Director of Safety, BME Family of Companies

Director of Safety

Safety Leadership across BME, Bertke, and Survoy's

Department: Safety

Reports To: President, BME Family of Companies

Operating Companies: BME Mechanical Electrical, Inc.; Bertke Electrical Services Testing; Survoy's Superior Service

Travel: Regular travel to job sites across OH, KY, IN, and TN

ROLE OVERVIEW

The Director of Safety leads a proactive safety program across BME, Bertke, and Survoy's, built on a simple belief: safety is created before work begins, not measured after something goes wrong. The role combines proven safety programs, advanced technology, and well-maintained equipment with a strong Environmental, Health, and Safety (EHS) framework, human performance principles, and behavior-based safety. This proactive, data-driven approach reduces risk, protects our people, and delivers consistent, high-quality results for our customers.

Today, safety at our operating companies is too often an afterthought and too often reactive. This leader's mandate is to change that. The Director will make safety a core operating value owned by field leadership, put the best tools, PPE, and equipment in our crews' hands, and build the observation, feedback, training, and learning systems that reinforce safe behavior and keep every employee returning home safely. The role serves as the safety authority for Bertke while aligning and elevating safety across all three companies, reporting directly to the President of the BME Family of Companies.

WHAT WE BELIEVE ABOUT SAFETY

Proactive over reactive. We design hazards out of the work and verify controls before a crew starts. We do not wait for an incident to act.

Human performance, not blame. Error is normal; our job is to build the systems, tools, and conditions that make the safe way the easy way, and to learn openly when things go wrong.

Behavior drives outcomes. We observe how work is actually done, give immediate feedback, and reinforce safe behavior with data, not just rules.

Owned by the field. Safety belongs to field leadership and every crew member, not to a binder or a single department.

Top of mind, not fear-based. People should engage with safety because they believe in it, not because they fear consequences.

Best-equipped in the trade. Helmets, tools, clothing, and equipment are part of human performance, and we invest in giving people the best.

We learn and improve. Lessons learned are shared across crews and companies, and we measure progress with leading indicators, not just injury counts.

KEY RESPONSIBILITIES

Lead a Culture Change

Reset the safety culture from reactive and compliance-driven to proactive, human-performance-based, and field-owned.

Establish safety as a core operating value owned by field leadership, not the safety department alone.

Serve as a visible, credible safety leader through regular, hands-on job-site presence and engagement with crews.

Coach supervisors and service managers to lead safety conversations, recognize good catches, and hold the line with respect.

Proactive Hazard Mitigation Human Performance

Build a proactive program centered on identifying and controlling high-energy and life-critical hazards before work begins (serious injury and fatality prevention).

Implement human and organizational performance (HOP) principles and error-reduction tools such as pre-job briefs, job hazard analysis, take-2 and take-5 checks, and verified critical controls.

Champion energy-based hazard recognition and ensure crews can identify, isolate, and control hazardous energy on every job.

Own the equipment-for-safety agenda: evaluate and upgrade PPE, tools, and clothing so crews are the best-equipped in the trade.

Empower and reinforce stop-work authority for every employee. Anyone can stop a job, no questions asked.

Behavior-Based Safety

Implement a data-driven behavior-based safety (BBS) program that focuses on workers' actions and their consequences, targeting at-risk behaviors and reinforcing safe ones.

Establish systematic, routine observation of employees performing tasks to identify both safe and at-risk behaviors.

Identify and prioritize the critical behaviors with the highest potential to cause an accident or injury.

Provide immediate, constructive feedback and recognition to encourage safe behavior and correct unsafe acts.

Engage employees at all levels in the program to build ownership and accountability for safety.

Use observation data to continuously refine interventions, training, and processes over time.

Field Engagement, Inspections Stand-Downs

Run routine job-site safety inspections and audits across all Bertke locations, and establish a cadence and oversight model for BME and Survoy's site visits.

Lead safety stand-downs and stop-work events to reset focus after a near-miss, a trend, or a high-risk phase of work.

Implement daily and weekly job briefings (tailboard talks) and toolbox talks across all operating companies.

Partner with operations leaders so field leadership …