Director of Safety

Canopy Service Partners is a collaborative and growth-oriented organization dedicated to supporting local partner businesses across the tree care industry. As the Safety Director, you will be responsible for building and leading a unified, enterprise-wide safety program across a growing portfolio of partner companies.

This is a hands‑on builder role for a safety leader who spends meaningful time in the field and is comfortable operating in founder‑led organizations where influence matters as much as authority. Today, each partner company manages its own safety practices. In this role, you will create a consistent safety framework while partnering closely with local operations leaders to strengthen how work is planned and executed without disrupting day‑to‑day operations.

Safety is foundational to how Canopy operates, and this role is accountable for building durable systems, clear standards, and leadership behaviors that measurably reduce risk and protect our people.

The Safety Director will operate as a team of one initially, scaling impact through strong relationships, credibility in the field, and a network of Safety Champions within each partner company. This role requires significant travel and comfort executing in a highly distributed environment, using presence in the field to build trust, drive adoption, and support consistent execution across approximately 20 operating businesses.

Responsibilities

• Design, build, and implement a unified safety program across all Partner companies, creating consistent standards while respecting local operational realities.
• Partner with each operating company to implement, enhance, or mature their existing safety programs and practices.
• Serve as the hands‑on owner of safety program development, execution, and continuous improvement.
• Define and own safety performance measurement across Partner companies by setting annual goals and core KPIs that assess incident outcomes, incident‑to‑closure effectiveness, and verified adoption of daily safety routines (e.g., pre‑ and post‑job checklists, equipment inspections, and required training).
• Build, train, and enable a network of Safety Champions across each Partner company to support local adoption and execution, without direct people management.
• Develop scalable safety training programs and materials, including new hire onboarding, refresher training, and role‑specific field training.
• Empower General Managers, Regional Presidents, and frontline operational leaders to embed safety practices into daily workflows, job planning, and execution.
• Act as the primary subject matter expert for OSHA and other applicable federal, state, and local safety regulations across a multi‑state footprint.
• Own the incident‑to‑closure workflow, including incident reporting, investigation, root cause analysis, corrective actions, and follow‑through.
• Partner closely with Workers Compensation insurance partners, HR Business Partners, General Managers, and Regional Presidents to reduce incident frequency and severity.
• Collaborate with Operations on DOT and fleet safety initiatives, including driver safety standards, incident trends, and compliance requirements where applicable.
• Analyze safety data and trends to identify risk patterns and proactively recommend interventions.
• Support inspections and regulatory interactions, partnering with local leaders to drive compliance and learning.
• Create clear, practical safety communications and tools that resonate with field‑based employees and frontline leaders.
• Travel extensively to Partner locations to build relationships, conduct training, assess risk, and support implementation (up to 80% travel, including overnight travel).

Qualifications

• Bachelors degree in Safety, Occupational Health, Environmental Science, or a related field, or equivalent practical experience.
• 7+ years of progressive safety experience in highly hazardous, field‑based environments such as tree, landscape, construction, utilities, energy, industrial services, transportation, or similar industries.
• Deep working knowledge of OSHA standards and multi‑state compliance requirements.
• Experience partnering on DOT and transportation safety programs…