Head of Health and Safety

What you can expect from us

• We offer a competitive salary of £85,800 per annum
• 32 days annual leave plus bank holidays.
• Opportunity to further increase annual leave with service or through the holiday purchase scheme.
• Immediate entry to our Pension scheme (matched contributions up to 10%).
• A great flexible working environment, with a range of family friendly policies.
• Simply Health cash plan with financial benefits and the option to extend to your family. Cover includes dental, optical, physiotherapy, 24HR private GP access and much more.
• Paid leave for absence including sickness, maternity, paternity, and adoption leave.
• Access of up to £150 annually through the ‘Learning for life’ scheme.
• Access to a wide range of discounts and cash back offers, ranging from retail and automotive to holidays and cycle to work scheme.
• Develop your career with support and access to training and qualifications allowing you to develop your professional development to MRICS.

About the role

Onward Homes is looking to recruit a Head of Safety to ensure that Onward complies with its legal and statutory obligations in relation to our colleagues, contractors, customers and other stakeholders to support the development of a culture of Health and Safety in Onward.

We are seeking candidates for a 12 month Fixed term contract that have an in depth understanding of the property, construction and wider built environment and can lead and develop a team of Health and Safety Business Partners to deliver proactive and collaborative approach to occupational health and safety.

Role requirements

This role is a home-based role, where there is no daily requirement to attend an office, but the successful candidate will be expected to attend the offices and sites across the north west for collaboration and business partnering meetings on a week to week basis.

Key Responsibilities

Strategy

Develop a strategic approach to Occupational Health and Safety that promotes a positive health, safety and wellbeing culture reduces risk and increases the competency of our colleagues to support the development of a Health and Safety Culture. Provide assurance to the Executive Directors and relevant Committees, and keep management up to date on legal requirements affecting health and safety and business practices across all areas on Occupational H&S. Provide practical advice to Senior Managers to assist in compliance with all relevant health and safety legislation.

Management Systems

Ensure an effective Occupational Health and Safety Management System is in place, implement and monitor safety policies and programs with clear reporting and KPI systems in place to monitor performance, risk and allow corrective action to be taken as required. Liaise with the Fleet & Logistics Manager on all aspects of H&S for company drivers, managing accidents and risks and flagging any concerns or trends in analysis.

Competency

Engage with colleagues across the business and working with HR to develop a comprehensive approach to the development and implementation of a programme of mandatory and other training that ensure the competency of Onward’s colleagues to deliver their duties safely. Work with HR on our approach to Health Surveillance programme for colleagues.

Monitoring and Inspection

Design, develop and implement and co-ordinated programme of inspection, monitoring and audit, including the use of third-party audits to provide assurance that key areas of risk are being managed effectively and that Onward’s safety culture is being embedded successfully.

Management, Leadership and Culture Change

Manage the budgets, resources and priorities across your team ensuring flexibility effective and efficient use of resources to deliver agreed performance targets and customer satisfaction.

Partnership Working

Work collaboratively with your colleagues across the business to ensure a co-ordinated approach to occupational Health and Safety. Build and develop an extensive network of external partnerships to ensure that the interests of the organisation are represented. Be an ambassador for the organisation and an advocate for customers.

Essential Skills, Knowledge and Experience

• A demonstrable commitment to deliver exceptional customer service.
• Proven track record and experience of providing highly technical H&S support and working knowledge of relevant H&S laws.
• Knowledge and track record in the management of occupational health and safety including Health Surveillance programmes and requirements.
• Competent understanding and ability to apply root cause analysis and manage occupational risks.
• Demonstrable knowledge of building construction and property repairs and maintenance including leasehold legislation.
• Demonstrable knowledge of statutory and regulatory requirements in relation to Landlord Compliance and maintenance.
• Knowledge of the requirements of CDM and their application.
• Knowledge of performance and budget management.
• Experience managing relationships with internal and external stakeholders.
• Experience of leading and managing property services teams to high levels of performance including setting objectives, performance targets and delivery.
• IT skills – Microsoft office up to intermediate level.

Qualifications

Essential:

• Professional qualification in a Health and Safety ISOSH, or equivalent qualification/ experience.
• Member of IOSH working towards Chartered Status.

Desirable:

• Degree or equivalent level qualification.

About Onward

Onward Homes is one of the largest registered providers of social housing in the Northwest, with 35,000 properties across the region. We believe that everyone deserves a place to call their own, which is why we’re committed to building 500 new homes each year. We do more than just provide a roof over our customers’ heads, we’re here to make a real difference. In addition to creating positive spaces for our customers we continuously strive to create a positive and progressive workspace to enable our colleagues to achieve their full potential.

We embrace diversity and strive for diverse teams to create an inclusive culture which enables Onward to thrive and be representative of the communities that we serve. We want to ensure that everybody has an opportunity to be part of our recruitment processes and will therefore make reasonable adjustments to accommodate our candidates. Please let us know if there is anything we can do to assist you with our recruitment process via the email address below.

If candidates have any concerns / questions in relation to the role at any stage of the recruitment and selection process they can contact the HR team on HumanResourcesTeam@onward.co.uk and a member of the HR Team will be in touch.

Please note that we reserve the right to close the vacancy early prior to the closing date.