See Occupational Safety and Health Specialist 1.

This is the supervisory and/or expert level of the series. Positions provide expert-level analysis and consultation to management and staff regarding the most complex, multidimensional safety, health, and industrial hygiene issues in administering an agency's/higher education institution’s comprehensive employee occupational safety, health, and industrial hygiene program and/or supervises lower level specialists within the series.

Positions supervise lower-level Specialists and/or serve as a designated professional expert in one or more functional areas of occupational safety, health, and industrial hygiene. Expert in the most complex occupational safety and health risk and exposure evaluation, problem resolution, mitigation efforts, and decision making of the series.

Administers a major program area consisting of comprehensive occupational safety and health services; identifies, evaluates, and controls safety and health hazards and implements strategies to prevent occupational injury and/or illness;

Oversees an exposure monitoring plan for toxic and hazardous materials, quality assurance and consulting on monitoring reports, and prioritizes future monitoring needs;

Directs or performs environmental sampling including air, water, noise, silica, lead, isocyanates, and other contaminants, interprets results, and compiles reports and recommendations from the data;

Conducts or directs others in performing medical surveillance (non-clinical) to assess employee exposure to chemical, physical, and biological agents and monitor employee status to identify adverse health occurrences, develop a targeted intervention plan, and implement workplace mitigation strategies to prevent future occurrence;

Exercises independent judgment under a broad policy charter to set agency safety and health program goals, objectives, policies and procedures; sets long-range strategies to comply with governmental policies and procedures;

Manages a staff of safety and health professionals representing different sub-technological specializations, including staff development, computer technology, fire technology, industrial hygiene, industrial engineering, management effectiveness measurement, qualitative analysis and motor vehicle operations;

Ensures staff are trained in principles of occupational safety, health, and industrial hygiene and delivers program components in accordance with industry standards and compliance requirements;

Develops and implements occupational safety, health, and hygiene policies;

Reviews and approves reports and activities to comprehensively evaluate and maintain safety program performance;

Guides safety staff, managers, and executive management through the most complex inspections and/or investigations that include unusual or complicated legal constructs;

Represents the agency/higher education institution regarding compliance issues before the Department of Labor and Industries Compliance Appeals Hearing Officer and the Board of Industrial Insurance Appeals;

Creates new and varying loss control programs designed to minimize accidents/injuries and related costs for employees, clients and public visitors;

Evaluates field safety programs, coordinates with other agency/higher education safety staff, manages to ascertain problem areas and ensure that employees' work activities, facilities and equipment meet with established Federal, State, and local safety guidelines;

Manages the agency/higher education institution’s safety training program;

Researches, reviews and analyzes data, industry trends and state of the art information on health hazard issues; coordinates training for specific hygiene activities; stays current with new hazard identification, conducts research on emerging techniques, hazard mitigation equipment, and safety standards;

Monitors employee reports of safety hazards and safety committee operations;

Develops and manages a complete agency/higher education institution’s safety management audit system;

Manages the agency/higher education statewide safety and health technical consultation, inspection and accident investigation programs;

Performs other duties as required.

Knowledge of: principles and practices of employee and public safety and health administration including safety and health education and training, accident investigation, self inspection, record keeping, publicity, safety committee operation and other services common to employee and public safety; principles and practices of organization and management; sampling and direct measuring techniques for chemical and physical hazards, noise and non-ionizing radiation; industrial processes and occupational hazards; common industrial chemicals, chemical by-products and their air contamination potential; hazard potential of dusts, gases, vapors, noise and non-ionizing radiation; routine analytical procedures.

Ability to: interpret safety rules and policies; establish and maintain a safe and healthful working environment within the assigned institution; maintain effective working relationships with officials, employees and the public; analyze and resolve a variety of safety and health problems; communicate clearly; explain technical procedures and findings; establish and maintain effective working; use industrial hygiene sampling equipment such as gas and vapor detectors, noise dosimeters and direct reading instruments; write clear, concise reports.

There may be instances where individual positions must have additional licenses or certification. It is the employer’s responsibility to ensure the appropriate licenses/certifications are obtained for each position.

Some positions may require certification as a Certified Safety Professional granted by the Board of Certified Safety Professionals and/or Certified Industrial Hygienist granted by the American Board of Industrial Hygiene.

Persons legally authorized to work in the U.S. under federal law, including Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals recipients, are eligible for employment unless prohibited by other state or federal law.

New class: 4-15-88

Revised definition, add distinguishing characteristics and title change (formerly Safety Program Manager): 12-12-97, effective 7 1 98 as part of the 6767 legislation.
New class code: (formerly 43950) effective July 1, 2007.
Revised Legal Requirements; effective June 6, 2024, due to adopted legislative action.
Revised job title, definition, distinguishing characteristics, typical work, knowledge and abilities, legal requirements and desirable qualifications; added class series concept; base range increase from 56 to 65; adopted June 23, 2025; effective July 1, 2025.