Safety Manager

Description

Did you know that Ryan Lawn & Tree is a $100M+ professional Lawn & Landscape company? We've built one of the most respected lawn and tree care companies in the Midwest, with room to grow across four states — Kansas, Missouri, Oklahoma, and Nebraska. We're on a mission to raise the bar for our entire industry: attracting exceptional people, treating them right, and giving them the opportunity to build a career, not just take a job.

It's work that leaves a mark on every community we touch — and on the people who do it.

The Safety Manager leads RYAN's day-to-day safety operating system as the company scales across service lines, branches, and states. This role turns safety strategy into field execution by owning standards, coordinating risk reduction efforts, and leading the Safety Specialists in partnership with Operations, Learning, HR, and branch leadership. The Safety Manager stays connected to the field while managing the system-level work needed to improve injury performance, control fleet risk, and support growth into new markets, including commercial work.

Reports to: VP of Human Resources
Direct reports:
Fleet & Route Safety Specialist, Field Safety Specialist
Owns workers' compensation and EMR work directly.

• Own the enterprise safety system: policies, standards, reporting expectations, follow-up rhythms, and accountability across branches and departments.
• Lead workers' compensation and EMR strategy, including claim review, trend analysis, and prevention planning with HR and Operations.
• Build and maintain multi-state safety compliance processes.
• Lead the safety champion structure, safety committee, and core safety meetings.
• Manage the near-miss review and closure process (triage, ownership, corrective action, follow-through).
• Use injury, claims, collision, and near-miss data to identify high-severity patterns and drive corrective action in fleet and field environments.
• Coach and direct the Safety Specialists, setting clear priorities and expectations.
• Partner with branch and department leaders to integrate safety into daily operations.
• Partner with Learning Directors and Learning Specialists so safety is embedded in Foundations Academy and Foundations Academy 2 and reinforced through field coaching, while keeping Safety and Learning as separate reporting lines.
• Support safety due diligence and integration for acquisitions, new states, and new lines of business.

• 5+ years of safety leadership experience in a multi-site, field-based environment.
• Experience leading safety in industries such as landscape, tree care, construction, field services, transportation, utilities, or similar.
• Demonstrated experience in incident management, workers' compensation, compliance, and building systems that drive follow-through.
• Strong communication skills with the ability to coach in the field and communicate clearly with senior leaders.
• Ability to travel regularly to branches, job sites, ride-alongs, and training environments.
• Bilingual English/Spanish is a major plus.

• Bachelor's degree in safety, occupational health, business, or a related field, or equivalent experience.
• Professional certification such as CSP, ASP, OHST, or similar.
• Experience with fleet safety tools, telematics, dashcam review, or driver-coaching programs.
• Experience supporting acquisitions, integration work, or multi-state growth

This is a safety-sensitive position requiring the operation of vehicles and equipment. All offers of employment are contingent upon successful completion of a pre-employment drug screen (including marijuana), criminal background check, MVR check, and DOT physical (where applicable) before starting employment.

Candidates must meet all screening requirements as a condition of employment.

We hire great people for our employee-owned company. As a member of our team, you'll become a partner in the highest-quality lawn and tree company in the Midwest.

In addition to being a non-smoking, EEOC-compliant company with real advancement opportunities, we offer:

• Starting compensation of $105,000 - $115,000 depending on experience, plus bonus opportunities
• Excellent benefits package, including health, dental, and vision insurance
• 401(k) with company match
• 100% Employee Stock Ownership Plan (ESOP)
• Flexible work schedule
• 11 paid holidays plus 1 floating personal holiday
• 17 Paid Time Off (PTO) Days