Health and Safety Manager

This role is not eligible for visa sponsorship. Applicants must already hold the right to work in the UK independently, with a visa or immigration status that allows them to fulfil the full duration and type of contract offered. The Trust is unable to provide visa sponsorship for this position.

An exciting opportunity has arisen for a person who has the passion, enthusiasm and a genuine concern for the health, safety and wellbeing of our patients and staff to join the Estates team at Dartford and Gravesham NHS Trust. The applicant will need to demonstrate an aptitude to lead, support and challenge us to continuously improve our practices and to develop a culture that promotes the safest ways of working.

As our Health & Safety Manager, you will be the lead in providing assurance to the Board of compliance with Health and Safety statutory duties and will therefore need to demonstrate a wide range of experience, an ability to foster productive working relationships and have a strong sense of responsibility and resilience.

Reporting to the Associate Director of Estates, the successful applicant will have extensive knowledge and experience of working within the field of health, safety and risk that will ensure cohesive working with our Estates, Occupational Health and Central Governance teams in the continuous improvement of safe standards of care.

Main duties of the job

The post holder will be the Trust's competent person in relation to Health and Safety. This will include both strategic and operational functions, including supporting the development of policy, strategy, periodic audits, safety assessments, and delivery of Health and Safety training. They will be the primary source of advice in all matters related to Health and Safety, and be the key contact for the Health and Safety Executive. The post holder will ensure the Trust maintains compliance with legislation and all relevant regulations.

The Health and Safety Manager will provide expert advice and support Trust managers, committees and staff at all levels, including the application of legislation, best practice and the identification and delivery of solutions to Health and Safety hazards and risks.

The post holder will lead on the monitoring of Trust performance against the Trust Health & Safety strategy and policy requirements such as risk mitigations, accident and incident reports and support all related investigations to a satisfactory standard, ensuring that causative factors are identified and all necessary actions are taken.

Job responsibilities

• Act as the competent person for the organisation to advise the Board on Health and Safety legislation and be the key contact with the Health and Safety Executive (as required by the Health and Safety at Work Act etc.).
• Implement the Trusts Health and Safety policy to meet the requirements of the Trust and external regulators. Develop and improve the policy as required, whilst ensuring it remains valid and in date.
• Ensure, so far as is reasonably practicable, that Trust managers are aware of their statutory Health and Safety responsibilities and help put in place steps to ensure they can meet these requirements.
• Provide expert advice and support to the Trust ensuring compliance with the Health, Safety at Work Act (1974) etc.
• Ensure all reporting requirements to the Health and Safety Executive are met for the Reporting to Injuries, Diseases and Dangerous Occurrences Regulations 2013 (RIDDOR). Also ensuring that those incidents are recorded on the incident reporting system (Healthcare Guardian) and have been communicated immediately to the Head of Health and Wellness or the relevant Divisional/Speciality Management Team to enable prompt reporting within the statutory timescales.
• Keep abreast of new legislation and developments in the field of Health and Safety.
• Undertake risk assessments, and specialist risk assessments as required.
• Maintain occupational competence in all aspects of Health and Safety practice.
• Report on incident reporting and trends to the Divisional Governance Meetings and to the Health and Safety Group.
• Maintain records of RIDDOR reports using the incident reporting database.

Education and Training

• Postgraduate Health and Safety qualification
• Chartered member of IOSH (or evidence of working towards)
• Root cause analysis trained
• Evidence of CPD (MyCPD)
• Recognised training qualification, eg CertEd, Level 3 Award in Education and Training
• Recognised risk management qualification

Knowledge and Skills

• Extensive and in-depth knowledge of Health and Safety Legislation, statutory instruments and best practice recommendations
• Up to date knowledge of the standards pertaining to Healthcare provider organisations (including CQC standards)
• Experience in developing and implementing policy
• Able to compile, analyse and report on complex data
• Excellent verbal and written communication skills
• Excellent interpersonal skills including persuasiveness and influencing
• Able to develop and deliver training
• IT Literate
• Understanding of Safeguarding obligations towards adults and children
• Working knowledge of the NHS
• Knowledge of the function of committees within public bodies
• Detailed knowledge of Modern Risk Management principles and techniques
• Able to deliver training to large groups and to all levels of the organisation
• Knowledge of the Healthcare Guardian Incident management system (InPhase) or similar incident reporting systems.
• Understanding of NHS Never Events, what they are, and how to prevent them
• Knowledge of Information Governance (IG) and IT Security systems
• Knowledge of NHS Emergency Preparedness, Resilience and Response.

Experience

• Significant experience in a similar role in the NHS, Social Care, education sector or other public body
• Experience of working in project teams and providing competent specialist advice
• Experience of reporting requirements to the HSE
• Experience of presenting papers and reports to public sector risk-related committees
• Experience of Health and Safety management within the NHS

Disclosure and Barring Service Check

This post is subject to the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act (Exceptions Order) 1975 and as such it will be necessary for a submission for Disclosure to be made to the Disclosure and Barring Service (formerly known as CRB) to check for any previous criminal convictions.

£59,798 to £67,020 per annum inclusive of allowances