Occupational Health and Safety Department Coordinator

This posting is for 1 temporary full-time position up to 16 months

Are you passionate about promoting health and safety in the workplace and ensuring compliance with best practices? Strathcona County is looking for a proactive and knowledgeable Occupational Health and Safety (OHS) Department Coordinator to join our team. This position plays a vital role in supporting departments to implement the County's OHS program and fostering a culture of safety.

Reporting to the Supervisor, Corporate OHS, the overall objective of this position is to support departments in implementing the County's occupational health and safety (OHS) program. The position plays a key role in ensuring OHS policies, programs, and activities meet legislative, best practice and organizational requirements by providing expert advice, support, and guidance to assigned client department(s).

Responsibilities:

• Provide expert coaching, support, and guidance to management, supervisors, and leaders to assist them in meeting their responsibilities for the implementation of the organization's OHS management system.
• Coordinate, implement, and manage the OHS management system requirements for client groups that includes program administration, hazard identification, incident investigation, training, and emergency response.
• Provide professional advice to assist staff in ensuring legislative, corporate & departmental OHS requirements are met. Recommend changes which facilitate improved practices and procedures.
• Collaborate with other OHS supervisors, OHS corporate team, and HR experts to ensure a comprehensive and cohesive approach to address complex issues (e.g., incident investigations, standard work procedures in multiple work sites, health and safety performance issues or actions required under the County's alcohol and drug program).
• Support managers, supervisors, and workers to inspect and evaluate department environments, equipment, and practices to ensure compliance with legislation, corporate and departmental OHS requirements and to ensure job site safety.
• Provide expert advice in addressing health and safety incident reporting/investigations. Assist in the determination of direct and indirect causes of incidents and recommend controls that will prevent reoccurrence of similar incidents.
• Ensure client groups meet obligations of the Certificate of Recognition (COR) standards from Partnerships in Injury Reduction and the Alberta Municipal Health and Safety Association (AMHSA).
• Respond to any immediate OHS incidents or priorities.
• Act as a resource for health and safety committees, assisting with their activities and ensuring compliance with the County’s OHS policies.
• Work with leaders, supervisors, and management to ensure all documentation required for the effective operation of the OHSMS is completed and tracked in ITrak or department tracking systems.
• Monitor, assess, and report on the performance of the OHS management system.
• Work with leaders, supervisors, and management to ensure the accurate entry of investigations information and all corrective actions in ITrak.
• Collaborate with leaders, supervisors, and management to ensure health and safety training is current and ensure competency requirements are met.
• Coordinate, recommend, and deliver health and safety training programs tailored to client needs.
• Provide expert advice in contractor safety management to enable effective management of risk through the application of Alberta OHS and Workers' Compensation Board-Alberta requirements.
• Evaluate contractor safety plans and submissions and oversee safety standards implementation at multiple employer worksites.
• Support supervisors and project managers in coordinating health and safety requirements for contracted work.
• Participate as a member of Strathcona County’s OHS team, contributing to the development and review of County-wide OHS standards and practices.
• Deliver OHS-related training and updates to client groups, ensuring alignment with organizational goals.
• Support the County’s Certificate of Recognition (COR) and Partners in Injury Reduction (PIR) programs.

Qualifications and Skills:

• Completion of a post-secondary degree and two years recent professional level experience implementing occupational health and safety practices within operational work areas; OR Completion of a post-secondary diploma in occupational health and safety, environmental science, or occupational hygiene from a recognized academic institution, or related field and four years of recent professional level experience implementing occupational health and safety practices within operational work areas.
• CRSP or CRST, or eligibility for CRSP and actively working towards designation.
• Strong knowledge of Alberta OHS legislation and best practices.
• Experience with, or certification within, the Incident Command System is an asset.
• Previous experience working in the public sector is an asset.
• Strong interpersonal skills, relationship building, group facilitation, and leadership behaviours.
• Strong communication skills (listening, paraphrasing, and engaging others) are critical.
• Excellent time management is imperative to this role, including managing heavy workloads and multiple demands on your time.
• Strong analytical skills are necessary to interpret and manage key information obtained through many and various diverse sources.

Conditions of Employment:

• Class 5 Alberta vehicle operator's license and ability to provide own transportation and meet insurance requirements.

Who We Are:

Strathcona County is a specialized municipality located in the heart of Alberta. Our vision is to become Canada’s most livable community, where our workplace culture and identity are supported by our people plan and values of integrity, respect, safety, fairness, and cooperation.

Why Join Strathcona County:

• Competitive salary and comprehensive benefits package, which includes:
• Extended health and dental coverage
• Health and wellness spending account
• Life and disability insurance and critical illness programs
• Retirement and pension programs
• Paid and unpaid leave programs
• Earned day off program
• Employee and family assistance program
• Commitment to employee development, through internal and external training and development opportunities.
• Well-being programs and a safety culture focused on physical and psychological health in the workplace.

Equivalencies of education and experience may be considered. This role may be eligible to participate in our hybrid work program.

This competition may be used to fill future vacancies for similar positions within the next 6 months.

Strathcona County is committed to an inclusive, respectful, and equitable workplace that represents the community we serve. We welcome applicants from all backgrounds who can contribute diverse perspectives and experiences. We thank all applicants for their interest; however, only those selected for an interview will be contacted.