Head of Health and Safety

To act as the Trust's competent person for health and safety as the recognised expert for analysing levels of health and safety practice across the organisation, interpreting evidence and using well-developed judgement skills to assess working practices.

Maintaining specialist knowledge of national and local policy and best practice relating to health and safety and identifying the implications of associated changes for the Trust and make appropriate recommendations for change to Trust policies and processes as required. In respect of any changes this role would engage proactively and work collaboratively with process owners to ensure such change is delivered on a timely and sustainable basis.

Manage and provide operational leadership to the Health & Safety team, developing the team members to enable the team to offer high quality, effective and pragmatic improvement solutions to all H&S risks.

Develop effective working relationships with clinical and corporate leads responsible for risk and risk management within their teams to ensure that risk management activities are undertaken and owned within the clinical and corporate services and that effective reporting structures are embedded to support this.

The post-holder is the lead specialist in the field of Health & Safety and use their own initiative to provide leadership and specialist expertise at all levels of the organisation. They will work closely with Executives, Corporate Directors and Trust Senior Managers to develop, promote and advise on requirements, processes and practices to ensure compliance with health and safety statutory requirements.

They will be responsible for promoting awareness and high standards for health and safety to ensure the Trust maintains a safe environment for staff, patient, visitors and the general public. Working with the Trust Executive through the Company Secretary and Chief Governance Officer, the Trust Management Committee members and wider operational Senior Managers, the post holder will lead on sometimes highly complex health and safety issues to influence and deliver long-term strategic frameworks and implementation plans specifically for health and safety management. Working in partnership with the Trust’s leads for patient safety and risk, the postholder will also develop the culture and practices throughout the organisation and lead on the design, roll-out and monitoring the uptake of health and safety related learning.

At UHSussex, diversity is our strength, and we want you to feel included to help us always put the Patient First. Your uniqueness and experiences will be part of our creative and innovative community where everyone is encouraged to succeed. We have a range of Staff Networks to help break down barriers, and can offer a buddy to help new members settle in. We’re proud to be a Disability Confident Employer (Level 2) and a Veteran Aware Trust.

We treat our patients and staff with the same compassion and empathy we expect for ourselves. We’re here for them when they need us, and we go above and beyond to meet their needs. This can be seen in our Wellbeing Programme for staff which is extensive and designed to support you when you need it, including where possible, flexible working to support work life balance - because we know that to look after others we must first look after ourselves.

As a university trust and a leader in healthcare research, we value learning, teaching and training so that we can be the best that we can be. From the moment you start with us and throughout your career we will help you to grow and develop. We hope that in choosing UHSussex you are choosing a long and happy career where you will be able to see the difference you make and feel valued for all that you do.

We look forward to receiving your application and the start of your journey with UHSussex.

The Head of Health and Safety is responsible for:

• The management and provision of comprehensive and high-quality health and safety service across the Trust.
• Formulating and leading the development of a Trust-wide Health and Safety Strategy, promoting a raised awareness of health and safety and non-clinical risk management across the organisation so that health and safety is integral to all activities/arrangements in place.
• Working across directorates with senior managers to ensure all health and safety risks are identified, assessed and action plans developed to mitigate risks the organisation is exposed to.
• Ensuring systems are in place to evidence compliance with legislation, standards and approved codes of practice for health and safety.
• Providing expert support, advice, training and leadership on health and safety issues. This includes supporting the identification, management, reporting, investigation and learning from risks and incidents.
• Developing strategies and policies, investigate incidents and provide comprehensive reports on findings and recommendations in order to comply with legislation and to advise on the adoption of best practice.
• Leading on external assessments and meeting deadlines set for actions and results set both internally and externally, e.g. HSE requesting actions relating to an inspection or audit, designing and delivering training packages, attending meetings, requests and enquiries managing other team and own workloads.
• Acting as the Trust’s Specialist Lead in health and safety and be responsible for the development, promotion and advice on requirements, processes and practices to ensure compliance with health and safety statutory requirements.