Director, Occupational Safety & Environmental Health

A cover letter is required for consideration for this position and should be attached as the first page of your resume. The cover letter should address your specific interest in the position and outline skills and experience that directly relate to this position.

The Academic Medical Center (AMC) at Michigan Medicine is seeking a dynamic, collaborative, and strategic leader to serve as Director of Occupational Safety & Environmental Health. This role provides enterprise-wide leadership for the development, implementation, and continuous improvement of comprehensive occupational safety, environmental health, and Environment of Care programs across a complex academic medical center encompassing inpatient and ambulatory clinical operations, research laboratories, and support services.

The Director partners closely with executive leadership, clinical leaders, faculty, researchers, and institutional stakeholders to advance a proactive culture of safety, regulatory excellence, environmental stewardship, and high reliability. Through strategic vision, data-driven decision-making, and strong cross-functional collaboration, the Director ensures the AMC protects the health and safety of its workforce, patients, learners, visitors, and the communities it serves.

This role reports to the Associate Chief Operating Officer for Operations, Ancillary Services, and Safety.

• Provide enterprise-level leadership, direction, and governance for occupational safety, environmental health, and Environment of Care programs across the academic medical center.
• Develop, implement, and execute a long-term strategic plan that advances a proactive culture of safety, high reliability, and continuous improvement.
• Ensure sustained compliance with all applicable federal, state, and local regulations, including MIOSHA, OSHA, EPA, NFPA, NRC, and other relevant regulatory agencies.
• Lead institutional readiness for regulatory inspections, audits, and accreditation surveys.
• Serve as the executive lead for regulatory findings, corrective action plans, and ongoing compliance monitoring.

Program Oversight

• Oversee enterprise programs including occupational safety, environmental health and safety (EHS), laboratory safety, hazardous materials and waste management, ergonomics and injury prevention, safe patient handling & mobility, fire and life safety coordination, radiation safety, and Environment of Care.
• Oversee the investigation, analysis, and resolution of serious safety incidents involving employees, patients, visitors, facilities, or equipment.
• Provide leadership and expertise for safety programs supporting research laboratories and regulated research environments.

Education, Engagement, and Culture of Safety

• Partner with clinical, academic, and operational leaders to design and implement safety education, training, and competency programs.
• Promote just culture principles and learning-focused approaches to incident management and prevention.

Governance, Metrics & Reporting

• Lead the Environment of Care, Employee Harm Oversight Committees, and co-lead the Safe Patient Handling and Mobility Steering and Clinical Radiation Safety Committees and ensure sustained compliance with the Joint Commission's Physical Environment standards.
• Establish leading and lagging safety performance metrics, dashboards, and benchmarking.

Financial & People Leadership

• Lead, mentor, and develop a multidisciplinary team of safety and environmental health professionals.
• Manage departments budgets, resource allocation, and operational efficiency in alignment with institutional priorities.
• Foster a high-performing, collaborative, and inclusive team culture.

Required Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree in occupational safety & health, Environmental Management, Industrial Hygiene, Safety Management, or related field.
• Minimum of 10 years of progressively responsible experience in occupational safety, environmental health, or EHS programs, with senior-level leadership experience.
• Demonstrated experience leading safety or environmental health programs in complex, highly regulated environments; healthcare or academic medical center experience strongly preferred.
• Comprehensive knowledge of applicable regulations and standards (e.g., MIOSHA/OSHA, EPA, NFPA, NRC).
• Demonstrated success in leading, mentoring, and developing professional teams.
• Strong analytical and data-driven decision-making skills.
• Excellent written and verbal communication skills with the ability to influence leaders across disciplines and levels.

Preferred Qualifications

• Master’s degree in Occupational Safety & Health, Environmental Management, Industrial Hygiene, Safety Management, or related field.
• Professional certification such as Certified Healthcare Safety Professional (CHSP), Certified Safety Professional (CSP), Certified Industrial Hygienist (CIH), or similar credentials.
• Experience in an academic medical center, research-intensive organization, or similarly complex health system.
• Demonstrated experience supporting high reliability or zero-harm initiatives.