE assessments
• Participate in incident investigations and ensure incident management system is current
• Understand how to track investigations and run trend reports.
• Maintains chemical inventory database that cross-references GHS Safety Data Sheets. Responsible for ensuring that each SDS is current and approved within the system and accessible to all employees.
• Where applicable, help establish a Chemical Hygiene Plan for safe operation in laboratory spaces.
• Participate in daily operation meetings and Gemba walks as assigned.
• Communicate consistently and effectively to all cross-functional team members where needed to ensure EHS improvements and changes are understood, and questions are answered to move projects forward.
• Build and maintain knowledge of Plug Power technology.
• Possess a detailed understanding of global and EHS legal requirements (i.e.: Regulations, Codes, Standards, Directives, and Administrative Policies) and provide regulatory knowledge, technical expertise, EHS engineering knowledge, best practices and EHS management systems
• Work well with limited supervision while being responsible for project management, compliance assurance and program rollout
• Experience prioritizing and managing multiple & technically complex assignments concurrently
• Represent Plug Power in a professional manner at all times and in all interactions
• Perform all other duties as assigned
• Exempt employees are expected to work as many hours as is necessary to complete their job responsibilities. This may require they work more than eight hours a day and more than five days or 40 hours per week.

Education and Experience

• Bachelor's degree in environmental health and safety or related degree, would consider relevant experience in lieu of a degree
• 3 years of related work experience in EHS or related field
• Working knowledge of data collection and statistics
• Experience with Microsoft Office suite, including Excel.
• Excellent verbal and written communication skills.
• Ability to role model high standards of professionalism.
• Must be driven and self-motivated with excellent follow-through.
• Must possess the highest ethical standards and a commitment to work quality.
• Able to interpret regulations and implement requirements in the work environment
• Knowledge of hydrogen and other flammable chemicals and broad background with safety and health programs
• Ability to analyze information, develop and deliver training programs, adapts policies, create reporting and proven progressive experience to offer recommendations for continuous improvement
• Capability to present information effectively to diverse audiences and stakeholders while responding to questions from groups of managers, employees and the leadership team
• Ability to write reports and procedural manuals
• Ability to manage complex projects and multi-task effectively