Environmental Health Officer (Food Safety & Standards)

Pembrokeshire County Council; United Kingdom; On-site; GBP 30,000 - 50,000; Full time

Job summary

Join a forward-thinking council dedicated to ensuring food safety and standards. In this impactful role, you will conduct inspections, investigate food-related incidents, and provide compliance advice to businesses. This position offers a chance to make a real difference in consumer protection while enjoying a beautiful working environment. With competitive pay, generous leave, and a range of employee benefits, this is an excellent opportunity for motivated individuals looking to advance their careers in public health and safety.

Benefits

Competitive salary and pay structure

Generous annual leave entitlement

Employee Volunteering Scheme

Local Government Pension Scheme

Extensive learning resources

Flexible working opportunities

Relocation package for eligible candidates

Qualifications

• Degree in Environmental Health or equivalent qualifications required.
• Experience in food law enforcement and disease investigation is essential.

Responsibilities

• Conduct inspections and ensure compliance with food safety regulations.
• Investigate food-related incidents and complaints effectively.

Skills

Food Law Enforcement

Investigative Skills

Communication Skills

Problem-Solving Skills

Education

BSc (Hons) Degree in Environmental Health

MSc in Environmental Health

Higher Certificate in Food Control

Advanced Professional Certificate in Food Hygiene

Job description

Join our Food Safety and Standards Team and play a key role in delivering the Authority's food law enforcement services, which aim to ensure that food produced, sold, or supplied within Pembrokeshire is safe and wholesome; produced under hygienic conditions; of an acceptable quality and composition; and suitably labelled and advertised, to protect the health of the public and the rights and expectations of consumers.

Key Responsibilities

• Undertake proactive food safety and standards inspections, across a wide range of food businesses, including a diverse mixture of manufacturers and approved premises pursuant to the approval process and to ensure that applicable conditions are met.
• Take food samples for microbiological examination or analysis, as required, as part of planned sampling programmes and on a targeted basis in support of investigations, taking prompt action where results indicate a lack of compliance/conformity.
• Prioritise and respond to service requests, investigating complaints about food and food premises, and food-related incidents.
• Where food businesses may be implicated as the source of a food-borne disease or illness, work closely with colleagues across the wider Service, to investigate the source of infection and mode of transmission, providing advice and/or taking enforcement action to prevent further spread, and to identify any steps that should be taken to prevent future occurrences.
• Carry out revisits to check compliance with requirements following proactive/reactive intervention and for the purpose of rescoring premises under the Food Hygiene Rating Scheme.
• Provide general compliance advice to food businesses, including the provision of fee-based advisory visits and engage in Primary Authority Partnership activities, when appropriate.

About You

We are looking for a highly motivated individual with a BSc (Hons) Degree in Environmental Health or MSc in Environmental Health, and registered with the CIEH as an Environmental Health Practitioner. Applications would also be considered from suitably experienced officers holding a Higher Certificate in Food Control (awarded by the EHRB or CIEH) or Advanced Professional Certificate in Food Hygiene and Standards Control (awarded by the CIEH) and registered with the EHRB as a Food Safety Practitioner, or equivalent antecedent qualifications.

You should have experience in food law enforcement and ideally communicable disease investigation and control. You will have the ability to communicate effectively, both orally and in writing, and have good investigative and problem-solving skills. You will need to be able to communicate confidently and tactfully, to promote understanding and secure compliance, while having the capability and experience to use a range of formal enforcement tools where required.

A valid driving licence and access to a vehicle for business use is required.

Why Join Us?

You'll enjoy a varied and impactful role, working across diverse locations in a beautiful region. We support professional development and offer the opportunity to make a real difference in consumer protection and business compliance.

As well as offering the opportunity to live, work and enjoy a beautiful part of the country, we offer a comprehensive range of employee benefits, which include:

• Competitive salary, fair and transparent pay structure, and nationally agreed annual pay awards.
• An additional 'Gateway Payment' of £3,000* (as outlined in the Pay Structure Maintenance Policy s.4.3)
• Generous annual leave entitlement of 26 working days paid leave per year - rising to 31 days after 5 years' continuous service (pro rata)
• 8 additional public holidays (pro rata)
• Additional Annual Leave Purchase Scheme
• Employee Volunteering Scheme with up to three days paid time off to volunteer
• Excellent Local Government Pension Scheme membership (career average defined benefit pension scheme), with 17.7% employer contribution.
• Wide and supportive range of Occupational Health, Safety and Wellbeing resources, including a professional in-house occupational health service
• Extensive learning resources to support career development
• Career growth pathways
• Generous occupational Maternity and Paternity pay plans, in excess of statutory benefits
• Salary Sacrifice Car and Cycle Schemes
• Access to a wide range of discounts and offers
• Occupational Sick Pay (dependent on length of service)
• Flexible working and smarter working opportunities
• Relocation package for eligible candidates.

'Working together, improving lives'

Please refer to the job description above for more details on this vacancy and the person specification.

Employment Checks

This post is subject to a DBS disclosure check.

Where it is appropriate for your role and responsibility, the personal information we have collected from you will be shared with Cifas who will use it to prevent fraud, other unlawful or dishonest conduct, malpractice, and other seriously improper conduct. If any of these are detected you could be refused certain services or employment. Your personal information will also be used to verify your identity. Further details of how your information will be used by us and Cifas, and your data protection rights, can be found by visiting https://www.cifas.org.uk/fpn.

Applicants should ensure they have the right to work in the UK before applying for a vacancy.

Please note that at this point, Pembrokeshire County Council is not accepting applicants who require a Skilled Worker visa as a prerequisite to a right to work in the UK. Applicants should ensure they have the right to work in the UK before applying for a vacancy.

Safeguarding

Safeguarding and protecting children and adults at risk is a high priority for Pembrokeshire County Council. We aim to support vulnerable children and adults at risk to ensure they are as safe as they can possibly be. We are committed to ensuring their safety and will take action to safeguard their well-being. The Council's Corporate Safeguarding Policy provides a framework for every member of staff and Service within the Council, setting out responsibilities in relation to safeguarding and protecting children and adults at risk as well as the methods by which the Council will be assured that it is fulfilling its duties.

This policy applies to all Council employees and workforce, councillors, volunteers and also service providers that are commissioned by the Council. Safeguarding is everyone's business whether they work for, or on behalf of, the Council.

Support & Additional Info

• Please contact the HR Systems Team as early as possible if you're unable to apply online by emailing [e-mail] .
• Please contact the Recruitment Team if you have any queries relating to this vacancy by emailing [e-mail] .
• Local Government Employees on National Joint Council (NJC) terms are subject to national pay bargaining; all salaries currently stated in our adverts are as 01/04/2023.
• Please note, we have a legal obligation to consider employees for suitable alternative employment if their posts are at risk; therefore prior consideration will be given to existing employees who meet the person specification and are registered on our redeployment pool.

Welsh language skills are desirable. Applications may be submitted in Welsh and will not be treated less favourably than applications submitted in English.