Senior Health Safety Environment Advisor

JOB TITLE: Senior HSE ADVISOR

LOCATION: LEBANON, IN

DURATION: 12 MONTHS CONTRACT

POSITION SUMMARY

The HSE Advisor (Design & Start-Up ) is a senior, subject-matter expert engaged to support through the overlapping design-finalization, construction, commissioning, qualification (C&Q), and early production start-up phases — including periods where construction, commissioning, and initial operations are proceeding simultaneously.

The advisor functions as a technical sounding board for HSE leadership and their direct reports — available to be pulled in for design reviews, risk assessments, PSSR preparation, planning, and ad hoc problem-solving as the project's needs surface.

The value of the role is experience: someone who has been through multiple pharmaceutical or chemical capital-project start-ups before, can quickly orient to the specific risks, ask the right questions, stress-test the site team's plans, and flag gaps the internal team — closer to the day-to-day — may not see.

KEY RESPONSIBILITIES

1. Simultaneous Operations (SIMOps) & Start-Up Risk

• Act as an experienced second set of eyes on the site's plans for managing concurrent construction, commissioning, and early production activity — a period of elevated risk that most of the internal team is encountering for the first time at this site.
• Review and pressure-test SIMOps risk assessments, interface controls between construction and operating crews, and area-turnover sequencing.
• Advise on maintaining continuity of life-safety systems and egress as occupancy transitions from construction to operations.

2. Design & Pre-Startup Safety Review Support

• Serve as a sounding board on residual HSE-by-design questions carried over from earlier project phases, and on design changes surfacing during construction and commissioning.
• Support PSSR preparation and execution — reviewing readiness packages, participating in walkdowns, and helping the site team anticipate what a PSSR will surface before it does.
• Advise on closure and documentation of declarations of conformity for systems reaching mechanical completion.

3. Construction & Commissioning Oversight

• Provide advisory input on contractor safety plans and high-risk work permitting (hot work, confined space, excavation, LOTO) setting expectations and spot-checking, not performing direct field oversight.
• Review significant construction-related incident investigations on request and help ensure corrective actions are well-scoped.

4. Process Safety & Risk Assessment

• Participate in our peer-review PHR’s assessments as-needed for systems moving through commissioning.
• Help the site team identify hazards specific to first-of-kind equipment or processes and recommend practical controls.

5. Management of Change (MOC) Advisory

• Serve as an experienced reviewer for higher-complexity or higher-risk MOCs, offering an outside perspective on classification and completeness.
• Help the site build durable MOC governance habits that will outlast the advisory engagement.

6 . Interface with Start-Up, C&Q, and Site HSE Teams

• Provide advisory input on SIS/DCS lifecycle questions arising during commissioning and start-up, partnering with Process Control on an as-needed basis.
• Mentor the site's environmental and HSE team on start-up-phase risk judgment, drawing on experience from prior site start-ups elsewhere in the network or industry.
• Leave the site better equipped to handle its next start-up without this level of outside support.

KEY DELIVERABLES

• SIMOps risk review notes and recommended interface controls
• PHR’s peer-review comments for systems in commissioning
• MOC review notes for higher-complexity or higher-risk changes
• Periodic advisory summaries to HSE leadership flagging emerging start-up risks

REQUIRED QUALIFICATIONS

• Bachelor’s degree in chemical engineering, Environmental Engineering, Mechanical Engineering, or a related discipline, or equivalent regulated-industry experience.
• 12+ years of experience in HSE, process safety, or engineering roles supporting capital projects in a manufacturing or industrial environment.
• Direct, hands-on experience through at least one — ideally multiple — pharmaceutical or chemical capital-project start-ups, from construction through steady-state operations.

Demonstrated experience with:

• SIMOps risk management during concurrent construction/commissioning/operations periods
• Leading or heavily participating in PSSRs
• PHR’s facilitation or participation
• Management of Change (MOC) programs in a regulated manufacturing environment
• Comfortable operating independently and intermittently — able to walk into a live project, get oriented quickly, and add value without the ramp-up time typical of a full-time hire.

PREFERRED QUALIFICATIONS

• Certified Functional Safety Expert (CFSE)
• Professional Engineer (PE) license
• Construction Health and Safety Technician (CHST)
• Prior experience advising (rather than directly executing) on a capital project, e.g., as a consultant, retained expert, or peer reviewer.
• Experience with Safety Instrumented Systems (SIS) and DCS lifecycle management.
• Familiarity with Veeva QMS or similar quality/compliance documentation systems.