Corporate Health and Safety Officer

Full Vacancy Description

Job Title                    Corporate Health and Safety Advisor

General

This is a six months contract that could be extended

Pay is £35 per hour PAYE or £30 limited, which will increase after the first three months

Job Purpose:

To provide a comprehensive health and safety service to support the Council to effectively manage health, safety and welfare standards and comply with relevant legal duties

Description of Duties:

List key personal duties in order of importance.

The following is typical of the duties the post holder will be expected to perform. It is not necessarily exhaustive and other duties of a similar nature and level may be required from time to time.

To provide advice, guidance, and support to allocated service areas to implement and embed the Council's health and safety performance management and reporting arrangements.

To develop and implement relevant health and safety and fire safety policies and plans in conjunction with the appropriate managers.

To monitor health and safety standards by undertaking health, safety and fire safety inspections and audits, making the necessary recommendations or interventions as appropriate to support the Council to fulfil its statutory obligations.

To provide general health and safety advice and guidance to support the Council, including during any regulatory interventions

To investigate accidents, dangerous occurrences and incidents of work related ill health, make necessary recommendations, identify trends and support implementation as appropriate.

To advise on the interpretation, application and enforcement of health and safety and fire safety legislation.

In conjunction with service managers, identify health and safety training requirements and, where required, develop and deliver appropriate training programmes.

To prepare reports, including investigation reports and statutory RIDDOR reports, and produce and maintain records and statistics as appropriate.

To assess, monitor and review contractor management as appropriate.

To support the Council in improving health and wellbeing by working with occupational health, organisational development, human resources and analysing and reporting sickness absence trends and report on stress assessments.

To provide information and professional health and safety opinion on accident and ill health civil liability claims to the Council's Insurance Section and other relevant parties.

To attend staff health and safety consultation meetings and relevant external meetings as required

To promote and implement the Council’s Equality policy in all aspects of employment and service delivery.

To assist in maintaining a healthy, safe and secure environment and act in accordance with the Council’s policies and procedures.

To engage with elected members and council officers, at all levels, in the development and maintenance of a positive health and safety risk management culture in the council

To raise awareness on relevant subjects to reflect Government or Health and Safety Executive initiatives.

To facilitate the proactive management of health and safety risks by creating or making available the necessary knowledge, skills and tools to enable council managers to undertake risk assessments.

To facilitate active monitoring of council premises and working practices and, where required, provide guidance to employees undertaking inspections.

To promote reactive monitoring of council activities by council managers, where adverse events have negatively affected council staff, contractors and / or members of the public.

Where required, to investigate adverse events and make recommendations for corrective actions to achieve improvements, and

Where required, to support staff consultative meetings and to consult with recognised Trade Union appointed representatives.

To advise and support council managers with their undertaking of fire evacuation drills in council properties and the provision and maintenance of necessary fire safety precautions.

To advise and support council managers with their assessment of health and safety compliance of council contractors, council-organised events, festivals, outside entertainment, and other events taking place on council-owned premises.

To monitor the management of the council’s Violence and Intimidation register

Civil and Other Emergencies

Officers

To support the Council’s role in planning for and responding to civil and council emergencies using skills/expertise of the post holder, and in accordance with council emergency procedures. To provide emergency contact details for the purposes of emergency and service continuity plans.

I.T.

To use the Council’s office-based and mobile IT services for the input, access and transmission of information using the appropriate level of information security and classification through the use of electronic mail, diaries, word-processing, spreadsheets and databases as well as any specific job-related applications as required to carry out the duties of the post.

Information Management

To comply with information rights legislation and the Council’s data quality standards by applying information management related policies.

To report instances of non-compliance, errors, omissions or inadequacies in procedures to the business unit manager.

Equal Opportunities

To know and adhere to the Council’s equal opportunities policy and equalities legislation  and implement in relation to job responsibilities in employment and service delivery.

Health and Safety

To take reasonable care for his/her own health and safety and any other person(s) who may be affected by his/her acts or omissions at work, in accordance with the Health & Safety legislation.

To co-operate with the Council insofar as is necessary to enable it to comply with its duties under relevant health and safety legislation.

Smartworking

Work under the Council’s smartworking policy and timesheet to assist in providing value for money to clients.

Knowledge & Experience:

Minimum of two years of experience in the provision of occupational health and safety advice and support in a large public facing organisation

Detailed understanding of safety management, reviewing fire risk assessments and audits on fire safety

Knowledge and experience in key health and safety compliance, asbestos, water hygiene and contractor management.

Experience of producing clear and concise written and verbal reports to all levels accurately to meet tight deadlines

Experience of working with a diverse range of people including all levels of employees, contractors, and the general public

Experience in translating health and safety legislation into meaningful, practical policies and procedures.

Experience of implementation of a safety management system including drafting of procedures

Experience of supporting senior management to deliver a positive health and safety culture

Ability to carry out detailed safety audits and inspections

Able to identify training needs and develop and deliver safety training

Able to interpret legal and technical matters to all levels of managers and staff

Ability to advise all levels of staff and managers on safety

Able to conduct meaningful accident investigations into root causes of incidents

Good presentation skills

Ability to motivate others (managers and staff) to improve standards

Able to work with a diverse range of people to improve standards

Good IT skills (Word-processing,

email, spreadsheets etc.) to be able to interrogate data and present at board level in meaningful style.

Possess excellent interpersonal skills and an ability to communicate at all levels

Experience and ability to self manage and deliver within schedule.

Work flexible and unsociable hours (maybe required from time to time as necessary), i.e. Accident may occur out of hours and may require liaison with HSE inspectors etc. or attendance at residential training courses

Ability to travel throughout the borough with equipment at short notice

Understanding of equality issues and their relationship with Fire Safety.