Environmental Health & Safety, Director

Job Summary

Provide enterprise-level leadership for environmental, health, safety, industrial hygiene, emergency preparedness, and regulatory compliance for a vertically integrated acrylic/glass transparency manufacturing operation supporting civil and military aircraft programs.

Protect employees, neighbors, customers, and the business by building prevention-focused systems that control high-consequence risks associated with methyl methacrylate (MMA), monomer/polymer processing, solvent bonding, coatings, cleanroom/optical finishing, glass cutting/grinding, furnaces/autoclaves, pressure systems, and hazardous material storage.

Serve as the site’s senior EH&S authority and primary interface with regulators, emergency responders, aerospace prime customers, and executive leadership; translate complex city, county, California, and federal requirements into practical controls, accountable ownership, and measurable performance.

Job Responsibilities

1. Strategic EH&S Leadership

• Lead the EH&S function as a business partner to the VP/GM and operating leadership; establish annual EH&S objectives, risk-reduction roadmap, budget, staffing plan, capital needs, and management review cadence.
• Build a prevention-oriented culture rooted in visible leadership, supervisor accountability, employee engagement, learning from near misses, and disciplined corrective-action closure.
• Advise executive leadership on EH&S risk acceptance, production changes, capital projects, new product introduction, customer requirements, and business continuity implications.

2. Regulatory Compliance and Agency Interface

• Own site compliance with Cal/OSHA Title 8 requirements, including the Injury and Illness Prevention Program (IIPP), hazard correction, employee communication, training, injury/illness investigations, and recordkeeping.
• Maintain compliance with federal OSHA requirements applicable through California’s state-plan framework and direct federal standards such as Hazard Communication elements for chemical classification, SDS, labels, and employee training.
• Ensure environmental compliance with South Coast AQMD stationary-source permitting and VOC/emissions requirements for operations such as tanks, coating/adhesive use, ovens, boilers, dust collectors, and control equipment.
• Oversee DTSC/RCRA/California Title 22 hazardous waste determinations, generator category management, accumulation areas, labeling, inspections, manifesting, vendor due diligence, training, and cradle-to-grave liability controls.
• Ensure timely and accurate CERS/Hazardous Materials Business Plan submissions and EPCRA Tier II reporting where thresholds are met; maintain emergency contacts, site maps, chemical inventories, and storage compatibility documentation.
• Serve as primary contact for Cal/OSHA, SCAQMD, Orange County Health Care Agency CUPA, Orange County Fire Authority, City of Garden Grove, DTSC, EPA, RWQCB/State Water Board, and other authorities having jurisdiction.

3. Vertically Integrated Acrylic / Glass Manufacturing Risk Control

• Develop risk-based controls for bulk MMA and other monomers, polymerization inhibition, storage tank cooling/venting, temperature monitoring, flammable vapor controls, bonding operations, solvent cleaning, coatings, adhesives, and resin handling.
• Lead process hazard reviews, management of change (MOC), pre-startup safety reviews, chemical compatibility assessments, and safeguards verification for new or modified processes, tanks, mixers, ovens, autoclaves, furnaces, CNC equipment, and utility systems.
• Oversee industrial hygiene strategy for MMA, VOCs, isocyanates or coating constituents where applicable, respirable crystalline silica/glass dust, noise, heat, ergonomic stressors, and nuisance/combustible dust where applicable.
• Partner with engineering and maintenance to ensure LOTO, machine guarding, ele