What is the Opportunity?
Aecon is seeking an experienced EHS Director to lead Health, Safety, and Environmental performance on major transit and infrastructure projects delivered through collaborative contracting models such as Alliance and Progressive Design-Build. Reporting to the Project Director, this role is responsible for integrating EHS into every phase of project delivery - ensuring risks are proactively identified and managed, regulatory compliance is maintained, and a strong, transparent safety culture is embedded across design, construction, and commissioning.
The successful candidate will be a visible leader and trusted partner to project, client, and JV teams, driving best-in-class safety outcomes and enabling efficient, incident-free delivery in complex, multi-stakeholder environments.
This opportunity is part of Aecon UTS’ proactive talent pipelining as the business continues to expand across major transit projects. We are engaging passive, high-calibre leaders in the market to build relationships ahead of upcoming project awards.
What You’ll Do Here:
- Lead the Environment, Health, and Safety function for collaborative contracting models such as Alliance, Progressive Design-Build, CMGC, and other integrated delivery environments, ensuring EHS is embedded into project planning, design development, construction execution, commissioning, and handover.
- Provide project-level strategic leadership for EHS performance, ensuring the project operates with a clear, disciplined, and proactive approach to worker safety, environmental protection, regulatory compliance, and operational readiness.
- Establish, implement, and continuously improve the project’s EHS management framework in alignment with Aecon requirements, client obligations, regulatory standards, contractual commitments, and project-specific risks.
- Ensure EHS requirements are integrated into the project delivery model from the outset, including design reviews, work packaging, construction planning, temporary works, access strategies, commissioning activities, and operational interface planning.
- Partner closely with the Project Director, construction leadership, technical teams, project controls, commercial, and JV partners to ensure EHS is treated as a core project delivery function, not a standalone compliance activity.
- Work with Operations Leadership to confirm the right EHS organizational structure, field coverage, and specialist capability are in place to support the project’s scope, complexity, work fronts, schedule, and risk profile.
- Lead the development, implementation, and oversight of project-specific EHS plans, procedures, standards, training programs, safe work practices, emergency response plans, environmental management plans, and assurance processes.
- Ensure EHS considerations are embedded into collaborative planning and decision-making, including constructability reviews, phased design progression, possession planning, access coordination, logistics strategies, subcontractor onboarding, and readiness reviews.
- Provide leadership in hazard identification, risk assessment, critical risk management, and mitigation planning across all phases of the project, including design, procurement, construction, testing, commissioning, and handover.
- Drive a strong focus on serious injury and fatality prevention, high-risk activity controls, verification of critical controls, and field leadership routines that reinforce safe execution in complex, high-consequence environments.
- Oversee incident prevention, investigation, corrective action management, and lessons learned processes, ensuring issues are addressed thoroughly, actions are closed effectively, and learning is translated into project-wide improvement.
- Lead end-to-end investigations for significant incidents, high-potential events, and environmental occurrences, and communicate findings, root causes, and corrective strategies in a clear, executive-ready manner.
- Establish and monitor project EHS KPIs, dashboards, leading indicators, lagging indicators, trend analysis, and performance reviews to provide clear visibility into project risk exposure and operational performance.
- Use data, field observations, audits, inspections, and trend analysis to identify emerging issues early and drive practical corrective actions with project leadership, supervision, crews, subcontractors, and partners.
- Lead regulatory compliance efforts and oversee interactions with inspectors, authorities, client representatives, and other external stakeholders to ensure the project maintains strong compliance standing and a no-surprises approach.
- Represent the project and company in meetings with clients, regulators, joint venture partners, subcontractors, unions, and community stakeholders on EHS-related matters.
- Ensure environmental requirements are actively managed through the project lifecycle, including erosion and sediment control, waste management, contaminated materials, noise and vibration, water protection, permits, and environmental incident prevention.
- Support design and technical teams by ensuring safety in design, environmental constraints, constructability risks, operational hazards, and maintainability considerations are identified and addressed before they become field issues.
- Partner with construction and commercial teams to ensure EHS requirements are properly reflected in subcontractor scopes, procurement strategies, method statements, work packages, and change management processes.
- Support collaborative project governance by participating in integrated project reviews, JV committees, client meetings, readiness assessments, and performance reviews, ensuring EHS risks and priorities are clearly understood and acted upon.
- Lead emergency preparedness and response planning, ensuring the project has tested and effective systems in place for emergency response, crisis management, business continuity, and major incident escalation.
- Drive workforce engagement and a proactive safety culture through visible leadership, meaningful field presence, worker involvement, behavioural safety initiatives, and consistent reinforcement that safe delivery is fundamental to project success.
- Mentor, coach, and develop EHS professionals and project leaders, fostering accountability, technical growth, and a high-performance culture across both unionized and non-union environments.
- Support pursuits, bids, and early project development activities by contributing EHS strategy, risk assessments, execution planning, staffing models, and client-facing EHS commitments tailored to collaborative delivery models.
- Build trusted relationships with client EHS teams and JV partner organizations to align expectations, resolve issues early, and maintain consistency in standards, reporting, and field execution across the project.
- Champion inclusion, respect, and psychological safety across the project, ensuring all team members feel empowered to raise concerns, stop unsafe work, contribute ideas, and support continuous improvement.
- Travel as required to support project sites, client meetings, regulatory engagements, and cross-project EHS initiatives.
What You Bring to The Team:
- 15+ years of progressive EHS leadership experience on major infrastructure, transit, rail, heavy civil, or complex capital projects, with substantial experience in senior project-level EHS leadership roles.
- Demonstrated experience leading EHS programs on large, multi-stakeholder projects operating in collaborative contracting environments such as Alliance, Progressive Design-Build, CMGC, DB, or similar integrated delivery models.
- Strong understanding of how EHS must be embedded into project planning, design development, construction sequencing, commissioning, subcontractor management, and client governance in contractor-led delivery environments.
- Proven success building and leading high-performing EHS teams across major projects, including field safety, environmental management, investigations, compliance, training, and assurance functions.
- Significant experience working on major public infrastructure or transportation projects with complex interfaces, active operations, multiple contractors, regulatory oversight, and high public visibility.
- Strong working knowledge of Canadian occupational health and safety legislation, environmental regulations, rail and transit risk environments, and applicable project delivery standards and best practices.
- Experience leading critical risk management programs, serious injury and fatality prevention strategies, hazard assessments, control verification processes, and proactive risk reduction initiatives.
- Demonstrated ability to lead incident investigations, root cause analysis, corrective action planning, regulatory reporting, and executive-level communication following significant events or emerging trends.
- Experience developing and implementing project-specific EHS plans, emergency preparedness strategies, environmental management plans, training programs, field assurance processes, and performance dashboards.
- Strong capability in audit, inspection, and assurance program leadership, with the ability to identify systemic gaps, drive accountability, and improve project performance through structured follow-through.
- Experience partnering with construction, technical, operations, commercial, and project controls teams to ensure EHS risks and requirements are integrated into project execution, planning, and decision-making.
- Experience working with client EHS representatives, regulators, unions, subcontractors, and joint venture partners in environments where alignment, transparency, and credibility are essential to project success.
- Strong understanding of how subcontractor performance, work packaging, logistics, temporary works, schedule pressure, and field execution conditions influence project EHS outcomes.
- Experience supporting project pursuits and early works planning with EHS strategy, risk reviews, resourcing plans, execution planning, and client-facing presentations.
- Strong commercial awareness and ability to understand contractual obligations, client requirements, and the practical relationship between EHS performance, project risk, schedule integrity, and delivery outcomes.
- Exceptional leadership, influencing, and relationship-building skills, with the ability to engage effectively with executives, project leaders, client teams, regulators, and frontline personnel.
- Strong judgment, analytical capability, and decision-making skills, with the ability to translate EHS strategy into practical, field-ready project execution.
- Diploma or degree in Engineering, Environmental Science, Occupational Health and Safety, Business, Operations, Transportation, or a related discipline, or an equivalent combination of education and experience.
- CRSP, CHSC, NCSO, CSP, or equivalent professional certification considered a strong asset.
- Experience with HOP, SIF prevention, ISO-aligned management systems, and change management principles considered a strong asset.
- Strong proficiency in Microsoft Office and experience using reporting tools, dashboards, and project-level performance metrics.
- Ability to lead in fast-paced, high-pressure project environments while managing multiple priorities with discipline, urgency, and attention to detail.
- A visible commitment to safety, inclusion, ethics, accountability, and continuous improvement.
Reason for vacancy: Proactive/Evergreen
