DEPARTMENT SAFETY OFFICER

Job Description:

DEPARTMENT SAFETY OFFICER

Description

DESCRIPTION

The City of Long Beach currently is looking to fill two vacancies; one (1) in the Human Resources Department and one (1) in the Utilities Department

THE COMMUNITY

Ideally located on the Pacific Ocean south of Los Angeles and just west of Orange County, Long Beach is the seventh-largest city in the State of California. Offering all the world-class amenities of a large metropolitan city, coupled with its strong sense of community and pride, Long Beach is one of the most vibrant communities in the country. The City has been referred to as the “Most Diverse City” in the country by USA Today and one of the “Best Communities for Young People” two years in a row. With its ideal location in Southern California, year-round comfortable climate, healthy business environment, and far-ranging cultural pursuits, the City is alive with activity. Long Beach is home to an abundance of cultural and recreational options. Expansive beaches, three marinas, five golf courses, the Aquarium of the Pacific, the Queen Mary, and the annual Grand Prix of Long Beach serve to draw 6.5 million visitors a year. The City’s full-service commercial airport has preferred flight schedules, carriers, and overall accessibility that makes it the travel-friendly alternative to other Southern California airports. In addition, Los Angeles’ rail transit system, the most used light rail system in the country, connects the city to the entire region. Long Beach continues to make significant investments in its parks, beaches, streets, and other amenities (including a new city hall) indicative of the financial stability and health of the City.

CITY GOVERNMENT

Long Beach is a full-service Charter City governed by nine City Council members who are elected by district and a Mayor that is elected at large. Elected officials also include the City Attorney, City Auditor, and City Prosecutor. The Council Members and the Mayor are subject to a two-term limit, which allows them to serve for a maximum of eight years. The City Council appoints a City Manager and a City Clerk. The City Manager is responsible for the efficient administration of all City departments, excluding those under the direction of a separately elected official, Board, or Commission. The City of Long Beach provides all traditional public services. In addition to its traditional services, the City also maintains one of the world’s busiest seaports, which serves as a leading gateway for international trade. Long Beach also has its own full-service commercial airport and is one of only three cities in California with its own Health Department. Long Beach is supported by a total FY 2022 budget of approximately $3 billion, with the General Fund budget totaling $625 million. More than 5,900 full and part-time employees support municipal operations with the majority being represented by eleven employee associations. To learn more about the City of Long Beach, go to: www.longbeach.gov .

HUMAN RESOURCES DEPARTMENT

The Human Resources Department provides the full range of human resources supports services to 22 departments throughout the City. HR’s services include labor relations, employee relations, benefits, training, salary and classification administration, HRIS administration, oversight of personnel investigations, EEO compliance, occupational health services, risk management, and safety compliance. We believe that the City’s greatest assets are its employees, and take great pride in managing the systems that support a highly productive, innovative, caring, and customer-oriented workforce. Our mission is to provide leadership and operational support to City departments to enhance their ability to recruit and retain a qualified, diverse workforce and to effectively manage business risk. We are committed to being strategic partners with all departments to ensure that the City has the talent and resources needed to provide great services to the community.

UTILITES DEPARTMENT
Long Beach Utilities provides safe, clean, reliable and affordable water, gas, and sewer services to the Long Beach community. The service area supports 500,000 customers, represented by 90,000 water accounts, 145,000 gas accounts and 90,000 sewer accounts in 52 square miles. This service area includes Long Beach’s downtown core, waterfront accounts, suburban areas and dense multifamily portions of the region. The department also provides natural gas service to residents and businesses in the City of Signal Hill.

Water. Every day, Long Beach Utilities treats 32 million gallons of drinking water at the Long Beach Groundwater Treatment Plant (GWTP) and distributes this water after blending with imported water, to 90,000 households and businesses throughout the City of Long Beach. The GWTP also hosts a California Environmental Laboratory Accreditation as a Certified Water Quality Laboratory, which performs 60,000 to 70,000 water quality testing to ensure the high quality of the drinking water.

Gas. As a municipal utility, Long Beach Utilities’ natural gas rates and policies are established by the Board of Utilities Commission, consisting of five residents of Long Beach. The City Charter requires Long Beach rates to be comparable to the rates charged by surrounding gas utilities for similar types of service. In the region, the Southern California Gas Company is the only other natural gas utility providing similar service and serves as the market benchmark. The City of Long Beach natural gas service territory includes the cities of Long Beach and Signal Hill, and sections of surrounding communities including Lakewood, Bellflower, Compton, Seal Beach, Paramount, and Los Alamitos.

Sewer. Long Beach Utilities owns, operates and maintains over 700 miles of sanitary sewer lines, safely collecting and delivering over 40 million gallons of wastewater per day to the Sanitation Districts of Los Angeles County for treatment.

To learn more, visit LBUtilities.org .

THE POSITION
The Department Safety Officer is an unclassified, at-will management position that reports to the City's Safety Manager in Human Resources or the Senior Director of Administration in Utilities. This position interfaces with field and office staff to ensure they are performing their work in a safe environment.

The Department Safety Officer administers the occupational safety programs at various departments within the City of Long Beach. This individual develops, communicates, and implements a comprehensive Department emergency management plan and occupational safety/health programs in accordance with Federal, State, and City requirements/policies and best industry work practices and standards.

The Department Safety Officer analyzes employee injury trends and designs and implements programs to reduce injuries and productive time lost due to injuries. The Department Safety Officer also develops cost-effective solutions for operational issues that present technical and regulatory challenges. The Department Safety Officer reviews the training needs of client departments, as well as develops and conducts training classes in-house or coordinates training classes with external vendors. This position ensures that safety and disaster training is provided for client departments as needed.

The Department Safety Officer is the lead person for occupational safety and health matters and works with the City Safety Manager to ensure a uniform safety program. Additionally, this position will act as a liaison with regulatory agency representatives such as Cal/OSHA, Fed/OSHA, and South Coast Air Quality Management District (SCAQMD) as it pertains to Department issues.

EXAMPLES OF DUTIES

• The Safety Officer ensures workplace safety and compliance with California Department of Industrial Relations, Division of Occupational Safety and Health (Cal/OSHA) standards and regulations.
  
• The management position provides occupational safety training to employees and works closely with managers to ensure Cal/OSHA compliance.
  
• The Safety Officer develops and implements safety programs and procedures for the department as necessary, performs department hazard assessments to properly identify and evaluate job hazards, and identifies and coordinates department safety training needs and develops cost-effective strategies for implementation.
  
• In a leadership capacity, coordinates Job Hazard Analysis (JHA) reviews and updates with the workgroup manager, as necessary.
  
• Analyzes department incident data and trends, reports findings, and makes recommendations to address these trends.
  
• Organizes department occupational safety meetings, monitors Safety meetings and training effectiveness, and represents the department and participates in Citywide safety meetings and functions.
  
• Responds to serious employee incidents and is on-call for other occupational safety related emergencies.
  
• Communicates orally and in writing with staff on key areas concerning occupational safety, including federal and state legislation, which may affect safety requirements and programs, and acts as the department's liaison with Cal/OSHA, Department of Transportation (DOT), and other regulatory agencies.
  
• Maintains department Cal/OSHA record keeping, promotes safety among management staff and employees through various means, including coordination of safety meetings, training updates, safety tips, and site visits.
  
• Establishes Cal/OSHA required occupational safety training programs for water treatment and distribution employees, sewer employees, and natural gas distribution employees; and coordinates with workgroup managers to schedule training on regular intervals.
  
• Develops and conducts relevant water, gas and sewer occupational safety training classes in-house, or coordinates training classes with external vendors.
  
• Recommends corrective actions for program improvements and works with the Citywide Safety Officer to ensure compliance with Citywide Safety Programs and Policies.
  
• Interfaces with the Utilities Department’s Personnel Division and ensures a coordinated response to employee injuries and incident reporting.
  
• Updates department occupational safety policies to remain in compliance with Cal/OSHA and conduct employee trainings as policies and programs change.
  
• Supports Department Managers with Occupational Safety investigations, documentation, and compliance.
  
• Acts as a liaison with regulatory agency representatives such as Cal/OSHA, Fed/OSHA as it pertains to Department issues.
  
• Communicates with other personnel, vendors, contractors, other City Departments, customers, and outside organizations to coordinate activities, facilitate projects, and tasks, resolve issues and conflicts and exchange information.
  
• Assists in the development and preparation of the annual occupational safety budget; controls and authorizes expenditures under established limitations.
  
• Attends and conducts a variety of meetings.
  
• Interacts, advises, and provides responses to inquiries from water, sewer, gas and warehouse managers and supervisors.
  
• Provides consultation to administrators and department staff.
  
• Principles of budgeting, accounting, financial record keeping and reporting.
  
• Keeps the Senior Director of Administration and other staff informed regularly on the status of open issues.
  

REQUIREMENTS TO FILE

EDUCATION

• A bachelor’s degree from an accredited college or university is required; however, candidates may substitute experience offering specific and substantial preparation for the duties of the position for the required education on a year for year basis.
  

EXPERIENCE

• Three (3) years of progressively responsible experience working with safety operations and overseeing safety programs.
• One (1) year of full-time experience working in a supervisory or lead capacity.

DESIRABLE QUALIFICATIONS

• Coursework in occupational safety.
• A certification issued by the Board of Certified Safety Professionals, such as Associate Safety Professional (ASP), Certified Safety Professional (CSP), or Construction Health and Safety Technician (CHST).
• 5 years of progressively responsible experience in developing or managing a utilities, industrial or commercial manufacturing safety program in California.

IDEAL CANDIDATE
The ideal candidate will have a demonstrated ability to provide consistency and strong leadership in the safety environment and possess excellent organizational and interpersonal skills to serve as a valuable resource throughout the City. The ideal candidate will be customer service oriented with a history of building effective partnerships and a proven track record of responsiveness, problem solving, and conflict resolution. This position requires a hands-on manager who has in-depth field and technical knowledge, presentation skills, and is willing work alongside staff at all levels to get the work done.

The ideal candidate will demonstrate the following knowledge, skills and abilities:

• Knowledge of the laws and regulations concerning Cal/OSHA and occupational safety programs, policies and requirements, including general industry and construction safety standards, applicable environmental regulations, and a working knowledge of the principles and methods of safety, training, incident investigation, hazard identification and correction, and the prevention of employee injury/illness.
  
• Understanding of Cal/OSHA procedures and practices.
  
• Basic understanding of Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPPA)
  
• Principles of business letter writing and report preparation.
  
• Modern office procedures, methods, and equipment including computers and both networked and cloud-based software systems
  
• Principles of supervision, training, and performance evaluation.
  
• Pertinent federal, California, and local laws, codes, and regulations.
  
• Ability to conduct employee group training
  
• Business writing
  
• State and federal occupational safety rules and regulations.
  
• Knowledge of safety programs for water, gas and sewer field operations, including warehousing.
  
• Ability to connect, coordinate and add value to occupational safety and workplace culture.
  
• Interpersonal skills using tact, patience, and courtesy.
  
• Ability to connect with and train employees on new processes and procedures.
  
• Ability to establish and maintain effective working relationships with managers and employees, at all levels of the organization including City and department management, public officials, and employees.
  
• Communicate clearly and concisely, both orally and in writing.
  
• Excellent writing including grammar and document formatting.
  

SELECTION PROCEDURE


This recruitment will close at 11:59 PM Pacific Time on Sunday April 5th . To be considered, please submit an online application, including a cover letter, resume, and proof of education in PDF format. Applications that fail to include all necessary documents will be considered incomplete and will not be taken into consideration.

EQUITY AND INCLUSION
The City of Long Beach is committed to creating a workplace where every employee is valued for who they are. Having our workforce reflect the diversity of our community at various levels of the organization is a continuous goal embraced by our departments, management staff, and policymakers. To support efforts of fairness and diversity, City Leadership is committed to incorporating equity and inclusion into our work by supporting staff and community partners. We are committed to promoting transparency by publishing updated demographic information for employees, including workforce diversity data and pay by race and gender. The City of Long Beach will consider qualified applicants with a criminal history pursuant to the California Fair Chance Act. You are not required to disclose your criminal history or participate in a background check until you receive a conditional job offer. If the City of Long Beach has concerns about a conviction that is directly related to the job after making a conditional job offer and conducting a background check, you will have the opportunity to explain the circumstances surrounding the conviction, provide evidence to mitigate concerns, or challenge the accuracy of the background report. Find out more about the Fair Chance Act by visiting https://calcivilrights.ca.gov/fair-chance-act

The City of Long Beach is committed to maintaining fairness and transparency in our hiring practices. We believe in providing equal opportunities to all applicants and ensuring that every applicant is evaluated based on their qualifications and merit. If you believe that you have been unjustly disqualified based on minimum qualifications for an unclassified job opportunity, you have the right to appeal the decision. Find out more about the Unclassified Applicant Appeal Process by visiting the Applicant Appeal Process (longbeach.gov) .

The City of Long Beach intends to provide reasonable accommodations in accordance with the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990. If special accommodation is desired, or if you would like to request this information in an alternative format, please call (562) 570-7008. In support of the City's Language Access Policy, bilingual skills (Spanish, Khmer, and/or Tagalog) are desirable for positions interacting with the public.

The City of Long Beach offers its employees opportunities to grow personally and professionally.As a permanent employee, you are eligible to receive fringe benefits that include:

Retirement:California Public Employees' Retirement System (PERS) defined benefit retirement plan, which is coordinated with Social Security. The benefit is 2.5% or 2.7% (depending on hire date) @55 for "Classic" members and 2% @62 for new members as defined by PEPRA, subject to the compensation limitations set by PERS. Both the City and the employee contributes toward CalPERS retirement contributions. The city also participates in Social Security.

Health and Dental Insurance:The City offers the choice of HMO and PPO plans. The city pays major portion of the premium for employee and dependents depending on the health/ dental plan selected.

Life Insurance:City-paid term life insurance policy equal to three (3) times annual salary to a maximum of $500,000.

Disability Insurance:City-paid short-term and long-term disability insurance.

Management Physical:Annual City-paid physical examination.

Vacation:Twelve (12) vacation days after the first year of service; 15 days after four years, six months of service; 20 days after 19 years, six months of service.

Executive Leave:Forty (40) hours Executive Leave per year. The City Manager has discretion to grant an additional 40 hours each year.

Sick Leave: One day earned per month; unlimited accumulation; conversion upon retirement to cash credit toward health and/or dental insurance premiums, or to pension credits.

Holidays:Eleven (11) designated holidays per year, plus four personal holidays to be used at the employee's discretion.

Transportation Allowance:Monthly allowance is allocated by classifications below;

• Department Head $650.00
• Deputy Director/Manager/Director (Harbor/Utilities) $550.00
• Division Officer/Superintendent/ Chief of Staff / Administrator / Principal DCA $450.00
• Assistant to Executive / Executive Assistant / Executive Secretary/ Executive Support Staff $300.00

Deferred Compensation Plan:Optional for employee contribution to a supplementary retirement savings program available through Mission Square Retirement formerly ICMA-RC Retirement Corporation).

• Classic CalPERS Members: The City will contribute a maximum of up to two percent (2%) of base salary* for all qualified Classic CalPERS members.
• Public Employees’ Pension Reform Act (PEPRA) CalPERS Members: Effective the second full pay period following City Council adoption, the City contribution will increase from two percent (2%) to three percent (3%) of base salary* for all qualified PEPRA CalPERS members.

Flexible Spending Account (FSA):Optional election for employees to reduce taxable income for payment of allowable childcare or medical expenses.

Flexible/Hybrid Work Schedule:Available (subject to City Manager approval).

Paid Parental Leave: The City provides one hundred and sixty (160) hours of Paid Parental Leave at 100% of salary, for the birth, adoption or foster placement of a child, regardless of the gender, marital status or sexual orientation of the parent.

Closing Date/Time: 4/5/2026 11:59 PM Pacific

Salary:

$107,112.17 - $153,016.80 Annually