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VP Occupational Safety

Employer
United Natural Foods
Location
Eden Prairie
Salary
Competitive

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Industry
Retail
Role
Other
Job Type
Long-Term
Hours
Full Time

The VP, Occupational Safety is responsible for providing strategic leadership to all safety matters at UNFI. This role supports and partners closely with operations, sales and corporate teams in delivering UNFI's most critical value: Do the Right Thing - Put Safety and Integrity at the Forefront of Everything We Do. This role designs, modifies and implements all safety and risk programs to drive compliance and continuous improvement. Responsible for actively developing, implementing, and reporting on the goals of a safe work environment in an effective and conscientious manner. Provides safety leadership, strategy and direction to the enterprise while integrating all safety policies, programs and processes in support of operational excellence. Responsibility across the organization for creating a world class safety culture in which UNFI associates are proactive when it comes to safety. That means we look out for our own safety and we look out for each other's safety - always.

Job Responsibilities:

Strategy: Develops and deploys comprehensive and sustainable Occupational Safety program across entire distribution network, fleet network, and corporate support functions.
Continuous Improvement: Develops culture and capability for continuous improvement of safety performance including in-depth root cause analyses of injuries and near misses, safety advisories, continually evolving training, and advocating for engineering risk out of work.
Reporting: Develops, facilitates, and monitors reporting of Safety Key Performance Indicators across the organization in compelling and informative written and oral reports and managing to established goals including OSHA and DOT metrics. Oral reports include to Leadership Team and Board of Directors.
Audit: In consultation with Director of Safety Programs, overseeing robust implementation of regular cadence of on-site Safety audits of all Distribution Centers.
Training: Ensures training of all associates is consistently delivered with compelling and easy-to-understand content.
Data-based Decision Making: Uses data from injuries, workers compensation claims, and near misses to identify, advocate and implement safety processes and policies that drive organization towards ZERO injuries. Effectively manages budget to devote resources to areas of highest impact. Use of data analytics to drive performance.
Compliance: In collaboration with regulatory/compliance partners, monitors compliance with all applicable federal, state, and local requirements (including codes, regulations, laws) governing safety.
Emergency Preparedness: Developing and executing so that regional safety teams are prepared for emergencies including severe weather, civil unrest, and other disasters through close partnership with Business Continuity Team.
People Leadership: Is a servant leader to a large organization across UNFI's network; skilled at motivating and engaging others including being present in the workplace and focused on career development of associates in the Safety Organization.
Fluent in Matrixed Organizations: This role will partner closely with Operations teams across the business (DCs, sales, and corporate leaders) and will need to be expert in communicating and collaborating across the organization. In addition, this role will report to the Deputy General Counsel/SVP of Risk & Safety and also have a dotted line reporting relationship to the Chief Supply Chain Officer.
Performs other relevant job duties as required.
Job Requirements:

Education/Certifications: (Required & Preferred)

Bachelor's Degree preferred
Experience:
20+ years related experience in Occupational Safety
Significant experience leading broad-based Safety/Fleet Safety Organization including proven ability to collaborate across functions and business units
Proven track record of reporting and communicating KPI performance and working across matrixed organization
Experience in developing and implementing network-wide initiatives
Experience in presenting to Executive Management and ability to effectively present to Board of Directors
Prefer experience with change management and/or merged/acquired organizations
Must be able to communicate effectively, both written and verbally with all levels of organization
Knowledge:
Expert knowledge of Occupational Safety including OSHA rules/regulations and industry safety practices
Knowledge and familiarity with Fleet Safety
Knowledge and familiarity with occupational safety organizations and benchmarks
Skills/Abilities:
Well organized
Creative and self-motivated
Strong project management skills
Strong interpersonal and communication skills
Skilled at working with direct reports to develop effective career plans
Advanced analytical, financial and budgeting skills

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