DIO Health & Safety Manager

Ministry of Defence; United Kingdom; Remote; GBP 40,000 - 60,000; Full time

Job summary

A government department in the United Kingdom is seeking a health and safety management professional to oversee compliance and lead health and safety initiatives. The role involves direct management of the Health and Safety Advisor, developing policies, conducting audits, and promoting a strong safety culture. A full UK driving licence is a necessity due to site-based work across various locations.

Qualifications

• A full UK driving licence is required.
• Experience in health and safety management.
• Strong leadership and communication skills.

Responsibilities

• Directly line manages the Health and Safety Advisor.
• Lead on health and safety policies and procedures development.
• Oversee compliance with housing related safety risks.
• Lead investigations into serious incidents and near-misses.
• Work collaboratively with industry partners and contractors.
• Produce regular reports on health and safety performance.
• Promote a strong safety culture through training.

Job description

Responsibilities

• Line Management and Team Leadership: Directly line manages the Health and Safety Advisor, supporting their professional development and performance. Establishes team priorities, objectives, and workload plans aligned to strategic goals. Acts as the escalation point to Health and Safety Advisors and Officers. Undertakes regular one-to-ones and training needs analysis for H&S and other safety critical roles within Accommodation.
• Strategic & Policy Leadership: Lead on the development, implementation and review of health and safety policies and procedures tailored to the accommodation function. Ensure all H&S systems and processes align with statutory requirements, DIO Safety management System, MOD policy and Standards (e.g. JSP 375/815) and best practice. Act as Accommodations competent person and subject matter expert for housing related health and safety risks.
• Compliance, Assurance & Monitoring: Oversee compliance with key housing related safety risks, including asbestos, fire safety, legionella, gas, damp and mould, electrical safety reflecting the risk profile and priorities. Conduct and manage inspections, audits, and assurance activities across accommodation estates. Monitor contractor and internal performance through KPIs, SLAs and audit results, taking corrective actions as necessary.
• Risk & Incident Management: Lead investigations into serious incidents and near-misses, ensuring root cause analysis and corrective actions are implemented. Provide relevant reports. Establish and maintain an Accommodation H&S risk profile (risk register) and H&S improvement plan for the accommodation estate. Support business continuity and emergency planning from a health and safety perspective.
• Stakeholder & Supplier Engagement: Work collaboratively with industry partners, contractors, internal departments, and regulators to ensure safe service delivery and continuous improvement in H&S. Provide expert H&S input into supplier governance, contract management, and service improvement planning. Represent the health safety function at regional and national governance boards, working groups, and assurance forums.
• Reporting & Governance: Produce regular reports on health and safety performance, trends, and risk for senior leadership and departmental governance. Ensure accurate reporting of incidents, RIDDOR compliance, and appropriate escalation of risks and issues. Contribute to responses to internal audits, regulatory inspections, and parliamentary enquiries.
• Training & Culture: Promote a strong safety culture by developing and delivering training, awareness campaigns and H&S communications. Ensure staff and contractors are aware of their roles and responsibilities under H&S legislation and internal policy. Establish the development of a H&S competence framework across the team and wider business to improve the H&S knowledge and skills throughout Accommodation and its stakeholders.

Requirements

• A full UK driving licence is required as the Region is geographically dispersed, and the successful candidate will be site based with a requirement to travel to different locations to fulfil occasional national travel. Public transport is not available to many of our locations.