Assistant Director Research and Shop Safety

Department: Risk, Safety, and Resilience

Classification: Administrative Faculty

Job Category: Administrative or Professional Faculty

Job Type: Full-Time

Work Schedule: Full-time (1.0 FTE, 40 hrs/wk)

Location: Manassas, VA

Workplace Type: On Site Required

Salary: Salary commensurate with education and experience

Criminal Background Check: Yes

Motor Vehicle Records Check: Yes

About the Department:

Risk, Safety, & Resilience (RSR) provides overall strategic oversight of the University's risk profile and management efforts, as well as provides leadership to sustain a safe and healthful environment for our community to learn, work, live, and thrive. RSR serves the university by managing enterprise and operational risk, health, safety, environmental, emergency management programs in collaboration with our partners and stakeholders.

About the Position:

The Assistant Director of Research and Shop Safety serves as a key leader within George Mason University’s Environmental Health and Safety (EHS) team. This position is ideal for an experienced EHS professional with a proven ability to independently develop, implement, and manage safety programs, as well as supervise and mentor staff.

The Assistant Director supports safe and compliant research and engineering activities across multiple campuses, including Fairfax, Manassas, and Arlington. Responsibilities include leading shop and field safety programs, overseeing engineering controls such as local exhaust ventilation, conducting inspections, developing and delivering training, supporting safety reviews for facility design and renovation projects, and assisting the Director of Environmental Health and Safety in short and long-term organizational planning and management.

This role requires strong collaboration with faculty, researchers, students, and EHS colleagues to identify emerging risks and apply creative but practical safety solutions in diverse environments such as 3D printing, robotics, drones, autonomous systems, field research, and specialized shops. The Assistant Director works closely with other safety program areas, including fire safety, occupational safety, biosafety, and risk management, to ensure consistent standards and a strong, proactive safety culture.

Responsibilities:

• Develops and maintains safety programs around 3D Printing, Instructional and Research Shop Safety, Marine Safety, Autonomous Vehicles and Drones, Robotics and Blimps Field Research and Heat Safety (risk assessments, written guidance documents, and training modules), and Local Exhaust Ventilation. Develops other safety trainings as assigned. 
• Provides both on-site and written safety assessments to ensure compliance with safety standards. Performs inspections of research and teaching spaces and prepares inspection reports, provides corrective actions, and follows up with stakeholders to ensure corrective actions are completed. Conducts safety reviews of proposed new construction and renovations in teaching and research shop spaces. 
• Serves as a programmatic liaison between research and instructional shops and other Environmental Health and Safety (EHS) team members as needed. Functions as the EHS liaison for engineering and research shop activities. Maintains general knowledge and understanding of EHS requirements outside of direct responsibilities and consults with EHS colleagues and subject matter experts when necessary. Collaborates with Risk Management and other EHS team members to coordinate overlapping program areas in engineering, such as fire safety, industrial hygiene, radiation and chemical safety, and travel-related risk management. 
• Creates and implements goals, performance metrics, and project plans to support program management. This includes developing, implementing, and overseeing research and shop programs and services for university personnel across multiple campuses, in alignment with regulatory and external agency requirements. Serves as the primary point of contact for faculty, staff, and students regarding research and shop program inquiries and acts as the main liaison with regulatory agencies on research shop safety matters.
• Serves on various university committees as assigned. Assigns and conducts document reviews for research and shop materials and training programs, following the RSR document management process. Reviews EFROA submissions, incident reports, and accident and incident