OH&S Specialist (Strategy & Systems)

Requisition ID: 45804

Organization

Vancouver is consistently ranked as one of the world’s most liveable and environmentally sustainable cities. Recognized among BC’s Top Employers and Canada’s Greenest Employers, the City of Vancouver is seeking colleagues who can help advance our core commitments to exceptional public service, sustainability, equity, and an outstanding quality of life for all residents.

With a strong commitment to being a City of Reconciliation, we invite you to join our dedicated team and become part of an innovative, inclusive, and engaging workplace. A career with the City of Vancouver and within the broader public service, offers meaningful work where you play a key role in ensuring equitable access to services, upholding ethical governance, and supporting the needs of citizens with integrity and dedication.

Main Purpose and Function

The Occupational Health and Safety Specialist is a safety professional who provides advice, support and analysis to the organization and helps business units establish risk controls and management processes that promote sustainable business practice. They work to reduce and eliminate fatalities, injuries (physical and psychological), occupational illnesses, and property damage.

In partnership with assigned business units, or working within a specific area of program expertise, the position is responsible for ensuring that staff are engaged in their OHS statutory and corporate obligations so that a culture of continuous improvement grows and at minimum, compliance at all levels of the organization are maintained. They lead in implementation and coordination of safety measures and review, promote continuous improvement and improve safety culture.

Deliverables include:

• providing advice, direction or recommendations on Regulatory or City Program compliance and improvements to directors, managers and supervisors
• writing, maintaining and implementing the safety management system and its associated programs
• ensuring enterprise-wide integration, consistency, and continuous improvement of corporate safety programs, standards, and management system processes.
• delivering strategic safety initiatives and projects that strengthen organizational capability and improve safety performance.
• providing corporate tools, guidance, and resources that enable departments to effectively implement the City's Occupational Health & Safety Management System.
• evaluating organizational safety performance and recommending evidence-based improvements to systems, programs, and governance.
• supporting the development, integration, and optimization of OH&S technology solutions, including incident management, corrective action tracking, risk management, audit and assurance tools, and safety performance reporting systems.

Key Contacts and Reporting Relationships

The position reports to a Safety Manager within Workplace Safety. This position requires interaction with a diverse group of people including, but not limited to, employees, managers, directors, supervisors, unions, WorkSafeBC, BC Municipal Safety Association, vendors and other internal or external stakeholders.

Specific Duties and Responsibilities

• Leads the implementation, integration, governance, and continuous improvement of the corporate Occupational Health & Safety (OH&S) management system across diverse operational environments, ensuring alignment with regulatory requirements and industry best practices, and recognized management system frameworks such as ISO 45001.
• Establishes and maintains system frameworks, standards, and processes to ensure consistency, scalability, and effectiveness of the OH&S management system across the organization.
• Designs, implements, integrates, and continuously improves health and safety management systems, programs, and processes across multiple operational areas
• Leads the development, implementation, and continuous improvement of corporate OH&S programs and frameworks, including contractor safety management, risk management, incident management, corrective action management, training and competency management, audit and assurance, and other enterprise safety initiatives.
• Develops corporate safety standards, procedures, tools, templates, and guidance materials to support consistent implementation of OH&S requirements across business units.
• Supports the integration of OH&S management system requirements across departments by working collaboratively with operational leaders to ensure effective implementation, alignment, and sustainability of safety programs and processes.
• Provides technical expertise and recommendations on OH&S legislation, regulatory requirements, industry standards, and management system practices to support informed decision-making by Directors, Managers, Supervisors, and project teams.
• Conducts and facilitates risk assessments, management system reviews, audits, inspections, and gap analyses to evaluate system effectiveness, identify improvement opportunities, and support risk-based decision-making.
• Develops audit, assessment, and assurance methodologies, tools, and processes to evaluate the effectiveness and maturity of corporate OH&S systems and programs.
• Leads or supports complex, high-risk, or multi-business unit incident reviews and investigations to identify systemic issues, organizational learning opportunities, and corrective actions.
• Supports the development, implementation, and monitoring of corrective action plans arising from audits, assessments, investigations, and program reviews to improve system effectiveness.
• Monitors and evaluates OH&S performance through data analysis, trends, key performance indicators, and reporting mechanisms to identify opportunities for improvement and support continuous improvement initiatives.
• Develops reports, dashboards, presentations, and briefing materials to communicate safety performance, risks, trends, and recommendations to stakeholders.
• Leads assigned OH&S projects and improvement initiatives, including project planning, stakeholder engagement, implementation support, and evaluation.
• Facilitates collaboration among departments, safety committees, and stakeholders to support consistent application and continual improvement of the OH&S Management System.
• Provides technical guidance and subject matter expertise to Joint Occupational Health and Safety Committees and supports effective consultation and participation processes.
• Collaborates with operational teams to identify opportunities for new or revised safety standards, processes, and procedures while ensuring alignment with corporate requirements and legislative obligations.
• Coordinates and manages external safety consultants, contractors, or specialized resources supporting corporate OH&S initiatives, as required.
• Supports the design, maintenance, and continuous improvement of OH&S technology-enabled processes and platforms, including incident management, corrective action tracking, risk assessment, audit management, training and competency tracking, and safety performance reporting systems.
• Maintains current knowledge of emerging OH&S trends, technologies, regulatory changes, and industry practices to support ongoing improvement of corporate safety systems and programs.
• Performs other related duties and responsibilities as assigned.

Qualifications

Education and Experience:

• A University degree in Occupational Health and Safety (OHS) with five or more years of experience leading safety programs safety management system development, and operations team in OHS environment; or an equivalent combination of education, training, and experience.
• Experience working in the public sector operations or a unionized environment.
• Possession of or working towards a professional certification in Occupational Health and Safety or Occupational Hygiene such as CRSP, CRST, ROH or ROHT. Equivalent certifications shall be considered.

Knowledge, Skills and Abilities:

• Demonstrated knowledge and experience applying occupational health and safety management system principles, including frameworks such as ISO 45001, to support the development, implementation, and continuous improvement of organizational safety systems.
• Considerable regulatory knowledge and demonstrated practical application of occupational health and safety policies, programs and processes in a unionized operations environment.
• Stay current with emerging trends, technologies, regulatory changes and industry standards in the field of occupational health and safety, and proactively adapt strategies accordingly.
• Demonstrated abilities of coaching, mentoring and performance management practices.
• Excellent interpersonal and communication skills including technical writing, facilitating meetings, giving presentations and the ability to influence and promote teamwork and build relationships with a broad range of stakeholders.
• Strong management and facilitation skills to plan and manage the health and safety programs and manage safety investigations.
• Strong computer skills in Microsoft Office applications such as Outlook, Word, Excel and PowerPoint,
• Safety Data Management Systems, SAP, SharePoint, Power Automate and Power BI is considered an asset is considered an asset.
• Ability to manage change and assist people with adapting to change at all levels of the Organization.
• Ability to compile, draft and maintain correspondence, spreadsheets, reports, presentations and minutes.
• Ability to work well under pressure, handle multiple tasks and changing priorities with tight time frames.
• Ability to work collaboratively within a team environment.
• An aptitude to provide an outstanding experience for clients.
• Proven decision making and problem solving skills.
• Ability to perform functions of the position with minimal supervision.
• Strong multi-tasking, time-management, negotiation and communication (verbal and written) skills.
• Strong diplomacy skills with an ability to be flexible and also give and take direction well.
• Excellent documentation and time management skills.
• Strong computer literacy skills.
• Local area travel is a requirement.
• May be assigned to and /or rotated through various City operations and locations.
• May be required to work outside of regular business hours.
• Valid driver’s license (recognized in BC).

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Business Unit/Department: Chief Safety Officer (1090)

Affiliation: Exempt

Employment Type: Regular Full Time

Position Start Date: September 2026

Salary Information: Pay Grade RNG-080: $102,960 to $128,691 per annum

Application Close: August 16, 2026

At the City of Vancouver, we are committed to recruiting a diverse workforce that represents the community we so proudly serve. Indigenous peoples, people of colour, 2SLGBTQ+ persons including all genders and persons with disabilities are encouraged to apply. Accommodations will be provided upon request during the selection process. Learn more about our commitment to diversity and inclusion.

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In addition to uploading your cover letter and resume, part of the application process may include answering application questions related to the preferred requirements of the role which may take approx. 5-10 minutes. Cover letters should express interest and highlight additional information relevant to the position and resumes should include a summary of skills and experience related to the position.