Chief Safety Officer

* This position is eligible for telework which is currently one day per week. New hires are eligible to apply 30 days after their effective date of hire.

Reporting directly to the Chair of the MTA, the incumbent will have oversight and advisory responsibility for safety policies and strategy and assessing Agency safety performance. The incumbent will assist and guide the agencies in their continuing development of consistent agency-wide, best practice safety strategies designed to support and enhance a world-class safety culture and establish the safest possible environment for our customers and our employees across the MTA and its agencies.

In addition, this position provides guidance to the Chair, MTAHQ and the MTA agencies and coordinates with the agencies on the development and implementation of emergency plans and procedures primarily related to natural hazard emergencies, but also to non-terrorist activities such as strikes, business continuity, organizational resilience, and public health emergencies in order to maintain maximum appropriate service with minimal disruption and ensure employee and customer safety.

• Serve as the Chair’s senior adviser on issues related to safety, public health, and emergency management, and, in conjunction with the agency presidents, provide accurate and current information to the Chair on safety, public health, and emergency management. and environmental compliance
• Provide strategic direction on all MTA-wide issues and monitors the ongoing activities of the departments of MTA agencies to ensure coordination and consistency of safety, public health, emergency management, and environmental compliance activities within the MTA system.
• Provide direction and assist agencies with continuing to institute and refine performance-changing measures and techniques that foster the critical vision, values and behaviors essential to effecting best safety practices and a positive safety culture change in which all employees instinctively choose to avoid at-risk behavior.
• In conjunction with the agency senior safety staff, develop and disseminate a consistent and compelling agency-wide safety message that demonstrates and furthers top-level commitment to safety as a core value.
• Identify priority safety-related areas that may require attention and develop a strategy for addressing those areas and periodically update the list of priority areas as necessary.
• Work with agency presidents’ senior safety staff to ensure that the agencies are implementing recommendations resulting from industry peer reviews or external or internal investigations.
• Working with the agency presidents and senior safety staff to ensure that a framework to oversee third party contractor safety is in place and is continually refreshed and refined through regular feedback and lessons learned.
• Act as chair of an all-agency Safety Council, consisting of the senior safety official at each of the MTA agencies, to ensure the sharing of information among the MTA agencies regarding agency practices and ongoing safety issues.
• Working with the agencies and with Policy & External Relations staff, ensure that the agencies file timely and appropriate comments in response to any safety or emergency management related requests for public comment issued by any state or federal oversight agency; assist government relations staff in reviewing or drafting safety and emergency management related state or federal legislation, in consultation with agencies and the Policy & External Relations staff.
• Direct and oversee the strategy, development and implementation of MTA’s emergency management program and coordinate with agencies on development of-agency emergency management programs, including best practices.
• Ensure the development and implementation of comprehensive and effective emergency response plans and applicable metrics.
• Ensure all agency emergency lessons learned, and best practices are communicated with the goal of interagency learning and enhancing agency performance.
• Develop and maintain relationships with senior staff of partner agencies. Represent MTA as needed at meetings and exercises at federal,…