Employee Health and Safety Specialist

To be part of our organization, every employee should understand and share in the YNHHS Vision, support our Mission, and live our Values. These values - integrity, patient-centered, respect, accountability, and compassion - must guide what we do, as individuals and professionals, every day.

Under the direction of the Director of Employee Health, Safety and Wellbeing, coordinates, and/or provides guidance to Occupational Medicine, Worker's Compensation and Benefits, Infection Prevention, Legal Affairs /Risk Management, Institute for Excellence (IFE), Delivery Network Employee Health & Safety Committee, Human Resource Information System (HRIS), Human Resources (HR), Plant Engineering, Facilities Design & Construction (FD & C), Accreditation Safety and Regulatory Affairs (ASRA) , and others as needed for consultation on employee Health and Safety matters; including OSHA regulatory requirements. Responsible for Employee Injury and Illness investigations and implementation of controls measures. Continuously create, implement and refine performance improvement projects to mitigate employee injury and illness risks. Perform proactive review of worksites for injury prevention.

EEO/AA/Disability/Veteran

• Conducts comprehensive and ongoing reviews of federal and/or state standards that are applicable to the health care/hospital working environment and designs comprehensive compliance plans, assigning responsibilities for safety protocol development, where necessary, to the appropriate department, group and/or individual
  • Serve as chair of Delivery Network Employee Health and Safety Committee. Provides weekly, monthly, quarterly and annual employee injury/illness reports as required by Worker's compensation Commission, State of CT and as requested and/or required by the TJC, and other regulatory agencies and departments
  • Supports the activities of the Delivery Network Employee Health and Safety Committee through collaborative quality improvement, team participation, and assistance in research, data collection, analysis and reporting.
  • Oversees and ensures compliance with OSHA regulations, TJC standards, CDC Guidelines and other federal and state rules and regulations. Participates and provides requested information for annual Workers' Compensation State of CT (WCC) managed care plan and Safety Committee. Responds to all OSHA investigation in collaboration with manager.
  • Represents the Delivery Network Employee Health and Safety Committee and/or Occupational Health Services, as necessary, in all matters pertaining to hospital-wide occupational health and safety initiatives. Creates handout material and/or interactive exercises and conducts appropriate training.
  • Has authority to assess, identify, implement, evaluate and monitor surveillance, prevention, risks, hazards and hazard control measures, and compliance programs and activities hospital wide.
  • In consultation with the campus Safety Officer, Coordinator Facilities Safety, FD&C and/or HEIC, can stop work in progress if it
• Works collaboratively on matters of required employee safety education and policy development.
  • Collaborates with IFE, Center for Professional Practice Excellence (CPPE) and Infection Prevention on content of new employee orientation,annual mandatory occupational safety and health and infection control training updates.
  • Participates as a lecturer on occupational health and safety during new employee orientation and train-the-trainer programs.
  • Continues to provide new training material and protocols as federal, TJC, and state regulations, guidelines and standards and hospital protocols, policies and requirements change.
  • Collaborates on the work within the on line YNHHS Health and Safety Manual by writing , reviewing, and revising policies in collaboration with policy content experts, uploads policies, creates approval templates, and activates approval process in the policy manager application.
  • Assists with the on line SDS management and chemical inventory, SDS catalog, application, data scans, and uploads of SDS. Creates and print labels for inventory as needed.
  • Conducts ongoing review of all YNHHS/Delivery Network job descriptions to determine health and safety training requirements and computer-based training category for each based on position, department, job duties and level of risk.
• Surveys compliance in practice including, but not limited to, bloodborne pathogens, airborne pathogens, respirator use, health and safety training, use of appropriate personal protective equipment, and exposure monitoring
  • As requested, assists with regularly scheduled hazard surveillance inspections throughout all clinical, public/common, mechanical, support, and office/business spaces as evidenced by written inspection reports using federal/OSHA regulations, TJC standards, state, local fire and building codes, CDC and Infection Control guidelines, and recommended safe work practices including but not limited to ergonmics.
  • Participates in/with trials, vendor demonstrations, and implementation of safety sharp devices (safer medical devices).
  • Collaborates and assists with the design, application and execution of applied research to identify, maintain, and evaluate health and safety practices and strategies to improve workplace safety.
  • Provides accurate and timely employee injury/illness information to the Bureau of Labor Statistics/OSHA for the annual Survey of Occupational Injuries and Illness Certifies OSHA log and provides data entry training to others in the Health System who are responsible for the OSHA log.
  • Assists with and/or coordinates activities associated with OSHA Compliance Officers and OSHA investigations with other departments as needed or required. Provides written follow up after department tours, employee interviews, and review of documentation associated with investigation.
• Conducts employee safety activities to identify and mitigate the risk for employee injury, including but not limited to, ergonomic evaluation (assessment of employee work stations and work task analysis), provides training to employees on patient and material handling, conducts accident investigations on employee injuries, maintains the required OSHA injury data, provides safety presentations as required, and provides injury data analysis, injury report development and corrective action planning to reduce the risk of injuries to our employees
  • Working with the guidelines provided by HPI, perform incident classification on injuries within home delivery network. Continuously review and update classifications.
  • Conduct Root Cause Analysis (RCA) or Apparent Cause Analysis (ACA) investigations when appropiate
  • Work collaboratively with departments and managers on action plans
  • Follow through on action planning and dissemination of progress to staff.
  • Utilize standard protocols for documentation of events action plans to provide accurate reporting of work.

EDUCATION

Bachelors degree in a related field required. Master of Science degree in occupational safety and health management or industrial hygiene preferred.

EXPERIENCE

Five years in occupational health and/or health and safety required. Performance management training preferred. Experience with OSHA compliance required. Demonstrated participation TJC compliance training. Demonstrated experience in implementing hospital -wide training and/or compliance programs.

LICENSURE

Professional safety certification (e.g. Certified Safety Professional, Industrial Hygienist, etc.) strongly preferred. Certification in ergonomic evaluation is preferred.

SPECIAL SKILLS

Demonstrated excellent interpersonal, organizational, and customer service skills. Must be self-motivating and have the ability to exercise independent judgement in the development of plans and protocols to be submitted for approval and day-to-day work routine. Must have excellent verbal and written communication skills. Must have demonstrated knowledge of OSHA regulations and DPH and TJC standards. Must be familiar with the following applications: Word, Excel, PowerPoint, and appropriate HTML database and report writer software; and SYSTOC and Epic programs. Must be able to plan, coordinate, implement and evaluate multiple facets of occupational health and safety. Must have a willingness to learn and apply knowledge. Must be able to conduct training sessions to large groups of employees.

PHYSICAL DEMAND

Valid Connecticut driver's license as off-site evaluations are required. Position duties and responsibilities may require prolonged standing and walking; use of sight, hearing and touch; and the moving /lifting (or assisting with) employees and supplies/equipment of varying weights in the course of clinical duties or work evaluations. Must be able to lift and push/pull minimum of 30 lbs.