Position Summary:

We are seeking a dynamic and passionate leader to champion health, safety, and injury prevention across Gordon Food Service (GFS) Canada. This is not a technical role, but a strategic and people-focused position dedicated to building a strong culture of safety, engagement, and care.
As the national lead for Environmental Health & Safety and Property Protection, this individual will develop and guide programs that protect our people and facilities while fostering a culture of safety excellence across 9 Canadian divisions and more than 5,000 employees. With 80% of our workforce in operations and transportation, this role is instrumental in connecting teams, inspiring best practices, and aligning divisional safety leaders toward a unified vision.
Working collaboratively across Canada, the successful candidate will provide strategic direction, support consistency in safety standards, and contribute to the ongoing growth and success of GFS through a focus on people, relationships, and culture.

The successful applicant must be within a commutable distance to one of our following distribution centres: Delta, Calgary, Montreal, Milton, or Ajax.

Essential Functions:

Subject Matter Expertise

• Provides counsel and advice to the Canadian Warehouse Leadership Team through detailed review, analysis and publications which fall within the areas of responsibility.

• Serves as an expert for regulatory information, GFS procedures, and best practices related to safety, environmental, security and Divisional & Operational H&S programs. 

• Responsible for ergonomic improvement and innovation roadmaps.

Policy and Reporting

• Reports current state of existing policy and compliance as well as future direction for Canadian locations within the areas of responsibility.

• Develops, designs and maintains policy libraries within the area of responsibility and coordinates updates with the CDN Warehouse and Transportation senior leadership teams.

• Collaborates with the various auditing functions to ensure that standards within the areas of responsibility are accurate and consistent across functional areas, i.e., IA, DC99, FM Global, QA.

Rapid Response

• Responds quickly to regulatory news, incidents (internal or external) and citations to advise the Canadian Warehouse and Transportation senior leadership with recommendations specific to DC’s as well as network wide.

Management

• Responsible for timely reporting and communication with local, Provincial and Federal agencies within the areas of responsibilities.

• Responsible for  the property protection roadmap for all divisional locations that is aligned with the goal of FM compliance.

• Works with the relevant stakeholders to address property standards as well as new construction standards

• Maintains capital and expense needs in order to prioritize and assist the business units with planning.

Areas of responsibility:

• PSM, RMP, PHA, OSHA, EPA and underground storage tanks, Fire Protection, Safety policy, Physical security standard, Safety Training curriculum.

Performs other duties as assigned.

Knowledge / Skills / Abilities:

• Must have excellent interpersonal and collaboration skills with comprehensive communication skills.  

• Skills in problem solving, critical thinking, organizational, administration, planning and execution.  

• Knowledge of federal and state regulatory agencies including OSHA, EPA, NFPA, FM DATA SHEETS, NEC

• Must understand accident and injury investigation techniques and procedures.

• Able to analyze and approve solutions to complex problems that require the regular use of ingenuity and innovation.  Ensures solutions are consistent with organization objectives.

• Maintains knowledge of current trends and developments in the field

• Knowledge and understanding of engineering practices in fire protection and design

• Ability to understand and read CAD drawings

Minimum Requirements:

• At least 10  years experience in Corporate Safety and Environmental management, five plus years previous experience in insurance, property protection and Fire Protection engineering standards experience, 10 years previous management experience in a safety-related field working in an organization of size and complexity comparable to GFS’ or an equivalent combination of education, training, and experience.

• Bachelor of Science degree in Occupational Safety and Health Management preferred

• Process Safety Management, Underground Storage Tank class A,B,C, Storm Water Operator, OSHA 40 hour, OSHA train the trainer, Personal Industrial Vehicle Train the Trainer, NFPA and Certified Safety Professional preferred.