Building Safety Manager

NU USA Northeastern University; Boston (MA); On-site; USD 76,000 - 108,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Medical insurance

Vision insurance

Dental insurance

Paid time off

Tuition assistance

Wellness & life

Retirement

Commuting & transportation

Job summary

Northeastern University is seeking a Building Safety Manager to provide EH&S guidance for research and teaching laboratories on the Boston campus. You will work with PIs, DSOs, CSOs, and ECOS to ensure safe practices, risk communication, and regulatory compliance across chemical, biological, and radiation safety.

The role involves regular inspections, hazard identification, corrective action recommendations, and coordination with Facilities.

Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree in a physical science, life science, environmental science, engineering, occupational safety, or other applicable area.
• Minimum of five years demonstrated work experience in meeting EHS requirements in a laboratory setting.
• Experience in hazardous material emergency planning and laboratory process safety is preferred.

Responsibilities

• Laboratory Safety Support and Inspections: advise PIs and lab staff, conduct inspections, develop corrective actions, support documentation and PPE guidance.
• Hazardous Material and Waste Coordination: assist MAQ storage thresholds, coordinate with ECOS on hazardous waste handoffs.
• Building-Wide Emergency Planning and Response: contribute to EAPs, monitor hazards, participate in on-call incidents and investigations.
• Program Development, Support, and Continuity: contribute to OARS projects, maintain docs, support lab operations and ongoing professional development.

Skills

Regulatory knowledge

Lab inspections

Risk assessment

Influence safety behavior

Safety culture

Safety data management

Stakeholder coordination

Incident response

Hazardous materials

PPE & monitoring

Respiratory protection

Physical lifting

Education

Bachelor's degree in a physical/life/environmental science or engineering

Master's degree (preferred)

Job description

About the Opportunity

The Building Safety Manager (BSM) serves as an embedded lab safety professional who provides environmental health and safety guidance, oversight, and support for research and teaching laboratories within their assigned buildings on the Northeastern Boston campus. The BSM advises Principal Investigators, lab personnel, Department Safety Officers (DSOs), and College Safety Officers (CSOs) on safe laboratory practices and regulatory compliance across chemical, biological, and radiation safety. Through regular building walkthroughs, lab inspections, and ongoing relationship-building with research groups, the BSM identifies hazards, recommends corrective actions, and helps labs understand and meet applicable city, state, and federal safety regulations. This can include supporting the appropriate management of hazardous material inventories within defined control areas, in coordination with lab personnel and Facilities. The BSM is a key point of contact for their local research community. The BSM also participates in building-level emergency planning, incident response, and coordinates with Northeastern's ECOS (Environmental Compliance and Occupational Safety) team on hazardous waste handling when needed. The role requires strong interpersonal skills, sound judgment to build trust with research groups, the ability to communicate risk clearly, and promote a collaborative, non-punitive safety culture rather than a purely enforcement-driven one.

Minimum Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree in a physical science, life science, environmental science, engineering, occupational safety, or other applicable area
• Minimum of five years demonstrated work experience in meeting EHS requirements in a laboratory setting

Preferred Qualifications

• Employment experience within higher education
• Experience in hazardous material emergency planning
• Experience in laboratory process safety
• Master’s degree in one of the fields listed above
• Background in laboratory research and environmental health and safety compliance in research laboratories

Necessary Skills

• Working knowledge of the regulatory landscape governing laboratory operations (OSHA, RCRA, Massachusetts DEP, NFPA, and related standards), with the ability to translate regulatory requirements into practical, actionable guidance for lab personnel
• Experience conducting laboratory inspections, hazard and risk assessments, and tracking corrective actions to closure
• Ability to effectively negotiate and influence the safety behavior of PIs and research, building credibility and trust
• Experience fostering a collaborative, non-punitive safety culture across research groups with varying levels of safety maturity
• Experience with laboratory safety data management and tracking platforms
• Ability to coordinate across multiple internal stakeholders such as Facilities, Department and College Safety Officers, ECOS, and other OARS programs on cross-functional safety initiatives
• Experience responding to and participating in investigation of laboratory incidents and emergencies, including coordination with emergency responders
• Ability to assist with hazardous material emergencies and post-event remediation
• Ability to operate instrumentation used to monitor personnel chemical exposures and evaluate monitoring results
• Excellent time, organizational, and project management skills, including planning, prioritizing, and scheduling multiple ongoing projects to work independently and with the BSM team
• Demonstrated ability to work with a diverse population and foster a collaborative work environment
• Be medically qualified to wear respiratory protection and other personal protective equipment
• Lift up to 50 lbs and move up to 500 lbs of materials using rolling carts or drum carts

Key Responsibilities & Accountabilities

1. Laboratory Safety Support and Inspections
   • Serve as the primary safety advisor for PIs, lab managers, and research staff within assigned buildings.
   • Conduct regular lab inspections and building walkthroughs to identify hazards and unsafe practices.
   • Work collaboratively with lab personnel to develop corrective action plans.
   • Support labs through the General Lab Inspection Program and related OARS inspection workflows, including documentation of findings and follow-up.
   • Advise on risk assessments, hazard analysis, and appropriate PPE use.
   • Support lab design projects related to lab safety.
   • Build and maintain working relationships with DSOs, CSOs, College Directors, and PIs to ensure safety concerns are understood and addressed collaboratively.
2. Hazardous Material and Waste Coordination Support
   • Support labs in understanding and maintaining compliance with Maximum Available Quantities (MAQs) storage thresholds within defined control areas, partnering with lab personnel and Facilities to flag and resolve potential issues as they arise.
   • Coordinate with Northeastern's ECOS team on hazardous waste handoffs and routing.
3. Building-Wide Emergency Planning and Response
   • Participate in the development and maintenance of Emergency Action Plans (EAPs) for assigned buildings, in collaboration with other Northeastern safety professionals such as Emergency Management, lab supervisors and other stakeholders.
   • Maintain awareness of building-wide hazards, equipment, and ongoing research activities to support emergency responders during incidents.
   • Participate in a rotating on-call emergency response team, incident investigations, and help identify and implement corrective actions.
4. Program Development, Support, and Continuity
   • Contribute to the development of OARS projects and programs, including writing guidance, leading working groups, and more, as directed.
   • Maintain up-to-date documentation of building assignments, in-progress work, and key contacts to support team continuity.
   • Participate in OARS programs as they relate to assigned buildings, supporting college and lab-level engagement.
   • Assist with start-up and decommissioning of laboratory operations.
   • Serve as a source of regulatory information for lab personnel and perform other technical or administrative duties as directed.
   • Pursue ongoing professional development through conferences, training, and certifications.

Position Type Legal and Regulatory Administration

Compensation

Compensation Grade/Pay Type: 110S Expected Hiring Range: $76,335.00 - $107,823.75 With the pay range(s) shown above, the starting salary will depend on several factors, which may include your education, experience, location, knowledge and expertise, and skills as well as a pay comparison to similarly-situated employees already in the role. Salary ranges are reviewed regularly and are subject to change.

Benefits

• medical
• vision
• dental
• paid time off
• tuition assistance
• wellness & life
• retirement
• commuting & transportation

All qualified applicants are encouraged to apply and will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, religion, color, national origin, age, sex, sexual orientation, disability status, or any other characteristic protected by applicable law.

Founded in 1898, Northeastern is a global research university and the recognized leader in experiential lifelong learning. Our approach of integrating real-world experience with education, research, and innovation empowers our students, faculty, alumni, and partners to create worldwide impact. Our global university system provides our community and academic, government, and industry partners with unique opportunities to think locally and act globally. The system—including 14 campuses across the U.S., U.K., and Canada, 300,000-plus alumni, and 3,000 partners worldwide—serves as a platform for scaling ideas, talent, and solutions. The university’s residential campuses for undergraduate and graduate degrees are located in Boston, London, and Oakland, California. Our research and graduate campuses are in the Massachusetts communities of Burlington and Nahant; Arlington, Virginia; Charlotte, North Carolina; Miami; Portland, Maine; Seattle; Silicon Valley, California; Toronto; and Vancouver. Northeastern’s personalized, experiential undergraduate and graduate programs lead to degrees through the doctorate in 10 colleges and schools across our campuses. Learning emphasizes the intersection of data, technology, and human literacies, uniquely preparing graduates for careers of the future and lives of fulfillment and accomplishment. Our research enterprise, with an R1 Carnegie classification, is solutions oriented and spans the world. Our faculty scholars and students work in teams that cross not just disciplines, but also sectors—aligned around solving today’s highly interconnected global challenges and focused on transformative impact for humankind.

Visit https://hr.northeastern.edu/benefits/ for more information.