HSE & Administration Manager

At Syngenta Seeds Field Crops, we're shaping the future of agriculture and empowering farmers to meet the ever-growing demand for food and fuel. We’re a global Ag Tech powerhouse, headquartered in the United States, with passionate, local experts collaborating with farmers to deliver solutions that create market opportunities.  We unite precision breeding, advanced biotechnology trait choice, and digital platforms for unmatched in-field performance.  Our seeds help mitigate risks such as disease, insect, weed, and extreme weather pressures, all while promoting sustainable farming practices that protect and enhance our planet. Join our mission of revolutionizing food security and transforming agriculture.

Position Summary:

At Syngenta, our goal is to build the most collaborative and trustworthy team in agriculture, providing top-quality seeds and innovative crop protection solutions that improve farmers' success. To support this mission, Syngenta’s Research & Development / HSE Team is seeking an HSE & Administration Manager in Bethlehem, South Africa. This role will establish, lead, maintain and improve an integrated HSE management across all sites in the Seeds business unit. The successful candidate will be responsible for the implementation of all HSE standards, guidelines and legislation related to the Syngenta Seeds operations, providing direction and support to internal and external stakeholder and coordinating health, safety and environmental programs ensuring safety and compliance in the workplace.

Accountabilities:

• Leading the site HSE management system, ensuring its effective implementation, maintenance and continual improvement in line with company standards, business objectives and applicable South African legal and permit requirements
• Providing visible HSE leadership and advice to site leadership, building a proactive safety culture through workplace presence, accountability and the integration of HSE into daily operational decision-making
• Identifying, assessing and controlling operational risks across production, maintenance, laboratories, warehouses, field activities, projects and support services
• Ensuring critical controls, safe systems of work, permits and Life-Saving Rules are consistently applied and verified
• Ensuring legal, environmental and occupational-health compliance, including management of hazardous substances and waste, water and spill prevention, industrial hygiene, employee wellness, legal registers, licenses and statutory reporting
• Leading incident prevention, learning and ensuring incidents, near misses and environmental events are thoroughly investigated and accurately reported, followed by effectiveness verified timely corrective and preventive actions
• Managing HSE assurance and performance improvement, trend analysis, management reviews and closure of findings and improvement actions
• Maintaining emergency preparedness and site resilience and coordinating emergency response plans, drills, crisis readiness, business-continuity activities, site security interfaces in collaboration with relevant external emergency services
• Ensuring contractors, visitors and project HSE governance are adequately prequalified and inducted
• Providing performance monitoring, capital-project oversight, management of change and pre-start-up safety reviews
• Building HSE capability across the site through training, competency programmes and coaching for employees, supervisors and contractor leaders, with particular focus on high-risk work and operational discipline
• Leading the site’s administrative governance and coordination by ensuring accurate records, controls, budget administration, procurement and service-provider coordination, facilities support, and efficient administrative processes that enable compliance and reliable site operations
• Benchmarking HSE performance against industry best practices and implementing innovative solutions that improve operational excellence
• Collaborating closely with regional, country and Global HSE teams to implement corporate initiatives, share best practices, and standardize HSE processes
• Fostering a culture of continuous improvement by identifying opportunities to eliminate risk, improve compliance, simplify processes and enhance overall HSE performance
• Maintaining accurate HSE documentation, records, legal registers, permits, licenses, and management review reports

• Bachelor’s degree in Health, safety or equivalent field
• Minimum 5 years of experience of managing safety on multiple sites in a similar environment
• Experience of Health, Safety, Environment and Quality standards such as ISO 9001, ISO 14001, OSHAS 18001 and ISO4500
• Relevant experience in the Seed industry - advantageous
• Strong applicable knowledge of the Occupational Health and Safety (OHS) Act, its regulation and other environmental legislation
• Knowledge of Health and Safety, Hazard Identification and Risk Assessment and environmental impact assessment
• Knowledge in controlling hazardous substances, driving safety and contractor management

Syngenta is an Equal Opportunity Employer and does not discriminate in recruitment, hiring, training, promotion or any other employment practices for reasons of race, color, religion, gender, national origin, age, sexual orientation, marital or veteran status, disability, or any other legally protected status. 

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