Join the City of Palo Alto as a Utility Safety Officer and apply your expertise to advance safety across electric, water, gas, wastewater, and fiber utilities, supporting reliable service for our community.

The Department

Palo Alto is a city in California that offers a full array of utility services to its citizens and businesses. Because of this full service, the City has a unique opportunity to partner with the Palo Alto community to enjoy the benefits and achievements of reliable, home-grown, and environmentally focused utilities. Palo Alto has a tradition of over 125 years of successful public utility operations. It is a tradition that continues to provide the Palo Alto community with safe and reliable utilities service, local decision-making over policies, utility rate-making, environmental programs, and customized services. Learn more about our Utilities Department.

Career Opportunity

The Utilities Safety Officer designs, implements, manages, and continually evaluates the Utilities Department's health and safety programs including utility-specific industrial safety, job-related training programs, and investigations within the Department. This position ensures compliance with applicable federal, state, and local workplace safety and environmental regulations, including timely completion of mandatory training requirements for the City's electric, fiber, water, gas and wastewater utilities staff. This position works in the office and field and requires independent judgment and knowledge of principles and practices of health and safety program administration, conducting audits, inspections, investigations and developing applicable training programs.

Ideal Candidate

The ideal candidate will have a strong background in utility safety (electric, fiber, gas, water, and wastewater) and a thorough understanding of utility operations, workplace safety, and environmental regulations to ensure organizational compliance. The successful candidate will possess extensive experience interpreting and implementing OSHA requirements, developing and delivering safety training programs, and identifying training needs through worksite audits, hazard assessments, and evaluations of work practices. This individual will be an engaging and collaborative leader who fosters accountability, influences safe work behaviors, and promotes a proactive, organization-wide culture of health and safety.

Compensation (UMPAPA): Comprehensive compensation plan. To learn more, click here.

Benefits: The City offers a fantastic benefits package including:

Schedule: Option of a 9/80 work schedule with every other Friday off
Professional development: Tuition reimbursement, leadership training, and career growth opportunities
Education benefits: Potential enrollment for dependents in the Palo Alto Unified School District (pilot program, subject to change)
Childcare support: $10,000 in childcare subsidies (pilot program, subject to change)
Commute benefits: Incentives for walking, biking and taking transit to work. The City of Palo Alto participates in the Clipper Bay Pass program (Employee Cost: $5 per month).
Defined-Benefit Retirement Plan: with competitive pension benefits

This is a continuous recruitment and may remain open until the position is filled.

First review of applications will take place during the week of August 31, 2026.

Subsequent reviews will be conducted every two weeks thereafter.

Applicants are encouraged to apply early.

Essential and other important responsibilities and duties may include, but are not limited to the following:

Design, develop, and manage the Utilities Department's safety/health program; manage the development and implementation of goals, objectives, policies, and procedures for the safety program in collaboration with others; identify resource needs.
Lead Department managers and other staff in the development of a safety program.
Conduct investigations and review injury/accident reports and evidence to determine cause, effect, liability, and prevention methods; recommend and implement modifications to working procedures as needed to reduce and/or eliminate the frequency and severity of accidents and incidents.
Regularly track and report incident frequency and severity rates from personnel and vehicle accidents.
Coordinate with risk management staff as appropriate.
Review and assess risk and liability from third-party claims and take appropriate action to reduce and/or eliminate the frequency and severity of third-party claims and incidents.
Participate in budget preparation and administration; prepare cost estimates for budget recommendations and submit justifications for materials and supplies; monitor and control expenditures.
Coordinate safety training activities in response to management requests and regulatory compliance requirements; arrange for appropriate training to meet identified needs.
Conduct training and/or arrange for outside vendors/consultants; schedule training and document attendance and maintain related records in a training database; manage contracts for contractors and vendors that provide training.
Participate in safety inspections and audits conducted by outside agencies; Conduct independent audits of Department facilities/work locations to ensure compliance yearly and as needed to identify potential safety hazards and/or unsafe working conditions.
Assist the Department's first responders in emergency events when appropriate.

To review the full job description, click here.

Any combination of experience and training that would provide the required knowledge and abilities is qualifying. A typical way to obtain the required knowledge and abilities would be:

A Bachelor's degree from accredited college or university with major course work in occupational health and safety, industrial hygiene or a closely related field; and,
Four years of increasingly responsible experience in the development and administration of safety and training programs and experience in utilities operations; or,
An equivalent combination of education and experience sufficient to perform the essential job functions and possession of the required knowledge and abilities.

Working Conditions / Physical Requirements

Work is performed in both an office and outdoor setting. Outdoor activities take place in all weather conditions, including temperature extremes, during daylight hours and nights, and on various types of terrain. Incumbent may be exposed to conditions and hazards from obstacles, heights, and open trenches associated with construction sites. Work may be performed in proximity to electrical high voltage lines and equipment.

The Selection Process:

Applicants will receive recruitment status notifications via email. Governmentjobs.com account also has notification status updates.
Applicants will be screened throughout the posting process and highly qualified candidates may be invited to interview at any time.
The screening process for this position typically will include a panel interview preceding final interviews with the hiring manager or their designee.

Our online application system is provided by NeoGov. If you have problems while applying online, please contact NeoGov's Live Applicant Support at between 6:00 AM and 5:00 PM Pacific Time, Monday - Friday.

The City of Palo Alto is an Equal Opportunity Employer. In compliance with the Americans with Disabilities Act, the City will provide reasonable accommodation to qualified individuals with disabilities and encourages both prospective and current employees to discuss potential accommodations with the employer.

City of Palo Alto

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Utility Safety Officer