About the job

Job summary

Safety Coordinator

SEO National - £38,724 - £44,393 per annum

Based at UKHSA Porton Down

Permanent Contract

 

Are you passionate about ensuring the safety and well-being of people working on the frontlines of public health? Do you have experience in complying with Health and Safety and Bio-security regulations and standards? If so, you might be the perfect candidate for our Safety Coordinator role.

 

As a Safety Coordinator, you will join a team of dedicated professionals who are working on cutting-edge research and development of vaccines, therapeutics, and diagnostics for infectious diseases. You will work closely with the Vaccine Development, Evaluation and Preparedness Division and the Diagnostic and Pathogen Characterisation Centre at Porton, which together have about 300 staff and are responsible for preparing and coordinating responses to potential healthcare emergencies, such as bioterrorism.

 

You will ensure that we adhere to all relevant Health and Safety and Bio-security laws and regulations, as well as our own Corporate Health and Safety policies and procedures. You will also support our department’s research activities, which span both basic and applied research on diseases such as TB, meningitis, anthrax, plague, SARs/COVID and more. Some of our work requires high containment level facilities, so you will need to be comfortable working in such environments.

 

Location

Based at UKHSA Porton Down – due to the nature of the role, you will be expected to be based on-site on a full time basis

 

*Please be aware that this role can only be worked from within the UK and not overseas. Relocation expenses are not available.* 

 

Working Pattern – Full Time

Job description

The job holder will be required to carry out the following responsibilities, activities and duties:

• Ensure the timely progression of health and safety actions arising from incidents investigation, inspections, and audits
• Ensure that regular inspection programmes (e.g. quarterly H&S inspections, visual electrical checks etc.) are carried out.
• Contribute to the system of auditing and seeking assurance of health and safety in accordance with UKHSA polices and procedure and the H&S plan
• Have an overview of data entry onto the Trackwise system, as applied to H&S incidents and near misses, to ensure the quality of reports and the appropriate root cause analysis and progression of actions
• Produce regular H&S reports for management as required
• Contribute to the development of H&S standards and systems applied to Research
• Assist the department project teams to ensure planned review of all risk assessments, to ensure that they are suitable, sufficient and in date
• Participate and lead as necessary in emergency and unplanned events, this may include participating in investigations of accidents and incidents as necessary
• To identity, coordinate and deliver (where appropriate) H&S training requirements, including safety inductions, and ensure that they are implemented
• In conjunction with department project teams, to develop and deliver training in core safety subject

The duties/responsibilities listed above describe the post as it is at present and is not intended to be exhaustive. The Job holder is expected to accept reasonable alterations and additional tasks of a similar level that may be necessary.

Please see job description attached for full list of duties and competencies associated with the post.

Person specification

Essential Criteria:

It is important through your application and Statement of Suitability of 1000 words that you give evidence and examples of proven experience of each of the essential criteria (for full details of all essential criteria please refer to the attached job description):

 

Essential

• BSc in life science subject /Public Health OR safety experience
• Knowledge/experience of industry safety requirements
• Experience of laboratory safety. Experience of containment microbiology and working with pathogens
• Proficient in analysing and presenting key information both orally and as part of reports'
• Leadership – able to motivate others, encourage teamwork, delegate, and get the best out of people
• Proficient in analysing and presenting key information both orally and as part of reports

 

Desirable

• Evidence of H&S qualification OR undertaking (NEBOSH General Certificate or equivalent OR experience of undertaking a local Health and Safety role
• Registration with H&S professional body
• Experience and understanding of project management

 

Please ensure that your statement of suitability does not contain any personal identifiers such as Name, Gender, Location, Marital Status, Sexual Orientation or Religion. The UKHSA operates a fair and open recruitment policy.

Benefits

Alongside your salary of £38,724, UK Health Security Agency contributes £10,455 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

STAGE 1 - APPLICATION & SIFT: 

You will be required to complete an application form. This will be assessed in line with the full list of essential criteria as detailed in the attached job description – please do provide evidence of how you meet this. 

If you are successful at this stage, you will progress to an interview.

STAGE 2 – INTERVIEW 

This competition will involve an in-person interview

As part of the process, candidates will be invited to interview which will involve an in-depth discussion of your previous experience and professional competence in relation to the criteria set out in the Person Specification. 

Your Statement of Suitability should outline your skills, experience, and achievements, providing evidence of your suitability for the role, with reference to the essential criteria (outlined in the person specification section).

You will also be asked to provide information within the ‘Employer/ Activity history’ section of the application form. This is equivalent to the information you would provide on a CV, setting out your career history.  

The Success Profiles framework will be used to assess and recruit the most suitable candidate.  The following behaviours and strengths will be used at the interview:

Behaviours:

• Changing and Improving
• Making Effective Decisions
• Communicating and Influencing
• Working Together

 

Strengths:

• Disciplined
• Influencer
• Improver
• Organiser
• Relationship Builder

 

Expected Timeline:

Advert close: 23:55hrs on 24th March 2024 – unfortunately, late applications will not be considered. Once this job has closed, the job advert will no longer be available. You may want to save a copy for your records.

Shortlist: 28th March 2024

Interviews: w/c 8th April 2024

Please note these dates could be subject to change.  

 

Eligibility Criteria

Open to all external applicants (anyone) from outside the Civil Service (including by definition internal applicants)

Nationality requirements

Appointments to roles within UKHSA will be made in accordance with the Civil Service nationality rules. These can be found at https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/nationality-rules This job is broadly open to the following groups:

• UK nationals
• Nationals of Commonwealth countries who have the right to work in the UK
• Nationals of the Republic of Ireland
• Nationals from the EU, EEA or Switzerland with settled or pre-settled status or who apply for either status by the deadline of the European Union Settlement Scheme (EUSS)
• Relevant EU, EEA, Swiss or Turkish nationals working in the Civil Service
• Relevant EU, EEA, Swiss or Turkish nationals who have built up the right to work in the Civil Service
• Certain family members of the relevant EU, EEA, Swiss or Turkish nationals

We recruit by merit on the basis of fair and open competition, as outlined in the Civil Service Commission's Recruitment Principles.

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 welcomes applications from people who have recently left prison or have an unspent conviction. Read more about prison leaver recruitment.

Security clearance level requirement

Successful candidates must pass a disclosure and barring security check.  Successful candidates must meet the security requirements before they can be appointed. The level of security needed is Basic Personnel Security Standard.  People working with government assets must complete Basic Personnel Security Standard checks.

For posts on UKHSA Civil Service terms and conditions, new entrants to the Civil Service are expected to start on the minimum of the pay band. For existing Civil Servants and roles advertised across government, the rules of transfer apply, i.e., level transfers move on current salary or the pay range minimum, transfers on promotion move to new pay range minimum or receive a 10% increase. Either case is determined by whichever is the highest. 

Please Note

This role is to be appointed under Civil Service Terms & Conditions. Full details on the T&C’s are found https://www.ukhsa.reed.com/

Are you already a civil servant, or employed by a Civil Service Commission accredited public body? Please state home department on your application form.

Do you meet the nationality requirements for this post? https://www.ukhsa.reed.com/

Complaint process:

The law requires that selection for appointment to the Civil Service is on merit on the basis of fair and open competition as outlined in the Civil Service Commission's Recruitment Principles. If you feel your application has not been treated in accordance with the Recruitment Principles, and you wish to make a complaint, in the first instance, you should contact UKHSA Public Accountability Unit via email: Complaints1@ukhsa.gov.uk. If you are not satisfied with the response you receive from the Department, you can contact the Civil Service Commission: Visit the Civil Service Commission website. 

 

 

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

Security

Successful candidates must undergo a criminal record check. 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.