Fort Pierce, FL
34981
Safety and Compliance Coordinator Job Description
TerViva Bioenergy, Inc. (“TerViva” or the “Company”) is a fast-growing food and agriculture company, headquartered in Oakland, California, with significant operations in Florida, and offices, nurseries and tree farms in Hawaii and Australia. Additionally, TerViva has food and ingredient development laboratories in Oakland and seed processing operations in Florida. It is our core belief that we need to use agricultural land infinitely better if we are to feed the rising global population in a climate-constrained world. We produce plant protein and vegetable oil by growing a non-GMO, sustainable tree crop called pongamia, which produces yields dramatically higher than other oilseed crops such as soybeans. We grow pongamia on farmland that can’t be used for traditional crops due to weather, disease, or market challenges. Compared to soy, pongamia has far better economics and sustainability. We have planted our proprietary varieties of pongamia trees in various soils and climates in the US to validate agronomic performance.
TerViva’s primary business is to produce edible food and feed ingredients from leguminous pongamia tree seeds. We are expanding our pongamia-derived product offerings to include bio-based crop protection and other novel uses as bio-ingredients for personal care and cosmetic products.
Overview
TerViva is seeking an experienced Occupational Safety and Compliance Coordinator (“Coordinator”) to join its team. We are at a pivotal time in the Company’s journey, and the successful candidate will be a highly qualified and pioneering individual capable of guiding TerViva in the development of best practices for Occupational safety and compliance programs as the Company expands its office, nursery, food and ingredient laboratory and bean processing assets in California, Hawaii, Florida, Australia and beyond. At this significant moment in TerViva’s history, the successful candidate will have an opportunity to be integrated with TerViva’s critical research and development with respect to intellectual property, propagation, agronomy, processing, product development and related business units, and influence and direct the Company’s safety and compliance strategies and programs.
The Coordinator is responsible for ensuring compliance with all federal, state and local environmental, health and safety regulations and related company policies. This position develops and implements programs, strategies, policies, training and procedures to reduce and eliminate health, safety and loss risks; drive a culture of continuous improvement and safety; and ensure health and safety of employees and the general public. The Coordinator is the primary liaison with external environmental, health and safety regulatory agencies. This position reports directly to the chief legal officer and the head of human resources, and will work in coordination with TerViva’s executive, legal and human resource teams.
The successful candidate will have experience in and advise executive leadership with respect to safety and compliance for TerViva’s office, nursery, laboratory, processing and research and development operations.
Job Requirements, Duties and Responsibilities
The key responsibilities will include as a minimum the following:
- Work with TerViva’s internal and external counsel, human resources and insurance carriers to develop and implement programs and procedures to assure site compliance with applicable federal, state and local environmental, industrial hygiene and safety regulations.
- Develop safety content and related materials and ensure that they reflect best practices and are at all times compliant with applicable rules, regulations and law.
- Identify, eliminate and control hazardous conditions.
- Assure training of employees in the proper use of equipment, to include tractors, fork lifts, laboratory practices, processing equipment, extractors and any and all other equipment necessary to support the work of TerViva.
- Support human resources with employee orientation. Develop and implement safety and environmental training programs for current employees, newly hired personnel and consultants.
- Support, participate in and design continuous improvement activities (e.g., implement a Near-Miss program).
- Assist operations in planning for compliance of new and modified processes.
- Assist regulatory agencies in the preparation of permits and application renewal in compliance with environmental regulations.
- Conduct and manage risk assessments to reduce job and facility risks.
- Conduct regular EHS inspections of company facilities to ensure they meet company and regulatory compliance. Document inspections and assist management in developing corrective action plans. Follow up on completion of action plans.
- Negotiate and secure contracts for hazardous and non-hazardous waste disposal.
- Primary contact for inspections, permitting and reporting to ES&H regulatory agencies.
- Assume responsibility for regulatory and company performance reporting according to environmental permits, RCRA, community right-to-know and company policy.
- Participate in near-miss, incident and accident investigation to identify and correct the root cause.
- Lead the identification of root causes of regulatory or company non-conformances and track corrective and preventive actions for timely completion.
- Manage changes at facilities that have EHS impact by providing technical information on new or changed projects, equipment, processes, and procedures.
- Remain current with respect to any changes in the regulations and sharing of best practices.
- Assist internal and external medical personnel and workers’ compensation coordinators to manage injury and illness cases and to maximize the potential of an effective restricted work program through which employees are safely and quickly brought back to productive and legitimate work, consistent with medical restrictions.
- Maintain safety performance reports and analyze relevant safety data for interpretation, trends and presentation to leadership and management teams.
- Coach employees, supervise and provide local leadership through which to improve the technical skill base in environmental, health and safety related areas.
- Act as incident commander and appoint others as appropriate for facilities chemical emergency response team for clean-up of hazardous material spills, to include 24-hour on-call status.
- Maintain and update Safety Data Sheets (SDS) as necessary.
- Maintain Chemical Inventory List for various facilities.
Qualifications, Education and Work Experience
- Bachelor’s Degree required in Environmental, Safety or related field. Master’s degree preferred.
- Must hold a registered professional certification in the environmental or safety field (i.e. CHMM, CSP or CIH).
- Must be fully knowledgeable in EPA, OSHA, and DOT regulations.
- 10 or more (10+) years of prior Safety experience performing the duties described above is required.
- Computer proficiency in Microsoft Word, Excel, and Outlook and the ability to use enterprise software (examples include: JDE, BPLM, Pilgrim, Trackwise, SalesForce, etc.)
- General administrative experience (such as filing, data entry, written communication, etc.) is required.
- Strong organizational skills, detailed oriented, self-motivated and ability to multi-task.
- Strong professional communication skills, both oral and in writing.
- Ability to lead others.
- Bilingual (English/Spanish) is strongly preferred.
Physical and Safety Requirements
- Duties may require overtime work, including nights and weekends
- Occasionally required to lift and/or move objects weighing up to 50 pounds
- Must be able to wear a respirator and emergency response equipment
- Position may require standing or walking for extended periods of time
Salary & Benefits
- Competitive annual salary, commensurate with experience. Potential 10% annual bonus.
- Stock options also commensurate with role and experience.
- Medical and dental, vision and life insurance (employee premium fully paid by TerViva).
Next Steps:
- To apply, please fill out the form below.
- Please include your resume and a cover letter telling us about yourself.