Amanda Gharbia, SHE Professional

Professional Experience

Amanda Afaf Gharbia is a Safety, Health, and Environmental professional with more than 13 years of experience in occupational safety, health, environmental management, construction safety, compliance, industrial hygiene, and professional training. She currently serves as a Country Safety Manager and has extensive experience supporting high-risk construction, infrastructure, demolition, government-related, and controlled-site environments.

Her experience includes preparing and implementing HSE programs, managing subcontractor safety, conducting inspections and audits, supporting ISO management systems, participating in incident investigations, preparing emergency response plans, delivering workforce training, and helping organizations strengthen compliance, reduce risk, and improve safety performance. Amanda brings strong knowledge of OSHA, EM 385-1-1, ISO 45001, ISO 14001, ISO 9001, environmental compliance requirements, and project-specific safety standards.

As a Country Safety Manager and experienced HSE leader, Amanda provides safety leadership across complex project environments, supporting field teams, subcontractors, supervisors, engineers, management teams, and client representatives. Her work includes preparing project HSE programs, developing strategic HSE plans, implementing policies and procedures, managing compliance documentation, reviewing job hazard analyses, conducting inspections, tracking corrective actions, and helping project teams maintain audit-ready safety systems.

Amanda has managed and supported high-risk construction activities involving work at height, lifting operations, hot work, confined space entry, excavation, trenching, demolition, material handling, machine guarding, heavy equipment operations, and other critical field activities. She has served as a competent person for key construction safety areas, including fall protection, scaffolding, confined space entry, and trenching and excavation, supporting safe work authorization and practical risk control strategies.

Her safety and health management experience includes conducting quantitative and qualitative risk assessments, identifying safety hazards, implementing hazard controls, leading inspections, supporting audits, and ensuring corrective and preventive actions are completed, tracked, and documented. She is skilled in incident investigation and root cause analysis, with experience identifying contributing factors, developing corrective actions, and supporting recurrence prevention.

Amanda has supported the development and implementation of emergency response and evacuation plans, routine drills, medical and site coordination, job hazard analyses, pre-task briefings, workforce engagement activities, and safety awareness campaigns. Her leadership approach focuses on proactive hazard identification, risk-based decision-making, workforce accountability, practical communication, and continuous improvement.

Her work also includes occupational health and industrial hygiene experience in construction, airbase, demolition, and government-related project environments. She has supported the evaluation and control of workplace exposure risks involving chemical, physical, biological, ergonomic, and environmental health hazards, including dust, silica, welding fumes, gases, noise, heat stress, chemical exposure, confined space atmospheres, and other construction-related health risks.

Amanda has supported air monitoring, direct-reading instrumentation, personal exposure monitoring, noise assessments, SDS management, exposure documentation, occupational health records, and workplace health inspections. She has helped recommend and implement engineering controls, administrative controls, ventilation improvements, PPE optimization, hygiene practices, task isolation, substitution measures, and other practical risk reduction strategies. She has also supported occupational health protocols, worker accommodation inspections, sanitation reviews, ventilation assessments, and workplace health initiatives.

In environmental management, Amanda has supported environmental compliance and environmental management on construction project sites. Her work includes environmental hazard assessments, waste management planning, hazardous and non-hazardous waste segregation, spill prevention, stormwater protection, secondary containment, housekeeping, environmental inspections, environmental awareness training, and corrective action follow-up.

Amanda has supported the preparation and implementation of waste management plans in coordination with project teams, including waste segregation, proper labeling, storage, disposal coordination, and site-level environmental controls. She has also supported LEED-related project practices by helping implement required documentation, field controls, housekeeping measures, and sustainability-related procedures as directed by project requirements.

Her environmental experience includes coordinating with internal teams, subcontractors, consultants, and project stakeholders to support proper waste handling, spill prevention, stormwater protection, pollution prevention, and environmental compliance documentation. She has also assisted with internal and external environmental audits by preparing records, supporting corrective action follow-up, and helping project teams maintain compliance with applicable environmental requirements, including regulatory, client, contractual, and project-specific requirements.

Amanda has strong experience with ISO-based management systems, including ISO 9001, ISO 14001, and ISO 45001. Her experience includes supporting the implementation, maintenance, and improvement of management systems related to quality, environmental performance, and occupational health and safety. She has worked with document control, audit preparation, corrective action tracking, compliance reviews, management system evaluations, internal audits, external audits, and continuous improvement processes.

Her ISO management systems experience allows her to connect formal system requirements with practical field execution. She understands how policies, procedures, objectives, inspections, audits, corrective actions, performance indicators, and management reviews work together to improve organizational performance. This experience supports her ability to help businesses build stronger, more organized, and audit-ready compliance programs that are practical, measurable, and sustainable.

Amanda brings strong business and program management experience to her safety and training work. She has experience aligning HSE strategy with operational goals, project performance, client expectations, financial considerations, and organizational objectives. Her work includes developing HSE KPIs, tracking safety performance, identifying trends, supporting training plans, managing corrective actions, coordinating resources, reviewing program effectiveness, and contributing to project planning.

She has conducted SWOT and gap analyses of HSE systems, supported program evaluations, improved reporting structures, and developed digital dashboards to monitor incident trends, near misses, compliance metrics, leading indicators, and corrective action performance. Amanda is proficient in Microsoft Excel, PowerPoint, and Word, and has experience with Power BI, Tableau, SPSS, Excel-based data analysis, and structured reporting. She uses these tools to transform HSE information into clear reports, dashboards, training materials, presentations, and management insights.

Amanda is also an experienced safety instructor who has delivered more than 1,000 hours of classroom-based and field-based training to employees, supervisors, contractors, engineers, laborers, subcontractors, and project teams. She is an OSHA Authorized Outreach Trainer for Construction and General Industry 10-Hour and 30-Hour programs and an American Red Cross First Aid / CPR / AED Instructor.

Her training experience includes safety orientations, toolbox talks, leadership safety sessions, emergency response awareness, hazard recognition, industrial hygiene awareness, environmental awareness, audit preparation sessions, and specialized construction safety topics. She has developed customized, site-specific training modules covering confined space entry, excavation, hot work, PPE, hazard communication, machine guarding, fall protection, respiratory protection, chemical exposure, noise control, bloodborne pathogens, environmental monitoring, and other critical HSE subjects.

Amanda’s instruction is based on real field experience, which allows her to explain safety requirements in a practical and understandable way. She connects regulations, standards, and best practices to actual jobsite conditions, helping learners understand not only what the requirements are, but how to apply them correctly in the workplace.

She is skilled in simplifying complex safety information for diverse audiences and adapting training delivery to different workforce levels, cultures, languages, and operational conditions. Her training programs are supported by strong technical and digital capabilities, including the development of structured PowerPoint training materials, safety posters, banners, awareness campaigns, toolbox talk content, and workforce communication materials.

Amanda is able to communicate across multilingual and multicultural workforces, supporting clear safety communication in English and Arabic, with additional working communication ability in French, Spanish, Hindi, and Urdu. Her language capabilities help her engage diverse teams, explain safety requirements more effectively, and support better workforce understanding in complex project environments.

She also supports the preparation and adaptation of training materials for multilingual audiences, including translating or coordinating the translation of key safety content, toolbox talks, awareness materials, and training programs where needed. This helps improve training accessibility, workforce participation, and the consistent communication of safety expectations across diverse employee and subcontractor groups.

Amanda began her career supporting safety and security operations in controlled and restricted work environments. This experience provided her with a strong foundation in access control, site accountability, emergency response support, hazard identification, disciplined field operations, regulatory compliance, and safety communication. In her earlier role, she enforced security protocols, supported access control, conducted hazard analyses, documented workplace risks, supported incident investigations, recommended corrective actions, and delivered toolbox talks, safety briefings, communication campaigns, and awareness initiatives.

Her leadership style is practical, ethical, and performance-focused. She has experience leading teams, mentoring safety personnel, guiding supervisors, supporting subcontractors, and helping organizations improve safety accountability. She is skilled in project planning, program execution, evaluation, decision-making, problem-solving, and adapting to dynamic work conditions and changing regulatory environments.

Amanda’s combined experience in safety, health, environmental management, industrial hygiene, training, ISO systems, digital reporting, business management, and controlled-site operations gives her a broad and practical understanding of workplace risk management. Through her professional services, she supports organizations, contractors, supervisors, and workers in improving compliance, reducing risk, strengthening workforce competency, and creating safer work environments.

Country Safety Manager | December 2024 – Present | Contigo Project, 19-AQMM-21-C-0155

Country Safety Manager | December 2024 – Present | MACC Project, FA8802-19-C-0001

HSE Manager | December 2022 – Present | New Embassy Compound, 19-AQMM-21-C-0155

HSE Manager | January 2022 – March 2024| Demolish CC Compound, FA5702-21-R-0012

HSE Manager | January 2022 – March 2023 | Repair SOCCENT Entry Control Point B5669, FA5702-21-C-0007

HSE Manager | May 2021 – December 2021 | Soil Stabilization, FA5702-21-C-0001

HSE Manager | February 2021 – May 2021 | Mass Installation Notification System, FA5702-20-C-0221

HSE Manager | December 2020 – May 2021 | QEWR Radar Installation, FA8730-17-C-0010-P00015

HSE Manager | July 2020 – December 2020 | Shield 5 Program — Site 5, W912ER-18-C-0005

HSE Manager | July 2019 – July 2020 | Shield 5 Program — Multiple Project Sites

HSE Manager / Program Coordinator | December 2018 – December 2019 | Shield 5 Program — Site 2,3,5,7, W912ER-18-C-0007

HSE Manager / Program Coordinator | December 2018 – December 2019 | Shield 5 Program — Site 7, W912ER-18-C-0007

HSE Manager | November 2017 – December 2018 | Blatchford-Preston Complex Phase III — Reprogrammed Facilities & Medical Warehouse, W912ER-16-C-0002

HSE Manager | April 2016 – November 2017 | Blatchford-Preston Complex Phase III — Furnishings Warehouse & Medical Administration Building, W912ER-15-C-0008

HSE Manager | August 2013 – April 2016 | Tactical Ramp & Vehicle Maintenance Facility, W912ER-11-D-0001-0007

Security / HSE Officer | July 2013 – August 2013 | Tactical Ramp & Vehicle Maintenance Facility, W912ER-11-D-0001-0007

Security / HSE Officer | May 2012 – August 2013 | West Munitions Storage Area Complex, W912ER-11-D-0001-0004

Amanda Gharbia

Founder & Principal Consultant, SHE Resource Hub
Safety, Health, and Environment Professional

SHE Resource Hub is founded and led by Amanda Afaf Gharbia, a Safety, Health, and Environmental professional with more than 13 years of experience in occupational safety, industrial hygiene, environmental management, safety management systems, and workplace risk management.

SHE Resource Hub was created to make safety, health, and environmental knowledge more practical, accessible, and useful for real workplaces. As both the owner and instructor, Amanda brings field-based HSE leadership experience into training and consultation services that help organizations, teams, supervisors, contractors, workers, and individuals understand requirements, control risks, and improve day-to-day safety performance.

Amanda is an OSHA Authorized Outreach Trainer for Construction and General Industry 10-Hour and 30-Hour programs and a certified American Red Cross First Aid / CPR / AED Instructor. Her instructor credentials support the delivery of professional, structured, and compliance-focused training designed for real workplace needs.

The platform combines professional safety training, advisory guidance, program support, practical safety tools, and workplace guidance in one hub. These may include risk assessment templates, inspection checklists, toolbox talk materials, safety awareness resources, and training support materials designed to help clients apply safety requirements in real workplace conditions.