About the job

Job summary

Diverse Perspectives and experiences are critical to our success, and we welcome applications from all people from all backgrounds with the experience and skills needed to perform this role. We look forward to receiving your application. 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 Health and Safety Executive (HSE) is an independent regulator for work-related health and safety in Great Britain. We believe everyone has the right to come home safe and well from their job. That’s why our mission is to protect people and places, helping everyone lead safer and healthier lives.

We don’t just inspect workplaces and investigate incidents, we campaign for better Health & Safety practice, we develop and review guidance and regulations, we provide specialist products and services both here and overseas, and we produce crucial research and statistics, all towards our goal of helping Great Britain work well.

We have an exciting opportunity for an enthusiastic and motivated diving specialist to join HSE’s Science Division (SD). This role will appeal to those with a technical background and/or practical experience of diving plant and equipment. The successful candidate will be expected to contribute to other work within the Exposure Assessment and Control (EAC) team (part of the Health Group) or the engineering team (part of Major Hazards Group), dependant on skills and background. SD has a wide range of technical and diverse disciplines requiring flexible and collaborative working.

The position will be based at our Science & Research Centre in Buxton, Derbyshire. The Centre is an internationally renowned scientific facility, providing industry and Government with health and safety solutions. Employing a diverse range of talented scientific, medical and technical specialists, in a purpose-built laboratory at our 550-acre site.

Whatever your role, we take your career and development seriously, and want to enable you to build a fulfilling and successful career with HSE and the wider Civil Service. It is crucial that our employees have the right skills to develop their careers and meet the challenges ahead; you will benefit from regular performance and development reviews to ensure this development is ongoing. As a Civil Service employee, you will be entitled to a large range of benefits, including payment of relevant professional memberships, access to learning and development and the opportunity to attend seminars and conferences both within and occasionally outside the UK.

More details about the services available at the Science & Research Centre and HSE can be found on our website here: www.hse.gov.uk

Job description

We have an exciting position which will appeal to individuals with a practical, technical background in the diving industry. You will be required to deliver work to support diving investigations and liaising with HSE specialist diving inspectors. This will include performing visual inspections of diving plant/equipment and conducting objective testing on breathing gases, and diving equipment such as regulators and hats/full face masks. There will be a requirement to provide proactive assistance with testing of diving plant against national/internal standards, as required. You will be expected to work with others in HSE’s Energy Division and the wider HSE. You will be self-motivated and strive for quality outcomes. You will need to, under challenge, think strategically and engage at different levels with technical, regulatory and policy colleagues within the organisation. This role requires stakeholder engagement with external agencies and collaborative working. You will work with others to ensure the timely delivery of HSE’s investigation, research and commercial work. You will be expected to work with and assist colleagues not only across the Health Group but also across HSE as part of their programmes of work.

At HSE, we are proud to be able to offer our people the opportunity to work in a hybrid way which combines working from home and the office. This is a voluntary, non-contractual arrangement and your allocated office will be your contractual place of work.

The practical laboratory based nature of the work means there will be a requirement to regularly attend the Buxton site for practical work in our laboratory facilities, collaborative working and supporting & training colleagues. In addition, you may be required to travel across the UK for site visits, including overnight stays. Please note that if you are successful, hybrid working will be discussed prior to taking up the post.

Part time working hours are available for this role. We can accept part time applicants, who can commit to working a minimum of 30 hours per week.

Person specification

Responsibilities

The responsibilities of your role will include, but will not be limited to:

• Investigation support to diving investigations including visual inspections of dive plant/equipment and identifying potential defects or areas for concern. You will be required to conduct quantitative assessments including objective testing of the composition of breathing gases, function and performance of diving plant such as regulators, diving hat/masks and buoyancy devices.
• Providing inspection and proactive assistance as required. For example, testing of diving plant to ensure compliance with national/international standards.
• Maintaining and operating the diving testing facilities and equipment.
• Stakeholder engagement with other agencies where HSE is not the enforcing authority (e.g. Police, HM Coroners, Local Authorities).
• Excellent organisational and preparedness skills for planning, scheduling and undertaking a varied workload, to maximise time and productivity and ensuring delivery to time, cost and quality.

Person specification

Essential skills and criteria

You will have:

• Significant, relevant and recent practical experience of diving plant/equipment.
• Technical expertise to perform visual inspections and reporting on visual defects and areas of concern in relation to diving equipment.
• Ability to perform objective testing of breathing gases, function and performance of diving plant from a wide range of manufacturers, such as regulators, buoyancy control devices (BCDs), rebreathers, diving hats/full face masks, and recovering data from dive computers.
• Excellent communication skills, enabling you to manage and collaborate effectively, maintain positive professional working relationships, engage with others at all levels both within HSE and with external agencies and stakeholders.
• Experience of writing reports and communicating findings. With good presentation skills, for internal and wider industry meetings and conferences.
• The ability to work both as part of a team and autonomously across boundaries of the Science Division and rest of HSE.

Desirable past experience and skills

Practical experience in maintenance of respiratory protective equipment (RPE).

Benefits

Alongside your salary of £40,788, Health and Safety Executive contributes £11,012 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

This vacancy is using Success Profiles (opens in a new window), and will assess your Behaviours, Experience and Technical skills.

Application:

Please provide a CV that concisely outlines your career history, skills, experience and qualifications.

You will be invited to submit:

• A personal statement of up to 1000 words, which demonstrates how you meet the essential skills and criteria of the person specification .

Please follow the guidance provided when considering and completing your application.

Use of examples are welcomed utilising the STAR method (Situation, Task, Action, Result) that highlight your suitability for the role and how you meet the essential skills & criteria and specified Behaviours. We recommend using the available word count to give a range of examples showing what you did, what challenges were met, how these were overcome and what the outcome was. Guidance may be found on the Civil Service Careers site here.

SIFT:

Your Application will be assessed on:

• CV
• Your Personal Statement

Sift is due to take place on the week commencing the 8th of January 2024. 

Interview

If you are successful at SIFT you will be invited to interview where you will be assessed on the behaviours (Making effective decisions and Communicating and influencing), Technical skills and your experience, as detailed in the job advert.

Interviews will take place in person at HSE Buxton on Tuesday 23rd January. 

Dates are subject to change and you will be notified should changes be required.

Please note that a Reserve List will be held for the period of up to 12 months.

Due to the nature of security checks undertaken, applicants must have 3 years continuous residency in the UK up to the date of the application and, Home Office approval for indefinite leave to remain within the UK.

It is the candidate’s responsibility to ensure they are aware of the terms and conditions they will adopt should they be successful in their application.

For a summary of HSE terms and conditions as part of Civil Service Reform, please see the attached document.

Any move to HSE from another employer will mean you can no longer access childcare vouchers. This includes moves between government departments. You may however be eligible for other government schemes, including Tax Free Childcare.

If you have a disability and you need an application form in an alternative format or you would like to know more about our recruitment process, please contact: hr.resourcing-team@hse.gov.uk

Please note, if you are a current civil servant and you are currently undergoing any of the following formal actions your application will not be progressed any further; Formal discipline action, any formal action regarding attendance, poor performance or any restriction of duties as a result of disciplinary action.

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

Security

Successful candidates must undergo a criminal record check. 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.