Senior Health and Safety Manager 30 views

At the Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency (DVLA), we encourage applications from everyone, particularly groups currently underrepresented in our workforce. We pride ourselves on the positive impact diversity has and promote inclusivity and equality of opportunity for all. Our recruitment process is anonymised, which means that your name, date of birth and other personal details will not be seen by the sift panel.

Are you a health and safety professional with experience of working within a large complex corporate environment?

Do you enjoy developing and implementing policies to promote safety?

Are you confident in leading and managing others to achieve business objectives?

If so, we would love to hear from you!

This is a fantastic opportunity to deliver and maintain a strong health and safety culture whilst maintaining compliance. You will also have exposure to a wide range of stakeholders both external and internal, enabling you to build relationships across DVLA.

We are looking for a pragmatic and confident individual to lead our small and dynamic health and safety team, where you will work in a fast paced and varied environment where no two days are the same. You will need to have the capability to work under your own initiative, ensuring that you provide a high quality service which is delivered on time and taking ownership of key decisions that need to be made.

This role is pivotal to ensuring compliance with health and safety legislation across the DVLA estates located in Morriston, Ty-Felin, Swansea Vale and Birmingham. You will be responsible for monitoring and auditing statutory compliance of Principal Service Providers and contractors, managing the risk assessment process and taking the lead in specialist accident investigations, incidents and near misses. You will work with colleagues across the business and with external stakeholders, providing competent and effective advice as well as confidently managing health and safety issues as they arise. You will also be required to attend regular trade union meetings acting as liaison.

Responsibilities

Your responsibilities will include but will not be limited to:

• Establishing management schedules for monitoring of services provided by Principal Services Partners to determine levels of statutory compliance and application of industry best practices, you will prioritise areas for review and monitoring to those with the highest risk to health and safety, business continuity and operational control
• Provision of specialist health and safety guidance, advice and support throughout the Agency at all levels and facilitate training and mentoring for the Health and Safety Team
• Taking the lead in significant accident, incident or near miss investigations, identifying root causes and developing control measures to prevent recurrence. As necessary, acting as a health and safety expert witness/Subject Matter Expert (SME) on behalf of the Agency for investigations, court cases and personal injury claims. Regularly reviewing accident statistics for trends or significant areas of concern
• Taking the lead in regular health and safety meetings including Trade Union, DfT, Regulatory or wider Agency meetings and conferences
• Providing line management for all staff falling within management remit, conducting regular 1-2-1 meetings and providing support and mentoring for staff. Discussing and addressing attendance, behavioural and staff concerns with staff in line with Agency HR Policies and Procedures

For further information about the role please see the attached role profile.

Additional information

Applications will be accepted from full time/part time/job sharers. Full time roles at DVLA consist of 37 hours per week. Part time and/or flexible working may also be available subject to the needs of the business. If you have a flexible or part time working requirement, you should contact the vacancy holder in advance of making an application to avoid possible disappointment later in the process should your desired working arrangements not be compatible with the requirements of the role. To contact the vacancy holder, please use the job contact details listed under ‘Contact point for applicants’.

This role will be based in Swansea, and we will be operating a hybrid working model that allows you to work between home and on-site giving you greater flexibility about where and when you work, subject to business needs and this also allows for ongoing support, development, and collaboration with colleagues.

Therefore, the expectation is that you will spend a minimum of 60% of your working time based at your principal workplace (DVLA). We would encourage you to discuss the working arrangements for this role with us during the recruitment process.

Occasional UK travel may be involved with this role, this will occur as and when required but you will be provided with full notice in advance. Some overnight stays may be included. 

You are a proactive and flexible individual with experience of health and safety within a large complex corporate environment.

You are an excellent communicator who is able to tailor your communication to suit different audiences, influencing and explaining complex information in easy to understand ways. You will have strong leadership skills, the ability to lead teams and projects, ensuring colleagues and stakeholders have a clear understanding of objectives.

You understand your own level of responsibility and empower others to make decisions where appropriate, presenting recommendations in a timely manner outlining the consideration of other options, costs, benefits and risks.

It is important that you are organised, have great attention to detail and are experienced at working to tight deadlines, with the skills to efficiently balance multiple priorities. You’re resilient, with the ability to challenge and influence at all levels, confidently pushing back when required. You can work calmly under pressure and thrive within a diverse and varied workload.

We strive to ensure that DVLA is a great place to work where everybody can be their true self, be treated with dignity and respect, and according to their individual needs. We have a number of staff network groups run by staff to support their colleagues.

Due to the evolving nature of the business, vacancies can become available at any time. Therefore, this campaign may create a reserve list to fulfil demand if it arises which will be held for a period of 12 months.

Lead auditor (if not already, you must be willing to work towards this when in role)