Health, Safety & Environment Manager
The a2 Milk CompanyJobsCloseBy Editorial Insights
Take the Health, Safety & Environment Manager role at the a2 Milk Company in Pokeno as a hands-on chance to shape safer, more sustainable manufacturing. You’ll lead the site HSE program, drive a proactive safety culture, and partner with engineering, maintenance and operations to embed systems, execute incident investigations, and ensure regulatory compliance under New Zealand law. The ideal candidate brings manufacturing HSE leadership, ICAM experience, strong stakeholder coaching, and a track record of training and continuous improvement. When applying, tailor your CV to demonstrate measurable safety outcomes, risk management, audits, and environmental initiatives; show floor presence and align your experience with the company’s A1-free sustainability vision.
General information
Short Summary
Lead Health, Safety & Environment at our Pokeno manufacturing site, driving a proactive safety culture and continuous improvement.
Position Description
Our Story:
The a2 Milk Company, driven by science and a pioneering spirit, disrupted the dairy and infant milk formula industry. Our vision is to create an A1-free world where dairy nourishes all people and our planet.
The a2 Milk Company seeks to achieve this through the naturally occurring a2 Milk® difference and by bringing a more sustainable approach to dairy.
The role:
We're looking for an experienced Health, Safety & Environment Manager to join our Operations team at our Pokeno manufacturing site. This role will play a critical part in fostering a proactive safety culture while supporting environmental compliance and sustainability initiatives across the site.
Reporting to the Plant General Manager, with a dotted line to the Group Head of Health, Safety & Wellbeing, you'll be the site's HSE subject matter expert, partnering closely with leaders and frontline teams to embed best practice, drive continuous improvement, and ensure our people go home safe every day.
This is a hands-on leadership role where you'll have the opportunity to influence behaviours, strengthen systems and processes, and make a lasting impact on how health, safety and environmental responsibility are embedded into our operations.
More specifically, you will be involved in:
- Leading the implementation and continuous improvement of our health, safety and wellbeing strategy at site level.
- Driving a positive, safety-first culture by coaching, influencing and partnering with leaders and frontline teams.
- Developing and maintaining safety systems, policies, procedures, risk assessments and site documentation.
- Leading incident investigations, identifying root causes and ensuring effective corrective actions are implemented.
- Delivering engaging HSE training and supporting the ongoing development of site capability.
- Coordinating site audits, critical risk verification and regulatory compliance activities.
- Supporting environmental management, including resource consent compliance, waste, water, energy and environmental risk management.
- Partnering with engineering, maintenance and operations teams to identify opportunities to improve safety, sustainability and operational performance.
- Supporting return-to-work and early intervention programmes in partnership with operational leaders.
- Championing continuous improvement initiatives that reduce risk and strengthen site performance.
About you:
You are a confident and engaging HSE professional who enjoys being visible on the production floor, building strong relationships, and influencing positive change. You combine technical expertise with a practical, collaborative approach and are passionate about creating safer, healthier workplaces.
You will bring:
- Demonstrated experience in a Health, Safety & Environment leadership role within a manufacturing, food production or similarly regulated environment.
- Strong knowledge of New Zealand health, safety and environmental legislation and compliance requirements.
- Proven experience developing and embedding health and safety management systems and driving cultural change.
- Experience leading incident investigations using recognised methodologies such as ICAM.
- Excellent stakeholder engagement, coaching and influencing skills, with the ability to build credibility at all levels of the business.
- Experience developing and delivering HSE training and awareness programmes.
- A continuous improvement mindset with the ability to identify opportunities and implement practical solutions.
- A tertiary qualification in Health & Safety, Environmental Science, Engineering or a related discipline.
Find out more about our great benefits on our Careers Page.