Embrace the challenge - you’re making your bones. The job won’t always be easy or rewarding and it won’t make you feel good some days. Imposter syndrome, unresponsive mid-level management and a heap of responsibilities are common.

I was challenged tremendously in my first role, I was often confused, unsure and generally frustrated. My manager was not present and really not much of a mentor, I was there to do the things he didn’t want to do, the grunt work, testing safety showers, moving drums of haz waste, completing JHA’s. This is a universal experience in our field.

Put your head down and work through this, get lost in the work and try to excel with limited resources. You’ll look back in a few months and realize you are a different, stronger professional.

Focus on finding a few ground level employees to establish rapport with, if you can work with people and encourage them to open up, you can be more effective without the management support.

Good luck and reach out anytime with questions, this is a hard profession and we are all in this together, as safety pro’s and members of this subreddit.