Occupational Health, Wellness, and Safety Manager

Position Purpose:

Responsible for developing and implementing Grinnell Mutual’s wellness, health and safety initiatives. Manages GMRC’s wellness and health promotion strategies, programs, and communications to inspire a culture where we encourage staff to lead healthy, energetic lives to achieve good results at home and at work with a secondary focus on cost containment for the health plan.In addition, manages and promotes GMRC’s corporate safety program in compliance with OSHA regulations.

Duties and Responsibilities:

• Designs and executes wellness program and services to improve employee health and well-being, e.g., Wellness Expos; seminars/presentations; and behavior change programs, e.g., weight-reduction, physical activity, smoking cessation, early-detection programs, nutritional awareness, healthy living habits, on-site medical clinic, on-site fitness facility.
• Develops wellness, health and safety goals, processes or standards of operation, while collaborating with and maintaining effective communications with departmental leadership and Wellness Committee. The Wellness Program requires an annual operating plan to identify program goals/expected outcomes, budget, communication plans, and initiatives/educational programs for Home Office/Field employees.
• Provides leadership, direction and support to ensure vendors or suppliers are compliant with all regulations, deliver contracted services as required and are constantly improving their services to Grinnell Mutual.
• Tracks costs, trends and outcomes, analyzing this information and other benchmarks to prepare and present a year-end report to manager and Administrative Investment Committee that enables them to understand linkage to our health plan, and take related action that is aligned with the company’s overall mission, vision and goals while minimizing company risk.
• Manages the Wellness Committee by soliciting members, conducting regularly-scheduled meetings, coordinating the responsibilities of Committee members, and providing minutes/progress reports to management as requested. Researches the Committee’s recommendations for feasibility and value-add to the program/company.
• Strives to attain and maintain expected standards for a “recognized and awarded” wellness program, e.g., gold/platinum through the Wellness Council of America. Includes developing and maintaining documentation for the application process in a thorough and timely manner.
• Provides case management, as needed, during and after employee medical absences, e.g., return-to-work monitoring to evaluate employees’ progress.
• Completes or manages assessments, as needed, to evaluate and manage potential risks associated with employee health, wellness or safety. Determines the necessary activities, steps, or adjustments to deal effectively with the defined risk.
• Maintains security, confidentiality and data integrity at both the employee and employee population levels.
• Designs and develops safety policies, programs, and practices/procedures to reduce the frequency of work related accidents and injuries with emphasis on aggressive prevention efforts. Ensures compliance with Federal, state and local occupational safety and health laws and regulations.
• Evaluates results of safety program and makes recommendations for changes and/or improvements. Maintains records and provides periodic reports to manager and Safety Committee.
• Investigates accidents, near misses, and losses in cooperation with other company departments and divisions. Completes and submits appropriate Federal/state reports as required.
• Coordinates and administers Grinnell Mutual’s workers’ compensation program. Completes first report of injury and conducts follow-ups on workers’ comp claims.
• Develops and conducts training with employees, as required by Federal, state, or local regulations, in health/accident prevention techniques and skills, e.g., blood borne pathogens, lockout/tagout procedures, personal protective equipment, respirators, safe driving.
• Maintains GMRC’s first-aid supplies and new mothers’ lounges.
• Manages ergonomics program to effectively eliminate or control work-related muscular skeletal disorders and hazards.Provides manager with summary of incidents report, as well as training to personnel to reduce incidents and hazards.
• All other duties as assigned.

Knowledge, Skills and Abilities:

• Bachelor’s degree in related field, e.g., nursing, exercise science, health education, health promotion, plus 3 or more years of job-related experience working with corporate health and wellness programs, or equivalent education and experience. Master’s degree is preferred and may be substituted for the experience requirement. Certified Safety Professional (CSP) and knowledge of ergonomics and occupational safety desired. Occupation health benefits background is helpful.
• Solid knowledge of health/lifestyle management disease risk reduction, health education, health promotion and wellness.
• Excellent verbal and written communication skills for interaction with participants, vendors, and leadership. Strong presentation skills with ability to write health related articles.
• Ability to maintain a high level of professionalism in dealing with confidential and sensitive issues.
• Demonstrated knowledge of business math, e.g., fractions, percentages, ratios, and good analytical skills.
• Ability to properly compose and interpret a variety of statistical reports relevant to position.
• Ability to work professionally, effectively, and empathetically with co-workers, management personnel, vendors, and may at times handle emotionally charged situations or information.Must demonstrate excellent and effective customer service orientation especially with people in stressful situations.
• Effective team player with members of the Talent Development division, who is a positive contributor, adaptable, flexible to changes in practices, workload and priorities.
• Ability to manage several complex projects simultaneously or coordinate events while working under pressure to meet deadlines.
• Ability to maintain a regular and predictable attendance record to provide the desired level of customer service, in addition to working flexible hours and overtime as needed.
• Ability to occasionally travel overnight to professional meetings or seminars.

Supervisory Responsibilities:

• No supervisory responsibilities associated with this position.

Responsibility & Decision-Making Authority

• Consults and collaborates with manager on wellness, occupational health and safety, including wellness goals and annual planning, before presenting information to General Counsel or Administrative Investment Committee. Makes recommendations for Wellness program planning to Administrative Investment Committee and follows through accordingly.
• Provides consultation and expert advice to manager, Administrative Investment Committee, or other management personnel, as requested, in areas of responsibility. Keeps manager informed of any complex issues that are outside of the norm.
• Determines appropriate problem resolution for areas of responsibility and/or partners with division managers.

Fiscal Responsibility

• Develops and recommends annual budget for wellness, health and safety areas.
• Reports business expense in a timely manner for any work-related travel and expenses.

Contacts (Internal, External)

• The incumbent frequently works with all levels of employees including GMRC staff, management personnel, and HR peers. Additionally, the incumbent may represents the division in inter-divisional projects; presents program summaries to Administrative Investment Committee as requested.
• The incumbent frequently works with external vendors associated with the on-site medical clinic and fitness facility.Occasionally has contact with other external vendors, medical professionals, brokers,benefit consultants, or participates on community committees related to health and wellness.

Working Conditions and Physical Efforts

• To perform this job successfully, an individual must be able to perform each job duty and responsibility satisfactorily. Reasonable accommodation, on non-essential functions, may be made to enable individuals with disabilities to perform job duties and responsibilities.
• This job deals with many types of people, which can be stimulating, yet demanding and stressful.
• The job is physically located in the home office and requires sitting or standing for long periods of time.
• Other physical requirements include: ability to use a computer for extended periods of time utilizing close visual acuity to perform tasks, talking, hearing and interacting effectively with contacts, and ability to lift up to 20 lbs. on an occasional basis.The work environment is a typical office environment and relatively quiet, yet may also be involved in various physical activities related to Wellness events that require standing, walking, reaching, or stooping.

This job description is not intended to describe, in detail, the multitude of tasks that may be assigned, but rather to give the employee a general sense of responsibilities and expectations of his/her position. As the nature of the business demands change, so too may the job duties and responsibilities.