Senior Safety Advisor - Trials

About the job

Summary

The Senior Safety Advisor is the first line of professional Health, Safety and Environmental Protection advice and assurance to Division staff and makes a significant contribution towards meeting regulatory requirements for the provision of professional safety advice as defined under Regulation 7 of the Management of Health and Safety at Work Regulations 1999. This is a key role in implementing and ensuring delivery of the the Division Organisation and Arrangements for Health and Safety, and liaising with wider Environmental professionals across the laboratory.

The Senior Safety Advisor in Platform Systems Division will be further responsible for the following hazard area - Trials. This aspect of the role covers the whole of Dstl and is expected to take up a significant proportion of your time. You will be responsible for providing advice and support to the five Science and Technology Divisions working in collaboration with other safety professionals.

Job description

In this role;

You will provide safety advice direct to staff, both for general health and safety matters as well as trials activities, working with a community of like-minded professionals across the organisation.

You will develop a sound knowledge of the safety profile of Platform Systems Division and the scope of trials conducted across the laboratory. You will build a trusted relationship with the staff and line management and be pro-active in identification of safety issues and recommend remedial action.

You will support local and corporate assurance activities including acting as a member of the Division audit and assurance team to evaluate the effectiveness of safety systems and procedures to identify and recommend improvements to the division organisation and arrangements for health and safety. You will attend safety inspections as the subject matter expert, support fact finding, incident monitoring, investigations and concerns raised by division staff.

You will be responsible for a small number of health and safety staff supporting the division.

You will work closely with technical subject matter experts and military personnel and be expected to travel to attend trials sites as part of your assurance activities. Trials sites are located across the UK sometimes in remote locations.

The provision of Environmental advice is led by a central Dstl team and you will work closely with them to provide direction and advice to division business.

The focus for a significant proportion of your role will be the provision of advice to manage health and safety risks arising from a diverse and wide range of trials activities undertaken by the division and wider Dstl. This is a cross-organisation aspect of your role and you will support through the identification, development and delivery of a range of pragmatic risk management expertise and techniques. You will be a key part of the Trials Safety Technical Authority, a body set up to oversee the safe and secure delivery of trials across Dstl. In collaboration with other colleagues you will develop and deliver trials training material to support continuous development of staff and continued safe and secure operation of Dstl.

Responsibilities

We are looking for someone who has:

In depth knowledge of the Division safety hazard profile, or Health and Safety experience gained thorough holding a safety based role in a hazardous or science and technology environment.

A good understanding and knowledge of risk mitigation strategies and how to practically apply them in general situations as well as more complex undertakings related to trials.

Provide commitment and enabling support to the achievement of the Divisions objectives and the use of innovative, novel and creative tools, methods and techniques to promote a safety culture both in Division and wider Dstl.

The ability to engage and build productive relationships across the laboratory both with staff and other Safety and Environmental professionals, to enhance the safe and secure delivery of science and technology.

Job Dimensions

Line management responsibility for a small number of safety staff within the division.

Development and delivery of an effective assurance programme both for the Division and for the Trials Safety Technical Authority.

Partnership with the Division and wider Dstl at all levels including senior leadership.

Professional relationship with external regulatory bodies and institutions relevant to the hazard profile of the division.

Important Information

Our work in defence, security and intelligence requires our employees to be British Citizens who are able to gain a high level of security clearance to understand the work you will undertake to protect us from any security threats. For this reason, we regret that only UK Nationals will be able to apply for this role. If you are an international or dual-national candidate, and you think you have the skills we need, please consider applying to any of our government, security or defence partners across the enterprise. We work closely with the Defence and Security Industry on many projects, so it would be great to work with you via one of our partners.

This role will require full UK security clearance and you should have resided in the UK for the past 5 years.

Qualifications

A recognised Safety qualification at National Qualifications Framework Level 6 (NEBOSH Diploma) or NVQ equivalent.

Hold Grad IOSH (or equivalent).

Behaviours

We'll assess you against these behaviours during the selection process:

Working Together

Making Effective Decisions

Communicating and Influencing

Managing a Quality Service

Technical skills

We'll assess you against these technical skills during the selection process:

Experience of advising on the practical implementation of Health and Safety regulations in a hazardous or science and technology environment.

Undertaking assurance activities in novel or complex environments.

Building relationships and collaborating across business areas.

Benefits

We'll provide a great range of benefits including;

- Fully flexible working, including alternative working patterns, annualised hours, compressed hours and job share, to name a few.

- Flexible Working hours, a 12 month reference period and the ability to bank hours. Up to 20 hours can be taken in any calendar month

- Excellent learning and development to ensure everyone fulfils their potential.

- Maternity, adoption or shared parental leave of up to 26 weeks full pay followed by 13 weeks statutory pay and a further 13 weeks unpaid, and paternity leave of 2 weeks full pay.

- Chartership and accreditation support.

- Pension.

- Generous annual leave, with the ability to buy and sell up to 5 days holiday per year.

- A competitive salary.

- Onsite gyms and restaurants.

- Staff discounts for high street and online shopping, restaurants and days out.

Our Diversity Networks

Dstl recognises the importance of diversity and inclusion as people from diverse backgrounds bring fresh ideas. We are committed to building an inclusive working environment in which each employee fulfils their potential and maximises their contribution. We have a number of support networks to ensure all employees feel supported at work.

These include the following;

- Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity Network

- Faith and Culture Network

- Parents and Carer Support Network

- Alternative Working Network

- Gender Equality Network

- New Starters Network

- Enabled Network, for people with visible and non-visible disabilities