Health & Safety Advisor (NHS)

The main purpose of the job is to provide specialist health and safety advice to the NHS Trust, demonstrating a significant knowledge of the legislation and regulatory framework, including NHS guidelines. The post-holders will also be responsible for the provision of high-quality health and safety training to Trust staff.

Post-holders will be responsible for supporting the development, implementation, and communication of all health and safety-related strategies, policies and procedures in order to ensure compliance with national standards and best practices.

Location: Uxbridge

Temporary: Expected to last 3 months with possible extension

Hours per week: 37.5 hours per week

Salary: Upto £27.00 (Umbrella) or £24.00 per hour (PAYE) dependent on experience

Skills and experience

• Health and Safety qualification (e.g. BSc Occupational Health & Safety Management or NEBOSH Certificate / Diploma) or relevant qualification accompanied by a significant experience of working in a health and safety role
• Significant experience of working in a health and safety advisory post in a complex organisation
• In-depth knowledge of health and safety legislation required to advise on all aspects of risk management within the Trust
• Effective presentation skills
• Ability to use windows applications and databases
• Good communication skills
• Ability to work as part of a team
• Ability to meet deadlines
• Ability to produce good quality written reports and analyse both quantitative and qualitative data sets

PRINCIPLE DUTIES (i.e. Key responsibilities)

• Provide expert advice, support, training, and leadership on all aspects of health and safety
• Support the Safety & Resilience Manager in the development of an annual work plan in line with the needs of the organisation and statutory requirements.
• In liaison with the Safety & Resilience Manager, ensure the Trust is made aware of new applicable legislation and guidance as it arises.
• Investigate health and safety incidents, including Serious Untoward Incident (SUI) to identify relevant root causes, risk management strategies and support the sharing of lessons learned
• Deliver interventions aimed at mitigating the risk to the health and safety of staff and others and improving the outcomes in relation to patient, staff and visitor safety.
• Support the development, monitoring, implementation, and review of strategies, policies, and procedures to promote and develop safe systems of work for the Trust, liaising with appropriate managers to support compliance with statutory responsibilities.
• Contribute to the development and maintenance of Risk Registers, maintaining oversight on the implementation of strategic actions required to mitigate risks.
• Support Service Managers and other stakeholders in ensuring the Trust’s health and safety processes meet the business requirements of the organisation and the local needs of services
• Support and coordinate the undertaking of health and safety risk assessments across services to ensure relevant hazards are identified and controlled as far as reasonably practicable
• Undertake regular site inspections and audits and develop and monitor the implementation of action plans necessary to mitigate identified risks, escalating areas of concern in line with the Risk Management Policy for the Trust.
• Support the implementation, monitoring, and compliance with other action plans resulting from audits undertaken by other department or external organisations, including statutory returns to external regulatory bodies
• Support the Safety & Resilience Manager to ensure corporate policies, processes and procedures are regularly reviewed and updated to meet relevant requirements.
• Produce regular reports for Divisional and Corporate Health and Safety Groups, providing an effective overview of the Trust performance against key indicators for health and safety.
• Upon request, produce reports to analyse health and safety-related data, draw conclusions and make recommendations on appropriate actions to be taken.
• Support the Emergency Planning and Business Continuity Manager to ensure that appropriate plans are in place and provide support to local managers in reviewing these.
• Represent the Trust’s health and safety function at external meetings, forums, and seminars.
• Work collaboratively with colleagues across the Trust to provide a comprehensive and coordinated approach to risk mitigation across the Trust.