Job Description

EHS Safety Specialist

Location: Ravenna, Ohio
Industry: Chemical Manufacturing / Engineered Materials
Compensation Range: $75,000–$115,000
Employment Structure: Full-Time, Onsite
Schedule: Primarily Day Shift

Strategic Position Overview

The EHS Safety Specialist supports safe, reliable, and compliant operations across a manufacturing facility and an adjacent laboratory, testing, and pilot-scale environment. This individual will be responsible for implementing and maintaining occupational safety programs, identifying workplace risks, leading incident investigations, delivering employee training, and ensuring safety requirements are consistently followed in day-to-day operations.

This is a hands-on individual contributor position with no direct reports. The successful candidate will maintain a strong presence on the manufacturing floor, work closely with operations, maintenance, engineering, warehouse, and technical personnel, and influence safety performance without relying on formal supervisory authority.

About the Opportunity

Our client is an established global manufacturer of advanced engineered materials used across automotive, electronics, consumer-product, and industrial applications. The Ravenna operation combines a modern manufacturing environment with laboratory, product-testing, research, and pilot-scale capabilities.

This role offers the opportunity to support safety across both production and technical environments. The selected individual will help bridge written safety policies with practical execution, ensuring employees and contractors have the programs, training, tools, and accountability necessary to work safely.

Key Responsibilities

Safety Programs and Regulatory Compliance

• Implement, maintain, and continuously improve occupational safety and health programs.
• Ensure compliance with applicable OSHA regulations, internal EHS requirements, and site-specific safety standards.
• Conduct routine safety inspections, field observations, and workplace audits.
• Identify unsafe conditions and behaviors and ensure appropriate corrective actions are implemented.
• Exercise stop-work authority when an immediate safety risk is identified.
• Support the administration and enforcement of site rules, work permits, and safe-work practices.
• Track corrective and preventive actions through completion.

Manufacturing and Equipment Safety

• Support the safe operation and maintenance of industrial processing and material-handling equipment.
• Evaluate hazards involving extrusion, mixing, blending, feeding, pelletizing, conveying, vacuum, utility, warehouse, and related production systems.
• Lead or support Job Safety Analyses and other task-based risk assessments.
• Participate in process-hazard reviews for new or modified equipment, materials, and processes.
• Support Management of Change activities and equipment-startup safety reviews.
• Administer or support programs involving:
  • Lockout/Tagout
  • Confined-space entry
  • Hot-work permitting
  • Electrical safety
  • Machine guarding
  • Hazard communication
  • Contractor safety
  • Combustible-dust hazards
  • Powered industrial equipment

Laboratory and Pilot-Scale Safety

• Support safety programs within laboratory, product-testing, technical, and pilot-scale environments.
• Partner with technical and research personnel to identify hazards associated with testing activities, chemicals, equipment, and experimental processes.
• Integrate practical safety controls without unnecessarily restricting technical development or innovation.
• Assist with laboratory inspections, chemical-safety requirements, equipment reviews, and corrective actions.

Incident Investigation and Risk Reduction

• Lead or support investigations involving injuries, near misses, property damage, unsafe conditions, and process-safety events.
• Conduct root-cause analysis and develop corrective and preventive action plans.
• Monitor investigation findings and corrective actions through closure.
• Analyze incident trends, observations, and leading indicators to identify opportunities for proactive risk reduction.
• Communicate findings and lessons learned to employees, supervisors, and site leadership.

Training and Safety Culture

• Develop, coordinate, and deliver general and specialized safety training.
• Provide classroom-based and field-based instruction for employees and contractors.
• Support new-hire safety orientation and ongoing employee-engagement initiatives.
• Build productive working relationships with operators, technicians, maintenance personnel, engineers, supervisors, and technical teams.
• Coach employees on safe practices and professionally challenge unsafe decisions or behaviors.
• Promote a visible, practical, and accountable safety culture across all shifts and departments.

Broader EHS Support

• Assist with environmental, industrial-hygiene, emergency-response, and other EHS activities as needed.
• Participate in internal audits, compliance reviews, and continuous-improvement projects.
• Support site and departmental EHS goals, objectives, and performance metrics.
• Perform additional responsibilities as assigned.

Required Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree in Occupational Safety, Environmental Health and Safety, Industrial Engineering, Mechanical Engineering, Chemistry, or a related technical discipline.
• At least three years of safety or EHS experience within chemical manufacturing, plastics, polymers, rubber, compounding, extrusion, or a comparable industrial manufacturing environment.
• Hands-on experience administering occupational safety programs in an operating plant.
• Working knowledge of OSHA regulations involving industrial machinery, process equipment, material handling, and manufacturing operations.
• Experience conducting safety audits, field observations, Job Safety Analyses, and workplace-risk assessments.
• Experience supporting or administering Lockout/Tagout, confined-space, hot-work, machine-guarding, and hazard-communication programs.
• Experience conducting incident or near-miss investigations and root-cause analysis.
• Ability to deliver safety training and communicate effectively with employees at all organizational levels.
• Willingness to spend substantial time in manufacturing, laboratory, warehouse, and technical work areas.
• Ability to influence safe behavior without direct supervisory authority.
• Candidates must be authorized to work in the United States without current or future employer sponsorship.

Preferred Qualifications

• Experience within chemical compounding, polymer processing, plastics extrusion, rubber manufacturing, or engineered-material production.
• Experience supporting laboratory, research and development, testing, or pilot-scale environments.
• Knowledge of process-safety concepts, including HAZOP, Management of Change, or Process Safety Management.
• Experience with industrial-hygiene programs or exposure assessments.
• Familiarity with NFPA requirements, including electrical and life-safety standards.
• Experience with combustible-dust hazard controls.
• Experience supporting ISO-based EHS management systems or Responsible Care programs.
• ASP, CSP, GSP, or another recognized safety certification, or demonstrated progress toward certification.

Ideal Candidate Profile

The strongest candidate will be a technically capable and highly visible EHS professional who enjoys working directly with employees in an active manufacturing environment. This person should take pride in personally conducting audits, investigating incidents, delivering training, identifying hazards, and driving corrective actions rather than delegating those responsibilities to others.

The role is particularly well suited for an EHS Specialist, Safety Specialist, EHS Engineer, Safety Engineer, HSE Specialist, SHE Specialist, or hands-on EHS Manager who wants to remain close to operations and continue developing broad expertise across manufacturing, process, and laboratory safety.

Additional Information

• This position is based onsite in Ravenna, Ohio.
• The normal schedule is primarily during daytime business hours.
• Occasional off-shift or weekend availability may be required for training, investigations, operational support, or emergency needs.
• Limited local travel may be required.
• This is a salaried individual contributor position with no direct supervisory responsibility.

Equal Opportunity Statement

Our client is an equal opportunity employer and considers qualified applicants without regard to race, color, religion, sex, national origin, age, disability, veteran status, genetic information, or any other status protected by applicable law.