Safety Manager 1st Shift

Airlite Plastics is a premier, privately held, family-owned manufacturer headquartered in Omaha, Nebraska. Our family style and personal culture is what makes Airlite an amazing place to grow and build a successful career. Airlite’s company values of unquestionable integrity and respect and appreciation for each other are at the core of our success! These values set a strong foundation to build on where we can ‘wow’ our customers with innovative products and sustainable solutions, and continuously improve our processes and efficiencies.

Our product lines include rigid plastic containers and lids for food packaging and cosmetics, dry powder scoops, plastic drink cups, shipping containers, industrial strength insulated concrete forms (ICF) and sustainable permeable paving systems. As pioneers in our industry, focused on sustainable solutions, we strive to provide our customers with top-notch service and quality, which aligns with our award-winning products.

How would you contribute?

This role is a contributing member of our Airlite Plastics team, located in Omaha, NE. As a Safety Manager you are a key to continued growth and success of Airlite. The Safety Manager supports the organizations safety initiatives in the tactical execution and daily management of safety programs across Airlite's operations. This role translates enterprise safety strategy into consistent, on-the-ground action — partnering with plant leaders and cross-functional teams to drive compliance, reduce risk, and advance a culture of zero harm. Working across multiple sites, the Safety Manager manages day-to-day program administration, supports incident response and investigation, delivers training, and provides the data and field insight to collaborate with leaderships teams to prioritize resources and continuously improve enterprise safety performance.

Essential Duties:

Program Execution & Daily Management

• Lead the day-to-day administration of enterprise safety programs across assigned locations, ensuring consistent application of company standards.

• Translate enterprise safety strategy set by the leadership team into site-level action plans, tools, and routines.

• Track progress against safety goals and key performance indicators, escalating gaps and risks to the Director, Safety as needed.

• Coordinate the rollout of new or updated safety programs, policies, and procedures across multiple sites.

• Lead safety committee teams to ensure a focus on priorities and execution of safety initiatives.

Regulatory Compliance & Risk Management

• Support compliance with applicable federal, state, provincial, and local safety regulations across assigned operations.

• Conduct and support risk assessments, hazard identification, and job safety analyses; ensure timely follow-up and abatement.

• Monitor regulatory changes and help implement the practices needed to maintain compliance.

• Support recordkeeping, reporting, and documentation required for internal standards and external regulatory bodies.

Site Support & Cross-Functional Partnership

• Partner with plant leaders and cross-functional teams at each assigned location to identify operational risks and implement corrective actions.

• Serve as an on-site resource and point of contact for safety programs, questions, and daily issue resolution.

• Support capital projects, equipment installations, and process changes by incorporating safety requirements into planning.

• Build strong working relationships across a matrixed organization to drive consistent adoption of safety practices.

Training & Coaching

• Deliver and coordinate safety training to build awareness, capability, and ongoing compliance across teams.

• Coach site leaders and team members on safety expectations, tools, and best practices.

• Champion continuous improvement ideas and best safety practices across the organization.

Incident Management & Reporting

• Lead or support incident investigations, ensuring root cause analysis and effective corrective actions.

• Share lessons learned across sites to reduce recurring risk.

• Prepare and deliver regular reporting on safety performance, trends, and program status to the Director, Safety.

Do you have what it takes? Airlite Plastics is a versatile employer; complacency is not one of our strengths! We work hard each day to ensure that equipment efficiency and customer satisfaction never leave our line of sight. Successful candidates for the role will possess the following:

Qualifications, Knowledge, Skills, and Abilities Required:

• Bachelor's degree in Occupational Safety, Environmental Health, Industrial Hygiene, or a related field preferred.

• 5+ years of progressive safety management experience, preferably in a multi-site manufacturing environment.

• Demonstrated working knowledge of OSHA, DOT, and EPA standards and requirements; familiarity with Canadian provincial safety regulations a plus.

• Ability to understand ISO and SQF certification requirements.

• Willingness and ability to travel across North American locations as needed.

• Certified Safety Professional (CSP) or equivalent certification a plus.

• Manufacturing safety management and program execution

• Regulatory compliance and risk assessment

• Incident investigation and root cause analysis

• Capability to solve complex problems, utilizing strong critical thinking and decision-making skills

• Superior organizational skills and the ability to manage multiple projects and priorities across sites

• Data analysis and performance reporting

• Training delivery and coaching

• Collaborative leadership style with the ability to build partnerships and influence others into action

• Excellent verbal and written communication skills

• Outstanding presentation and facilitation skills

• Excellent interpersonal skills and consultative approach; tactful in dealing with people at all levels

• Strong sense of urgency, self-motivated and positive

• Flexible and adaptable; able to work in ambiguous situations

• Ability to actively lead change initiatives

• Display highest ethical standards

• Maintain the utmost level of confidentiality in dealing with sensitive information

• Detail oriented, with the ability to multi-task in a fast-paced environment

Supervisory Responsibilities:

This role does not have direct supervisory responsibility but is expected to provide guidance, coaching, and functional direction to site-level safety resources, and to successfully interface with cross-functional teams and team members across a matrixed organization.

Physical Demands & Work Environment:

While performing the duties of this job, the employee is regularly required to talk and hear. The employee frequently is required to stand, walk, sit, use hands dexterity to operate machinery. The employee is occasionally required to climb or balance; stoop, kneel, crouch, or craw; and taste or smell. The employee must frequently lift and/or move up to 10 pounds and occasionally lift and/or move up to 50 pounds. Specific vision abilities required by this job include close vision, distance vision, color vision, peripheral vision, depth perception, and ability to adjust focus.

The work environment characteristics here are representative of those an employee encounters while performing the essential function of this job. Reasonable accommodations may be made to enable individuals with disability to perform the essential functions.

While performing the duties of this job, the employee is frequently exposed to moving mechanical parts. The noise level in the work environment is loud in the production areas and moderate in the office areas. Must be able to wear all personal protective equipment including ear plugs, safety glasses, and as outlined for specific job demands within the manufacturing environment.

Our Core Values Drive Us!

• Do you conduct yourself with unquestionable integrity?
• Do you demonstrate respect and appreciation for those around you?
• Are you innovative and strive to challenge the status quo?
• Do you strive for continuous improvement and to deliver the “wow” factor?
• Do you care about environmentally sustainable solutions?
• Do you take meaning and pride in a job well done?

What’s in it for you? As a Full-Time employee, you will be eligible for the following benefits:

• Health, dental and vision insurance
• Company paid life insurance
• Company paid short term disability
• Generous 401k match
• Generous Time Off
• Annual company activities