Sr. Safety Advisor

Aecon; Toronto; On-site; CAD 90,000 - 115,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Medical and dental program

RRSP with company matching

Performance-based bonus program

Job summary

Aecon, in partnership with ONxpress Civils, seeks a Sr. Safety Advisor to advance rail safety across GO Expansion works. You will lead safety programs, analyze incidents, and drive training improvements to prevent injuries and ensure compliance with CROR and regulatory requirements.

The role requires flexibility to work nights/weekends and travel between GTA sites. With 5+ years in safety leadership within rail or track maintenance, you will mentor teams, audit contractors, and develop safety

Qualifications

• Completion of a degree in a related Canadian Railway Operating Rules discipline or equivalent.
• Minimum 5+ years’ experience leading and managing Operations or Track Maintenance services.
• CROR qualification or ability to obtain; knowledge of CROR/GEI/TIG.
• Knowledge of regulatory requirements for passenger rail services and safety standards.
• Ability to pass a Safety Critical Railway Medical Assessment and work nights/weekends.

Responsibilities

• Create data driven safety decisions using trends, investigations and risk assessments.
• Recommend training program improvements based on root cause analysis of incidents.
• Audit external contractors and maintain safety records with corrective actions.
• Develop rail safety goals and action plans with management and partners.
• Deliver rail safety training and ensure workers understanding of hazards.
• Maintain safety competence frameworks and update audit tools.
• Review policies for alignment with guidelines and update safety programs.
• Lead safety initiatives with internal/external resources.
• Monitor policy compliance and ensure safety near rail and construction sites.
• Prepare reports showing how training impacts safety metrics.

Skills

Safety leadership

Rail safety knowledge

Incident investigation

Risk assessment

CROR knowledge

Project management

MS Office

Communication skills

Travel willingness

Education

Railway operations degree

CROR qualification or equivalent

Regulatory/compliance knowledge

Tools

MS Office Suite

Job description

Operating Sector: Primarily Track Alliance

Position Title: Sr. Safety Advisor

Who We Are

The ONxpress Civils Contractor General Partnership, a partnership between FCC Canada Limited and Aecon Infrastructure Management Inc., is a multidisciplinary Civils Joint Venture (CJV) team with global expertise in delivering innovative solutions for both railway and civil construction projects. Working under Alliance agreements with Metrolinx, the team is helping to modernize railway construction across the GO Transit network.

An Alliance framework, which is relatively new in Canada, is a collaborative partnership between the owner and contractor, who work together with a best-for-project mindset. By streamlining decision making, the Alliance helps ensure that high-quality work is delivered, certified, and transferred in a progressive, transparent, and risk-managed manner.

The Alliance operates with a core focus on safety, efficiency, and sustainability, while fostering strong relationships with stakeholders and rights-holders and contributing positively to local communities as a good neighbour. Through this collaborative approach, the Alliance is helping drive the modernization of key sections of the rail network as part of the GO Expansion Program.

If you're passionate about making a difference and want to be part of a progressive and modern way of working, we want to hear from you.

What You'll Do

• Uses industry trends, incident investigation recommendations, risk assessments and other sources of safety information to create data driven decisions and implements rail safety learning programs to identify hazards, mitigate risk, and align with the ONxpress Safety programs.
• Makes recommendations based on investigations, accidents, and incidents analysis, to describes root causes and make recommendations for training program improvement or development; tracks and analyses accident and injury trends to identify areas for improvement for training and competence programs and development and recommend intervention or coaching strategies that enhance safety awareness and reduce accidents.
• Audits and coaches the work of external contractors to identify and correct safety behaviors associated with rail maintenance and construction; maintains contractor safety records and provides recommendations on corrective actions to eliminate gaps in rail safety knowledge.
• Coordinates with management to develop rail safety goals, objectives, initiatives, and actions plans to enhance rail safety across ONxpress and its working partners.
• Drives home the value of rail safety through the delivery of rail safety training programs by drawing on deep subject matter expertise and extensive real-world scenarios to help participants understand the hazards of the railway and help prevent injuries or death of workers on site and reduce the likelihood of operational impacts and injuries to workers and the general public accessing the right of way or using rail/road or rail/pedestrian crossings.
• Develops, maintains, and updates rail safety competence frameworks including the outlined expected safety measures, identify behaviors that would reflect this competence, and update audit packs and coaching toolkits to reflect changes.
• Reviews established policies and procedures for alignment with established guidelines, external railways best practice, and provincial agencies and recommend updates to ONxpress competencies and rail safety programs based on any misalignment, or changes in the industry that would impact rail safety, or how construction is carried out in a rail environment.
• Leads the continual development and enhancement of safety initiatives with applicable internal/external resources.
• Develops and implements internal systems based on industry best practice to monitor compliance with established policies and procedures and the need to go beyond the basics to ensure all workers, passengers, and the public are safe near our railway and construction sites.
• Prepares and presents reports describing how rail safety training is impacting key safety metrics.

What You Bring

• Completion of a degree in a related Canadian Railway Operating Rules discipline – or a combination of education, training and Class 1 railway experience deemed equivalent
• Minimum 5+ years’ experience leading and managing Operations or Track Maintenance services; experienced operator with a focus on incident and safety management.
• Past or present CROR qualification (as a Track Forman or Assistant Track Forman or as a manager in a certain railway discipline) OR the ability to obtain CROR qualification and Tig is required.
• Knowledge of Canadian Railway Operating Rules (CROR, GEI, TIG).
• Knowledge of process development, ownership, and governance.
• Possess acute Operating Practices acumen.
• Knowledge of applicable legal and regulatory requirements governing delivery of passenger rail services (e.g. Transport Canada (TC), Federal Railroad Administration (FRA), Association of American Railroads (AAR), American Public Transportation Association (APTA), Passenger Rail Equipment Safety Standards (PRESS), Railway Association of Canada (RAC), Canadian Rail Operating Rules (CROR), Ontario provincial and municipal standards and best practices, building codes, contracts, and environmental legislation) is required.
• Knowledge of Human Resources legislation (e.g., Employment Standards Act, Occupational Health & Safety Act, etc.) to monitor and manage employees and contractors, including experience in the application of collective agreement provisions.
• Project management principles and practices, including budget and schedule controls, to lead and direct cross functional teams and consultants engaged in simultaneous projects (i.e., development, project progress, related staff, and project resources) and monitor project activities for adherence to timelines, budgets, and project performance objectives.
• Managerial expertise to provide senior technical and administrative leadership to a small department and consultants.
• Analytical skills to supervise emergency responses and supervise related investigations for adherence to established policies and procedures.
• Knowledge of budget development and management processes.
• Proficiency in MS Office (e.g., Outlook, Word, Excel, PowerPoint, etc.).
• Interpersonal and oral/written/presentation skills to create and maintain support data and technical specifications.
• Ability to pass a Safety Critical Railway Medical Assessment
• Willingness to work in a 24/7 environment that requires working nights and weekends.
• Willingness to work and travel to multiple different work sites within the GTA, in all weather conditions.

Expected compensation for this role is between $90,000.00-115,000.00 annually. Base salaries are determined according to multiple factors including skills, experience and potential impact on the role. Internal and external competitiveness are also taken into consideration.

• In addition to baseline salary ONxpress also offers a comprehensive medical and dental program, RRSP with company matching and the potential to participate in our discretionary, performance based bonus program.

This role is a backfill position

As part of our commitment to fair and transparent hiring practices, ONxpress may use artificial intelligence (AI) tools to assist in screening and reviewing candidates. These tools are applied responsibly and in accordance with applicable privacy laws and ONxpress’ AI Usage Policy. All final decisions are made by qualified ONxpress team members.

Connect with us! Learn more about our project here and follow us on LinkedIn for frequent updates.

This position is with ONxpress Civils ("CJV" aka the Design & Construction team); the project segment responsible for the modernization and modification of the key area network, including countless innovations in the way the regional rail infrastructure is built.