Corporate Safety Director, Steel Erection & Fabrication

Evolution Safety Resources (ESR) is a national Workplace Safety Consulting and Staffing firm headquartered in Raleigh, NC. We partner with construction clients to deliver high-performing safety professionals who protect people, projects, and profitability.

We’re seeking a Corporate Safety Director specializing in Steel Erection and Fabrication for a full-time, permanent position. The role will cover a large geographic footprint to visit active projects across the United States, and will require frequent visits to the Charlotte, NC market. Join us to foster a culture of safety, trust, and practical solutions.

 

Key Responsibilities:

• FIELD & OPERATIONAL LEADERSHIP
  • Field Site Visits & Erection Oversight: Conduct scheduled and unannounced site visits to active steel erection projects (OSHA 29 CPR 1926) observing steel erection activity (subpart R), fall protection compliance, rigging and crane operations, connection work at height, and overall jobsite safety culture — documenting findings and driving corrective action.
  • Steel Erector Prequalification, Development, & Management: Lead the prequalification process for all steel erector subcontractors, evaluating their safety programs, EMR history, OSHA recordable rates, and field leadership competency to ensure only best-in-class partners are engaged on projects. Use a constructive approach that drives behavioral change, reinforces accountability, and builds long-term safety culture across the subcontractor network.
  • National Project Presence & Multi-Employer Relationship Management: Travel to high-profile national assignments to establish and maintain safety alignment across all tiers of the project hierarchy — owner, general contractor, steel fabricator, and steel erector — building the cross-organizational trust and collaborative relationships necessary to drive consistent safety performance on complex, high-visibility projects. Serve as a trusted advisor who reinforces confidence in the company's commitment to client satisfaction and zero-harm.
  • Incident Response & Investigation Leadership: Serve as the company's first responder lead for serious incidents and near-misses, managing on-site response, root cause analysis, and stakeholder communication with composure and professionalism while preserving the integrity of the investigation.
  • Travel & Field Engagement Expectations: Operate primarily from a corporate office setting while maintaining an active field presence through regular site visits, facility audits, and national project travel — with an anticipated schedule of approximately 75% office-based work, 25% field engagement, and roughly 15% overnight or extended travel to support high-priority assignments across the company's national project portfolio.
• COMPLIANCE, RISK, & PROGRAM MANAGEMENT
  • Data-Driven Risk Identification & Executive Safety Reporting: Analyze incident and inspection data to identify emerging hazard trends, assess corporate risk exposure, and develop proactive safety programs and initiatives designed to reduce frequency and severity of loss — presenting findings, trend analyses, and program recommendations directly to the CEO, COO, and senior leadership team in a clear, actionable format.
  • Multi-Facility Fabrication Safety Program Coordination: Ensure regular compliance audits of steel fabrication plants and facilities, assessing adherence to OSHA 29 CFR 1910 (General Industry) standards covering machine guarding, material handling, hazard communication, PPE, and fire safety — delivering detailed audit reports with prioritized corrective action plans.
  • Regional Safety Team Leadership & Performance Oversight Directly manage and develop a team of regional safety professionals, setting clear expectations for steel-specific safety standards, site coverage, subcontractor engagement, and incident responsiveness — ensuring that the company's safety culture and performance requirements are applied consistently across all regions, sites, and operational contexts.
• CLIENT, INDUSTRY, & EXECUTIVE RELATIONS
  • Steel Erection & Fabrication Subject Matter Expertise: Serve as the company's primary technical authority on steel erection and fabrication safety — fielding complex questions, resolving trade conflicts, and providing authoritative guidance to general contractors, other trades, and project ownership on multi-employer worksites where competing priorities and jurisdictional gray areas demand a credible, decisive, and knowledgeable voice.
  • Industry Representation & External Safety Leadership: Represent the organization as a safety thought leader in the broader industry — engaging with community stakeholders, participating in industry safety associations and working groups, and serving as a credible, professional face of the company's safety culture to prospective clients and external partners.

 

 

Required Skills & Attributes: If you read this list and found yourself nodding — not because you checked every box perfectly, but because these traits reflect who you genuinely are — we encourage you to apply.

· Adaptability & Relationship Intelligence: Serve as a polished, confident representative of the company's safety culture in all settings, including preconstruction meetings, active erection sites, fabrication plant floors, incident briefings, client offices, and boardrooms. Adapt communication style and approach to the audience while maintaining technical credibility, and demonstrate the ability to deliver unwelcome information without compromising the integrity of the client relationship

· Tact Without Timidity: Deliver difficult audit findings, enforce non-negotiable safety standards, and hold subcontractors and internal stakeholders accountable through direct, professional communication that preserves relationships without compromising authority. Navigate the balance between diplomacy and decisiveness with consistency, understanding that both the substance and delivery of critical messaging carry equal weight.

· Reliability & Follow-Through: Consistently honor commitments to site visit schedules, corrective action deadlines, client deliverables, and internal reporting timelines without the need for follow-up or oversight. Establish a reputation among clients, subcontractors, and internal leadership as a professional whose word is a guarantee — building long-term credibility through demonstrated reliability over time.

· Composure in Crisis: Lead the company's on-the-ground response to serious incidents, near-misses, and regulatory actions with steadiness, professionalism, and clear-headed decision-making under pressure. Manage concurrent demands — active scene coordination, stakeholder communication, documentation, and client notification — without allowing urgency to compromise accuracy, fairness, or the integrity of the investigative process.

 

 

Qualifications:

• OSHA 500 credentials (required)
• CHST credential (required)
• 5-10 years of construction experience (required)
• 5 years of safety specific experience (required)
• Ability to travel up to 15% to support client sites.
• Ability to read and interpret documents such as safety rules, crane plans, OSHA logs, and site specific safety plans.
• Ability to read and interpret data, such as incident rates, DART rates, and proprietary internal systems.
• Ability to write routine reports and correspondence.