Posting #25.064 – Health and Safety Officer

Health and Safety Officer (MM4)

Human Resource Services

Applications from employees of the Waterloo Region District School Board (WRDSB) as well as external applicants will be considered.

Waterloo Region District School Board (WRDSB) serves approximately 65,000 students in 123 schools, as well as alternative and continuing education sites. WRDSB is committed to creating learning environments that support the achievement and well-being of all students through partnering with staff, parents, families, caregivers and communities to promote success in learning and life. Additional information regarding the Board is available on the Board's website at 

As a part of the Human Resource Services department, the Health and Safety Officer is part of the Health, Safety and Security team. Reporting to the Manager of Health, Safety & Security directly, the successful candidate will be responsible for maintaining, developing and updating health and safety programs, procedures and best practices, responding to and investigating accidents/incidents/emergencies and acting as a health and safety resource/liaison for the Board.

The successful applicant for this Mid-Management Level 4 position (salary range of $99,987-$116,390) will be working 35 hours per week, 12 months per year, effective as soon as possible.

Responsibilities:

• Working as a part of the Health, Safety and Security team, the successful candidate's focus will be on 
  Health and Safety
   with a goal to continue to grow and promote a culture of health and safety at WRDSB;
• Developing and maintaining Board procedures, programs and best management practices necessary for compliance with the Ontario Occupational Health and Safety Act, associated regulations and other legislation applicable to the education sector;
• Responding to, investigating and providing corrective and prevention recommendations for health and safety concerns and workplace accident/incidents, as well as completing summary and trend reports on a regular basis;
• Responsible for supporting sites during work refusals, MLITSD visits (stage 2 work refusals, complaints and inspections), implementing and supporting the Board's workplace violence prevention programs, supporting site workplace inspection teams, supporting the Board's Joint Health and Safety Committee, and other special projects as needed;
• Developing and delivering health and safety training (both in person and online) for various WRDSB employee groups as well as being a leader in managing health and safety training (including records) using the Board's D2L program;
• Liaison and resource to Administrators, the Joint Health and Safety Committee and WRDSB employees;
• Identifying unsafe work conditions, practices and processes and developing cost-effective, response measures to remediate the issues;
• Assist with response to emergencies and emergency preparedness, including on-call responsibilities; and
• Perform other duties as assigned.

Qualifications:

• Successful completion of a post-secondary degree/diploma in Health and Safety or related discipline
• Has obtained or is eligible to obtain CRSP (Certified Registered Safety Professional) designation
• A minimum of five (5) years of experience related to Health and Safety
• Direct applied knowledge and extensive working experience applying the Ontario Occupational Health and Safety Act (OHSA) and its associated regulations, applicable codes and standards specifically those that apply to the educational sector
• Experience directly working/interacting with the Ontario Ministry of Labour, Immigration, Training and Skills Development (MLITSD)
• A strong background and demonstrated success in health, safety and due diligence is required
• Demonstrates ability to work in a fast paced, changing environment with multiple priorities, incident reports, and projects
• Demonstrates a high level of independence and initiative in order to resolve health and safety matters in an efficient and effective manner
• Demonstrates a high degree of communication, interpersonal, public relations and leadership skills
• Demonstrates an ability to work independently as well as a team
• Demonstrates strong skills in creating and delivering concise and informative training programs. The candidate is very comfortable in delivering training to groups of individuals.
• Experience developing online health & safety training modules and working within a learning management system to pull training records
• Experience developing thorough health and safety programs and can exhibit strong project management skills
• Demonstrates strong organizational skills
• Demonstrates strong interpersonal and problem solving skills with an ability to successfully engage in conflict resolution best practices to resolve employee/union concerns while remaining calm, focused, and solution-oriented.
• Provision of own vehicle for Board business and the requirement to travel to WRDSB sites.

Highly Preferred:

• Experience working in the educational sector or the broader public sector
• Experience working in a unionized environment with multiple unions in a variety of disciplines.
• Experience in emergency preparedness is an asset
• Direct experience and comfort working with front line supervision up to senior management officials to address, investigate, influence, and respond to health and safety matters

Candidates are asked to electronically submit a copy of their covering letter and resume, quoting posting #25.064 – Health and Safety Officer, no later than 4:00 p.m. on Friday, November 14, 2025 to Laurie Pett, Human Resources Officer at 

The Waterloo Region District School Board is committed to equity in employment. We are committed to fair and equitable hiring practices that allow us to hire qualified staff who reflect the diversity of the community we serve, who will foster the success and well-being of our students and who demonstrate a commitment to equity and inclusion in the classroom.

We actively encourage application from members of groups with historical and/or current barriers to equity, including, but not limited to:

• First Nations, Metis and Inuit peoples, and all other Indigenous peoples;
• Members of groups that commonly experience discrimination due to race, ancestry, colour, religion and/or spiritual beliefs, or place of origin;
• Persons with visible and/or invisible (physical and/or mental) disabilities; and
• Persons of marginalized sexual orientations, gender identities, and gender expressions.

We will make any appropriate accommodation based on any of the human rights protected grounds, to support candidate participation in the hiring process.

Upon request, we will provide reasonable accommodations in the hiring process to support applicants with disabilities.

While we appreciate all applications, only those selected for an interview will be contacted.  No phone calls please.