About the job

Job summary

At Defence Equipment & Support (DE&S), we supply and maintain vital equipment and services for the Royal Navy, British Army and Royal Air Force. Together, we deliver a vast range of essential defence programmes, and strive for what's next. Because it helps keep our military at the top of their game and our nation safe – for today, and tomorrow.

We offer 25+ days’ holiday, flexible and hybrid working, enhanced parental leave schemes, shopping discounts, and an exceptional employer pension contribution of around 27%, to help work, work for you.

Nationality, visas and vetting: We’re unable to offer visa sponsorship.

This role requires you to have lived in the UK for the last 5 years and obtain Security Check (SC) security clearance. Clearance must be obtained without any caveats that prevent you from carrying out the role you have been recruited for. If it isn’t obtained, or is obtained but with caveats that prevent you from carrying out the role, any conditional offer made to you will be withdrawn. Obtaining SC security clearance can be a lengthy process, and we reserve the right to withdraw any conditional offer made if the necessary security clearance isn’t obtained within 12 months.

Job description

Defence Equipment & Support (DE&S) are looking for an experienced Health & Safety Advisor to join our team at HQ BFPO, RAF Northolt. Working in a fast paced and ever-changing environment, with a diverse workload, the role will allow you to gain extensive experience in a wide variety of situations. You will ensure a safe place of work by proactively driving continuous improvement towards DE&S' safety culture with innovative and progressive ideas. You will deliver effective communications to inform and engage both internal and external stakeholders on subjects in your specialism.

You will lead on the application of health and safety principles; OHSE audit and assurance-based activities, developing and implementing policy and procedure as well as safety performance management. Strong communication skills and stakeholder engagement are key to being successful in the role. You will be offered continuous professional development and support to progress your career within the OHSE function in DE&S.

Please note that this role will require full time attendance to the stated site as well as some travel to other UK sites dependent on organisational requirements.

Our BFPO Headquarters are conveniently accessible from the M40 motorway, the A40 and London Underground tube stations.

Roles based at RAF Northolt will attract a locational allowance up to the value of £3,250 pa

What you’ll be doing

• Lead on accident/incident management within area of responsibility, including investigation, internal audits, root cause and gap analysis, identification of lessons learned and production of report, identifying key learning points to drive continuous improvement.
• Act as escalation point for H&S advice and guidance across the business. Manages OHS legislation and regulations within BFPO and be the liaison with the RAF Station and attend committee meetings where required, developing and review policy and guidance documentation and delivering OHSE upskilling and mentoring activities.
• Oversee training and the maintenance and development of appropriate Key Performance Indicators, dashboard reporting, and risk registers in all areas to manage risk and ensure compliance with statutory regulations and obligations.
• Take responsibility as the Assurance and Building Custodian acting as the 1st line focal point for all planned and unplanned works, maintenance, and maintenance reports & minor works requests from BFPO staff and all departments including works, budget bids, Statement of Need (SON) and monitoring in line with the BFPO/DE&S strategy, policies, and budget responsibilities to the BFPO budget owner.
• Manage delivery area communications on key H&S messages, ensuring effective delivery and enactment.
• Act as Line Manager for a small team & supporting development and training needs where appropriate.
• Deliver Occupational Health and Safety Subject Matter Expert (SME) support to Committees and Management Boards (as appropriate) such as compliance status, incident management, statistics/trend analysis, performance indicator assessments and audit outcomes.
• Develop and maintain effective working relationships across the business, at all levels and with other relevant stakeholders such as Delivery Partners, Contractors, and other Defence organisations (e.g., Defence Infrastructure Organisation (DIO), Front Line Commands).
• Will hold budget responsibility and undertake local minor purchases, the postholder will need to liaise with the overall budget holder to ensure the business needs are met and remain compliant.

Person specification

To be successful with your application, you'll need to show that you meet the following essential criteria:

• NEBOSH National General Certificate or equivalent, to be held or qualification to be attained  within first six months of employment.
• Relevant work experience across a similar role and working environment.
• Professional Membership: hold or attain during employment Technical Member IOSH.

In addition to the responsibilities above, the following technical competences and behaviours will be assessed at interview:

• Conducting OHSEP Audit and Assurance Activities – Practitioner
• Conducting Risk Assessments – Practitioner
• Communicating and Influencing
• Managing a Quality Service

Benefits

Alongside your salary of £34,800, Ministry of Defence contributes £9,396 towards you being a member of the Civil Service Defined Benefit Pension scheme. Find out what benefits a Civil Service Pension provides.

Things you need to know

Selection process details

Your application will go through the following stages of assessment:

1. Pre-sift - We will check that you meet any essential or eligibility criteria that are listed in the Person Specification section of this advert. On your CV, please clearly show how you meet the essential criteria.
2. Sift - Your CV will be assessed against the following categories, using a simple numerical scoring system: Key Achievements; Relevant Experience; Applied Knowledge and Skills

Please follow our guidance on CV writing for best chance of success.

1. Interview - If you're invited to interview, you'll be assessed against the Sift categories listed above, as well as the Technical Competences and Behaviours listed in the Person Specification section of this advert.

Feedback will only be provided if you attend an interview.

Feedback will only be provided if you attend an interview or assessment.

Security

Successful candidates must meet the security requirements before they can be appointed. The level of security needed is security check (opens in a new window).

See our vetting charter (opens in a new window). People working with government assets must complete baseline personnel security standard (opens in new window) checks.

Nationality requirements

This job is broadly open to the following groups:

• UK nationals
• nationals of the Republic of Ireland
• nationals of Commonwealth countries who have the right to work in the UK
• nationals of the EU, Switzerland, Norway, Iceland or Liechtenstein and family members of those nationalities with settled or pre-settled status under the European Union Settlement Scheme (EUSS) (opens in a new window)
• nationals of the EU, Switzerland, Norway, Iceland or Liechtenstein and family members of those nationalities who have made a valid application for settled or pre-settled status under the European Union Settlement Scheme (EUSS)
• individuals with limited leave to remain or indefinite leave to remain who were eligible to apply for EUSS on or before 31 December 2020
• Turkish nationals, and certain family members of Turkish nationals, who have accrued the right to work in the Civil Service

Further information on nationality requirements (opens in a new window)

Working for the Civil Service

The Civil Service Code (opens in a new window) sets out the standards of behaviour expected of civil servants.

We recruit by merit on the basis of fair and open competition, as outlined in the Civil Service Commission's recruitment principles (opens in a new window). The Civil Service embraces diversity and promotes equal opportunities. As such, we run a Disability Confident Scheme (DCS) for candidates with disabilities who meet the minimum selection criteria. The Civil Service also offers a Redeployment Interview Scheme to civil servants who are at risk of redundancy, and who meet the minimum requirements for the advertised vacancy.