Construction Safety Officer

Hunter Environmental; Norfolk (MA); On-site; USD 75,000 - 100,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

401k

Health Insurance

Job summary

Hunter Environmental seeks a Safety Officer to lead field safety programs across active job sites in Massachusetts. The role focuses on proactive risk assessment, stopping unsafe work, and ensuring compliance with regulatory demands.

You will coordinate protective plans for high-hazard tasks and maintain meticulous records for regulators and clients. The ideal candidate will have strong communication, field presence, and a track record of training crews.

Qualifications

• Five or more years of construction safety experience in heavy civil, utility, or rail work.
• Bachelor’s degree or higher in a relevant field and OSHA certifications as required.
• OSHA 30-Hour Construction certification is required; OSHA 500 preferred.
• Competent person designations and familiarity with safety regulations.

Responsibilities

• Keep crews safe on every active job by monitoring activities and stopping unsafe work.
• Plan and control high-hazard work with proper permits, protective systems, and training.
• Maintain records for OSHA, insurance, and MBTA with timely reports and audits.
• Deliver weekly toolbox talks and competency training for excavation, fall protection, confined space, and rigging.
• Investigate incidents with root-cause analysis and ensure corrective actions are closed.

Skills

Field safety leadership

Risk assessment

Communication

Recordkeeping

Incident investigation

Education

Bachelor's degree in occupational health and safety / engineering / construction management

OSHA 30-Hour Construction certification

OSHA 500 preferred

Fire Prevention Program Manager certification

Competent person designations (excavation, fall protection, confined space)

Tools

Field inspection platform

Project management software

MS Office suite

Massachusetts hoisting license familiarity

Valid driver’s license

Job description

You are the person who walks onto a job, reads what's happening in thirty seconds, and knows which crew needs a word before anyone gets hurt. You take pride in spotting the risk nobody else saw yet. You like being the one others come to when something looks wrong, and you don't flinch when the answer has to be no.

You want the authority to stop work and have that decision hold. You want records clean enough that an outside reviewer finds nothing to pick at. You chase the near miss nobody reported.

If that's you, keep reading.

Why Work With Us

Hunter Environmental works in environmental construction and snow removal. This Safety Officer role exists so every crew, subcontractor, and person on a Hunter Environmental property goes home the same way they arrived. High-hazard work like excavation, confined space entry, and work near live rail needs a trained set of eyes on it. Incidents need investigation, and the records the regulator, insurance carriers, and the transit authority demand need to stay current.

Hunter Environmental is a growing company. Right now, the owner carries safety alongside everything else. This role puts full-time safety attention on the field and the shop. You join at a point where your ideas carry weight and you help shape how the team works as the company grows. That is a real opportunity to build.

If a safety program you can put your name on sounds like your kind of work, read on.

Please Don't Apply If

• You run the program from a desk and only walk the work when someone asks you to.
• You soften a correction because the person making the mistake outranks you.
• You let a near miss sit until tomorrow because today got busy.
• You wait for a reminder to renew a certification or close a corrective action.
• You look the other way when the schedule gets tight.
• You want every day to look the same.

Our Ideal Applicant

You walk the work in person every day. You sequence your route by risk and phase, and you watch the work that hurts people most.

You correct someone on the spot and explain why. The crew understands the reason, not only the rule, and the correction holds after you move on.

You ask the crew questions before telling them anything. You read the plan before the work starts. You name the specific hazard in front of you, not a category from a binder.

You document what you saw with a photo and the time it happened. You track a correction until it is closed out. You keep certifications and expiration dates current without anyone chasing you.

You hold outside crews to the same standard as your own. A subcontractor badge does not buy a pass.

You answer the phone at odd hours. When something goes wrong, you want to be there, not read about it in the morning.

You care more about respect in the field than approval in the office. Sound like your kind of seat? Keep reading.

What You'll Be Responsible For

Keeping crews safe on every active job

You walk active properties daily, sequenced by risk and phase. You watch excavation and trenching, rigging and lifting, fall protection, equipment operation, and traffic control near rail and roadway. When unsafe work starts, it stops, and the crew learns why.

Minor corrections happen on the spot with coaching. Every finding is documented with photos and timestamps so there is a record of what was seen and what was fixed.

Planning and controlling high-hazard work before it starts

The most dangerous work on a Hunter Environmental property carries a plan and the right protection before anyone begins. That covers excavation permits, soil classification, and protective systems. It covers confined space entry in manholes, vaults, and pits. It covers crane and rigging setups with lift plans, work near live rail, catenary, and energized systems, maintenance of traffic and flagger setups, and silica controls on cutting and milling.

Locates and potholing are verified before digging. When you sign off, the hazard has been identified, the control is in place, and the crew knows the plan.

Keeping records that hold up for OSHA, insurance, and the MBTA

You build and maintain site-specific safety plans, the fire prevention program, pre-task plans, and the job hazard analyses the transit authority requires. Daily reports and inspection summaries reach the client by the contract deadline.

Incident recordkeeping stays current and accurate. Weekly and monthly metrics, including recordable incident rate, days-away rate, and experience modifier, go to the owner and the project managers. When a carrier, an auditor, or the transit authority asks for a record, it exists and it stands up.

Training and tracking crews and subcontractors

You run new hire and site orientations and deliver weekly toolbox talks tied to the exposures crews are facing that week. You provide competent person training for excavation, fall protection, confined space, and rigging. Roadway worker protection and rail badging stay current. Foremen get coached on running better pre-task briefings.

The training matrix and certification expirations are tracked so no one works a task they are not qualified for. Subcontractor programs, competent person designations, and records are reviewed before mobilization.

Investigating incidents and closing them out

When something goes wrong, you respond immediately. You provide first response and medical coordination, arrange post-incident testing, and run a root cause investigation that produces a written report. Corrective actions are tracked until they are closed.

You handle workers' comp intake and return-to-work coordination so injured workers are cared for and the claim is managed. A post-incident toolbox talk puts the lesson in front of every crew.

Qualifications

• Five or more years of construction safety experience in heavy civil, utility, or rail work.
• Bachelor's degree in occupational health and safety, engineering, construction management, or a related field, or equivalent field experience.
• OSHA 30-Hour Construction certification required. OSHA 500 preferred.
• Fire Prevention Program Manager certification.
• Competent person designations in excavation, fall protection, and confined space.
• Construction Health and Safety Technician credential in hand or achievable within twelve months of hire.
• Current First Aid, CPR, and AED certification.
• Working knowledge of federal construction safety regulations, federal transportation safety regulations, and the safety requirements of the transit authority the company works under.
• Documented experience investigating incidents and writing root cause reports that stand up to carrier and auditor review.
• Proficiency with a field inspection and project management platform used on heavy civil jobs, and with standard office productivity software for reports and training materials.
• Massachusetts hoisting license familiarity a plus.
• Valid driver's license and clean motor vehicle record. Able to drive between multiple job sites each day.
• Able to work outdoors in all weather, walk uneven ground, climb ladders, and enter excavations and confined spaces to observe work.
• Available to respond to incidents outside normal hours and to cover extended shifts during snow operations.
• Must be capable of being approved by the MBTA.

Compensation and Benefits

$75,000 to $100,000 per year depends on experience.

• 401k
• Health Insurance