Supervisor Health & Safety - Safety & Human Performance - Akron FirstEnergy Headquarters
FirstEnergy · Akron
FirstEnergy at a Glance
We are a forward-thinking electric utility powered by a diverse team of employees committed to making customers’ lives brighter, the environment better and our communities stronger.
FirstEnergy (NYSE: FE) is dedicated to integrity, safety, reliability and operational excellence. Headquartered in Akron, Ohio, FirstEnergy includes one of the nation's largest investor-owned electric systems, more than 24,000 miles of transmission lines that connect the Midwest and Mid-Atlantic regions, and a regulated generating fleet with a total capacity of more than 3,500 megawatts.
This is an open position with FirstEnergy Service Co., a subsidiary of FirstEnergy Corp.
This position can be located at the Akron FE Headquarters or Greensburg, PA Headquarter location
Summary
The Supervisor, Health & Safety is responsible for the leadership, development, implementation, governance, and continuous improvement of enterprise health and safety programs designed to protect employees, contractors, and the public while ensuring compliance with applicable regulatory requirements. This role provides leadership and oversight for an assigned portfolio of enterprise Health & Safety programs, which may include contractor safety, program governance, industrial hygiene, regulatory compliance, public safety initiatives, safety technology systems, and performance measurement.
The position supervises assigned personnel, leads complex cross-functional projects and strategic initiatives, develops enterprise standards and governance processes, and prepares executive-level reports, recommendations, and presentations. Working collaboratively with business unit leadership, labor organizations, contractors, legal counsel, regulatory agencies, and industry organizations, this role drives continuous improvement, strengthens safety culture, reduces organizational risk, and supports operational excellence through data-driven decision-making, proactive hazard management, and effective Health & Safety governance.
Principal Responsibilities
Health & Safety Program Leadership
- Lead and oversee assigned enterprise Health & Safety programs, including contractor safety, public safety, industrial hygiene, compliance, and risk-reduction initiatives.
- Develop and implement strategies, standards, governance processes, and performance measures that support regulatory compliance, risk reduction, and continuous improvement.
- Lead and oversee the enterprise Contractor Safety Program, including processes, governance, standards, contractor performance expectations, and continuous improvement initiatives.
- Identify systemic risks, program gaps, and implementation barriers and establish sustainable corrective or improvement actions.
- Conduct field engagement and program assessments to evaluate effectiveness, reinforce expectations, and identify opportunities for improvement.
- Partner with business units and key stakeholders to promote consistent program execution and strengthen Health & Safety performance.
- Support industrial hygiene and occupational health programs, including PPE standards and safety-related products, to identify exposures, reduce risk, and ensure effective program governance and compliance.
- Evaluate program effectiveness and maturity through performance data, stakeholder feedback, field assessments, benchmarking, and periodic program reviews.
Supervision & Personnel Leadership
- Establish team priorities, allocate work, and ensure assigned personnel effectively support enterprise Health & Safety program objectives and business needs.
- Provide direct supervision, coaching, mentoring, and performance management for a team of safety professionals and other assigned personnel.
- Establish clear expectations, accountability measures, and development plans to support employee growth and organizational effectiveness.
- Foster collaboration, engagement, professional development, and succession readiness within the Health & Safety team.
Systems, Data & Performance Management
- Manage assigned enterprise safety technology platforms, associated contracts, and vendor relationships.
- Govern the collection, accuracy, analysis, and reporting of safety performance data, KPIs, leading indicators, and regulatory submissions.
- Leverage safety performance data, analytics, and leading indicators to identify trends, inform decisions, and drive continuous improvement initiatives.
- Develop and maintain performance measures and reporting routines that provide clear visibility to program effectiveness, organizational risk, and improvement priorities.
Incident Management & Corrective Actions
- Lead or support investigations involving employee injuries, contractor injuries, vehicle incidents, public safety incidents, property damage events, near misses, and significant safety concerns.
- Facilitate root cause analyses and development of corrective and preventive actions.
- Monitor completion and effectiveness of corrective actions to ensure long-term risk reduction.
- Analyze incident trends and develop recommendations to improve organizational and contractor safety performance.
- Support OSHA injury, hospitalization, and fatality reporting, ensuring compliance with recordkeeping and reporting requirements.
- Implement governance structures, risk management processes, corrective action systems, and performance improvement initiatives to prevent recurrence of incidents.
Compliance & Governance
- Serve as a Health & Safety subject matter resource and provide technical guidance regarding applicable OSHA requirements and other safety-related regulatory obligations.
- Coordinate with appropriate internal subject matter experts, Legal, business units, and regulatory agencies in support of inspections, investigations, regulatory responses, citation management, corrective actions, and related proceedings.
- Support consistent organizational responses to regulatory inquiries and help ensure identified corrective actions are completed and sustained.
- Coordinate with internal and external subject matter experts on MSHA, U.S. Coast Guard, DOT, NFPA, ANSI, ASTM, NESC, NEC, and other requirements relevant to assigned programs and operations.
- Maintain governance over safety and health policies, standards, procedures, and related documents to support consistent application across business units.
- Provide leadership and oversight for driver qualification and DOT compliance programs, driving consistent regulatory compliance and effective risk management.
- Provide leadership and guidance in the development and administration of safety-related HR policies and procedures, ensuring alignment with regulatory requirements and company standards.
Business Partnership
- Develop and maintain productive relationships with internal business partners, contractor leadership, labor organizations, regulatory agencies, and industry organizations.
- Lead Contractor Safety Leadership Teams and related governance committees.
- Support contractor qualification, onboarding, and performance management processes, including performance reviews, safety trend analysis, and stakeholder engagement to drive contractor safety performance and continuous improvement.
- Partner with business units and key stakeholders to implement safety initiatives, monitor effectiveness, and promote continuous improvement.
- Promote open communication and sharing of best practices across business units and contractor organizations.
- Serve as a change agent in advancing safety culture and operational excellence across the enterprise.
- Support safety incident reporting and program administration for Shared Services organizations.
Training, Communication & Executive Reporting
- Provide governance and oversight to support safety programs, regulatory compliance, and effective field implementation.
- Ensure contractor safety training requirements and expectations are developed, executed, maintained, and effectively communicated.
- Lead the development and delivery of safety presentations, workshops, and contractor engagement initiatives.
- Support organizational awareness of safety processes, requirements, and performance expectations.
- Develop and deliver executive-level presentations, performance reports, strategic recommendations, and decision-support materials for senior leadership and governance bodies.
- Translate complex safety risks, performance trends, and program challenges into concise business insights and actionable recommendations for leadership audiences.
- Ensure EHS personnel understand and reinforce applicable company safety policies, standards, procedures, and governance documents within assigned operating areas.
Project, Program & Strategic Initiative Leadership
- Lead complex enterprise-wide Health & Safety projects and cross-functional initiatives from initial business need through implementation and effectiveness evaluation.
- Develop project charters, scopes, objectives, stakeholder engagement plans, implementation strategies, schedules, budgets, risk assessments, and success measures.
- Establish project governance, decision-making processes, milestones, accountabilities, and executive reporting routines.
- Coordinate the implementation of new technologies, safety processes, governance practices, and critical risk-control initiatives.
- Support public safety, contractor safety, industrial hygiene, and enterprise compliance initiatives.
- Monitor regulatory developments, industry practices, and internal performance data to identify needed improvements to programs, standards, and field execution.
- Support major capital projects, storm restoration activities, emergency response operations, and large-scale contractor engagements.Qualifications
Basic Qualifications
- Bachelor's degree in Safety, Occupational Health, Engineering, Industrial Technology, Business Administration, Environmental Health & Safety, or a related field; equivalent directly relevant experience may be considered.
- Minimum of five (5) years of progressively responsible experience in safety, utility operations, construction safety, industrial operations, occupational health, contractor safety, or related environments.
- Demonstrated experience supervising professional or technical employees, or equivalent experience establishing priorities, assigning work, providing performance feedback, and holding team members accountable for results.
- Demonstrated experience developing, implementing, governing, and evaluating contractor safety programs or comparable enterprise safety programs.
- Experience implementing governance structures, risk management processes, corrective action systems, and performance improvement initiatives.
- Demonstrated experience preparing and delivering performance reports, strategic recommendations, business cases, or presentations to senior leadership.
- Demonstrated experience leading complex, cross-functional projects or strategic initiatives involving multiple stakeholders and competing priorities.
Preferred Qualifications
- Utility industry experience.
- Experience in incident investigation and corrective action management.
- CSP, ASP, CHST, OHST, CUSP, or related professional certification.
- Experience supervising professional or technical employees and leading enterprise-wide or multi-business-unit safety programs.
- Experience managing contractor safety, public safety, industrial hygiene, or enterprise compliance programs.
- Experience supporting storm response, emergency operations, major projects, or business continuity activities.
- CSP, ASP, CHST, OHST, CUSP, or related professional certification.
- Experience supervising professional or technical employees and leading enterprise-wide or multi-business-unit safety programs.
- Experience managing contractor safety, public safety, industrial hygiene, or enterprise compliance programs.
- Experience supporting storm response, emergency operations, major projects, or business continuity activities.
Knowledge, Skills & Abilities
- Strong knowledge of occupational safety practices and applicable regulatory requirements, with the ability to develop knowledge of utility operations, hazards, and risk controls.
- Strong leadership, coaching, and employee development skills.
- Ability to build relationships and effectively influence leaders and employees at all organizational levels.
- Ability to work effectively in a fast-paced operational environment.
- Proficiency using data and metrics to identify trends and drive performance improvements.
- Ability to communicate credibly and effectively with contractor executives, senior business leaders, operational personnel, and technical professionals.
- Demonstrated judgment, discretion, professionalism, and composure when addressing sensitive, high-risk, or high-visibility matters.
- Ability to facilitate difficult conversations, challenge existing practices constructively, and hold internal and external stakeholders accountable.
- Ability to distinguish strategic or systemic issues from isolated field-level concerns and recommend proportionate organizational responses.
- Strong meeting leadership and facilitation skills, including the ability to establish objectives, guide discussion, resolve competing viewpoints, and drive decisions and follow-through.
Working Conditions
- Approximately 20% to 30% field-based work.
- Travel throughout FirstEnergy's service territory and to other locations as necessary to support assigned enterprise programs and initiatives.
- Exposure to transmission, distribution, substation, generation, and contractor work environments.
- Must be available to support emergency response, storm restoration, and business continuity activities across FirstEnergy.
Benefits, Compensation & Workforce Diversity
At FirstEnergy, employees are key to our success. We depend on their talents to meet the challenges of our changing business environment. We are committed to rewarding individual and team efforts through our total rewards philosophy which includes competitive pay plus incentive compensation, a company-sponsored pension plan, 401(k) savings plan with matching employer contribution, a choice of medical, prescription drug, dental, vision, and life insurance programs, as well as skills development training with tuition reimbursement. Please visit our website at www.firstenergycorp.com to learn more about all our employee rewards programs. FirstEnergy proudly supports workforce diversity. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, religion, color, national origin, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, age, status as a protected veteran, or status as a qualified individual with a disability. No recruiters or agencies without a previously signed contract. Unable to sponsor or transfer H-1B visas currently.
Safety
Safety is a core value for FirstEnergy and is essential to all our business activities. We ensure employees have the tools, information, and processes to perform their duties in a manner that assures safety for themselves, their co-workers, our customers and the public. Our goals are to provide a safe work environment, to maintain an accident-free, injury-free workplace, and to promote and maintain public safety. To meet these goals, we dedicate ourselves to achieving world-class safety standards.