Safety Internship

Application Instructions

SPS New England, Inc., one of the leading heavy highway contractors in New England, is seeking a highly motivated individual to perform duties on Bridge and Highway construction projects.

Since 1984, SPS has been helping to rebuild New England’s infrastructure. Wherever you drive throughout Massachusetts and southern New Hampshire, there’s a good chance you will travel down a road or over a bridge built by SPS New England.

Position Description

SPS New England Inc. recognizes that providing internships can create a great opportunity for college students to get a jump start on their career. Student interns can also bring a fresh perspective and add value to our business. It is for this reason that we are offering a paid internship opportunity this summer working with our safety department.

Our goal is to provide a positive, professional work experience while identifying high potential, full time SPS New England Inc. employees for the future. This year we are targeting a college junior in the safety or health management field who is eager to gain real-life work experience in their area of study.  This position will report to the Bill Timmons, SPS New England Corporate Safety Manager. 

ESOP (Employee Stock Ownership Plan):

SPS is an employee-owned company.  We are proud to offer eligible employees the opportunity to participate in our Employee Stock Ownership Plan (ESOP).  Employee-owners benefit from the success of the company and play a critical role in fostering an ownership culture within the organization, emphasizing the importance of employee engagement, and commitment to long-term success.

We offer competitive compensation and benefits packages, including participation in the ESOP for eligible employees, a collaborative work environment, and opportunities for professional growth within our expanding organization.

Position Requirements

Requirements and Competencies

• Pursuing Bachelor’s degree in safety management, or other closely related discipline.
• Completed Sophomore year of college
• Overall GPA 3.00 required
• Solid interpersonal and communication skills
• Leadership skills
• Comfortable working in the field and in the office environments
• Computer proficient

Strong technical and problem-solving skills

• Performs site inspections
• Assist with training of new hires
• Maintains inventory of safety supplies
• Performs record keeping of site inspections, training and other related documents
•  Updates health and safety program
•  Performs safety meetings
•  Inspects various equipment

Equal Opportunity Employer

It is the policy of SPS New England, Inc. to assure that applicants are employed, and that employees are treated during employment, without regard to their race, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, color, national origin, age or disability. Such action shall include: employment, upgrading, demotion, or transfer; recruitment or recruitment advertising; layoff or termination; rates of pay or other forms of compensation; and selection for training, including apprenticeship, pre-apprenticeship, and/or on-the-job training. It is also the policy of SPS New England, Inc. to take affirmative action to employ and to advance in employment, all persons regardless of race, color, religion, sex, national origin, age, marital status, sexual orientation, gender identity, genetic information, disability, protected veteran status, or any other applicable legally protected status, and to base all employment decisions only on valid job requirements. This policy shall apply to all employment actions, including but not limited to recruitment, recruitment advertising, hiring, upgrading, promotion, transfer, demotion, layoff, recall, termination, rates of pay, fringe benefits or other forms of compensation, and selection for training, including apprenticeship, pre-apprenticeship, on the job training, classification, and referral, at all levels of employment. Consistent with these obligations, SPS New England, Inc. also provides reasonable accommodations to employees and applicants with disabilities and for sincerely held religious beliefs, observances, and practices.

Employees and applicants of SPS New England, Inc. will not be subject to harassment on the basis of race, color, religion, sex, national origin, age, marital status, sexual orientation, gender identity, genetic information, disability, protected veteran status or any other applicable legally protected status. Additionally, retaliation, including intimidation, threats, or coercion, because an employee or applicant has objected to discrimination, engaged or may engage in filing a complaint, assisted in a review, investigation, or hearing or have otherwise sought to obtain their legal rights under any Federal, State, or local EEO law is prohibited.

SPS New England, Inc. is seeking minority and female employees, and all employees are encouraged to recruit minority and females as well.

Drug Testing Policy

• Pre Employment Testing
  • All applicants who have received a conditional offer of employment in any position with the Company are required to submit to a pre-employment drug test and must receive a negative test result as a condition of employment. In addition, the Company will require all such applicants to submit to pre-employment alcohol testing and will require a test result of less than .02 BAC as a condition of hire. Such tests will be conducted prior to the time the applicant is hired.

• “Reasonable Suspicion” Drug and Alcohol Testing
  • An employee must submit to a drug test and/or an alcohol test whenever the Company has reason to suspect the employee has or may have used drugs or alcohol in violation of the Company’s policy.
  • The Company’s “reasonable suspicion” determinations will be based on specific, current observations that can be verbalized, including but not limited to the employee’s appearance, behavior, speech, or body odors. These observations may also include indications of an employee’s chronic use of, or the effects of withdrawal from, drugs or alcohol. The determination may be based on a single instance of conduct involving a serious potential risk of harm to the employee or others, or to Company property or the property of others.
  • All “reasonable suspicion” tests must be administered as soon as possible following the determination.
  • The Company shall transport or make arrangements for the transport of the employee to and from the collection site.
  • An employee who is required to submit to a “reasonable suspicion” test will be suspended after the completion of the drug or alcohol tests. The Company also reserves the right to evaluate the employee’s conduct that triggered the drug and/or alcohol test, to determine if the conduct in and of itself warrants discipline, up to and including termination.

• Post-Accident Drug and Alcohol Testing:
  • Whenever an employee causes or contributes to a work-related accident (as defined below), the employee will be required to submit to a drug test and/or an alcohol test.
  • As used in this policy, “work-related accident” means an accident
    • which occurs while the employee is on the premises of the Company or at another work-site location, or is off-site while engaged in activities for or on behalf of the Company, or while the employee is operating a vehicle, including the employee’s, for or on behalf of the Company, and
    • the accident results in one or more of the following: (i) a fatality; or (ii) bodily injury to any individual who, as a result of the accident, requires immediate medical treatment (excluding first aid) at or away from the scene of the accident; or (iii) property damage to Company property or to the property of a customer that is reasonably anticipated to exceed $1,000; or (iv) in the case of a vehicle accident, one or more vehicles involved in the accident incurs disabling damage as a result of the accident, requiring the vehicle(s) to be transported away from the scene by another vehicle.
  • All post-accident tests must be administered as soon as possible following the accident. Employees who are involved in a work-related accident must remain readily available for testing or will be considered to have refused to submit to a test. However, an employee who is involved in a work-related accident is not prohibited from leaving the scene of an accident for the period of time necessary to obtain assistance in responding to the accident or to obtain necessary emergency medical care for the employee or others who injured as a result of the accident.
  • Except where circumstances do not permit, the Company shall transport or make arrangements for the transport of the employee to and from the collection site.
  • An employee who is required to submit to a post-accident test will be suspended after the completion of the test. The Company also reserves the right to evaluate the employee’s conduct that triggered the test, to determine if the conduct in and of itself warrants discipline, up to and including termination.

• Random Drug Testing:
  • The Company will conduct random drug tests on safety-sensitive employees and drivers, as permitted by law.
  • The random tests conducted will be unannounced ahead of time and the dates of such tests will be spread out reasonably throughout the calendar year.
  • Employees who will be subject to random testing will be put into one or more random selection pools and will be selected for testing by the Company using a scientifically-valid random selection process that ensures that each employee in the selection pool has an equal chance of being selected each time a selection is conducted. Appropriate safeguards will be used to ensure that the identity of individual employees who could be selected cannot be determined until after an employee is actually selected.
  • Whenever an employee is notified of his or her selection, the employee must proceed to the test site immediately and no employee will be excused.

Roles & Responsibilities:

• Superintendent:Every superintendent has the responsibility to work in a manner that promotes their safety and health along with that of the others on the job site, correct any behavior the does not follow SPS rules, and to document all deficiencies.
• Employees:Every employee has the responsibility to work in a manner that promotes their safety and health along with that of the others on the job site, and to report all unsafe conditions and incidents to their supervisor promptly.
• Behavior:SPS New England Inc. does not tolerate the use of drugs, drinking, sexual harassment, fighting, gambling, horseplay or other detrimental behaviors while on any SPS job site or property. Compliance with no smoking areas is expected. No firearms are allowed on any SPS job site or property. SPS does conduct drug screening in accordance with our substance abuse policy. Failure to comply with any of these or other rules in this manual or the HASP will result in disciplinary action up to and including termination of employment.