Logging Safety and Health Compliance Investigator - WA Department of Labor & Industries (Job)
Description:
Some of what you’ll do:
- Conduct safety and health investigations and inspections primarily in the logging industry on tower and mechanized sites, but can include other locations where logging or tree cutting work is done.
- Evaluate all hazards typically found in the logging industry, often related to heavy equipment and machinery, machine guarding, struck-by objects, guylines, tower yarders, cables, chainsaws, terrain, etc.
- Enter physical worksites unannounced to conduct compliance investigations of workplaces to determine the type and extent of suspected environmental and occupational safety hazards.
- Evaluate trench or excavation hazards for appropriate cave-in protective systems, to include soil classification testing, machine hazards and ensures specific guarding requirements are met, and all hazards to include ladders and scaffolding.
- Determine employer compliance or non-compliance with WISHA Safety and Health Standards and write reports documenting employee exposure along with proposed citations and monetary penalties as appropriate.
- Organize, write, and edit comprehensive technical inspection and investigation reports which are the basis for safety and health compliance actions.
- Ensure abatement of hazards identified during inspection.
- Work with the Attorney General’s office and local prosecutors on highly complex and difficult cases.
- Testify on behalf of the Department as primary witness for all inspections conducted, and testify as witness to any other inspections participated in.
- Perform evidence handling of highly complex cases.
Skills/Eligibility:
What we are looking for:
- A solid desire to ensure worker safety with a thorough understanding of safety and health rules and regulations and ability to identify safety related hazards in a variety of workplaces.
- Strong written, verbal, and interpersonal communications skills with ability to write comprehensive and concise reports detailing identified hazards.
- Willing and able to work with hostile clients or customers (both internal and external).
- Knowledge of Safety and Health Rules and Regulations, the Washington Industrial Safety and Health Act (WISHA) and the federal government’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA). The ability to explain to customers what their businesses must do to comply with these regulations.
- Enforcing of governmental laws, rules and regulations, and initiates enforcement actions in such a way that the public perceives as fair, objective, and reasonable.
- Perform duties safely by modeling the behavior we expect to see.
Qualifications
REQUIRED:
- A valid and unrestricted driver license
And ONE of the following:
- Five years experience as a DOSH Compliance Industrial Safety and Health Investigator (CISHI) or equivalent experience as a Federal OSHA or other state plan journey-level safety and health specialist with at least two years of that experience in the logging industry.
OR
- Five years of full-time professional experience as an employer’s safety director, safety manager, safety officer, operations manager or foreman/supervisor in the logging industry.
OR
- Seven or more years of experience working in the logging industry.
DESIRED:
- Bilingual preferred; persons of all languages are encouraged to apply. Bilingual jobs include a 5% salary increase for dual language responsibilities.