Head of Safety, Health & Environment

ENGINEERINGUK; Derby; Hybrid; GBP 85,000 - 98,000; Full time

Job summary

Join a forward-thinking organization dedicated to safety and sustainability in the railway industry. This role as Head of Safety, Health & Environment offers the chance to make a significant impact on workforce safety and environmental assurance. You will develop and implement effective policies, ensuring continuous improvement and a culture of 'zero harm'. With a focus on leadership and innovation, this position allows you to drive change and enhance operational efficiency. If you are passionate about making a meaningful impact, this is the opportunity for you.

Benefits

28 days annual leave

75% discount on rail season tickets

Flexible working options

Childcare vouchers

Healthcare offers

Paid volunteering leave

Paid reserve leave for Armed Forces

Qualifications

• Must be a member of IOSH at Chartered level or above.
• Relevant experience in successful management of SHEQ.

Responsibilities

• Spearhead the delivery of safety, health, and environmental assurance.
• Cultivate a 'zero harm' culture focused on safe behaviours.

Skills

Health and Safety Management

Leadership Skills

Interpersonal Skills

Communication Skills

Organizational Skills

Education

Chartered Membership of IOSH

Degree Level Education

Tools

Safety Management Systems

Data Analysis Tools

Job description

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View more categories View less categories Sector Transport and Logistics Role Senior Manager Contract Type Permanent Hours Full Time

About Network Rail

Join Our Team at Network Rail!

This is an exciting time to join Network Rail as we celebrate 200 Years of Passenger Rail: Innovating for the Future. It is not just a celebration, though - it's a commitment to continue delivering a simpler, better, greener railway. Investing in our people is key to enhancing the safety, reliability, and efficiency of our railway system.

Network Rail operates and maintains the railway infrastructure 24/7, 365 days a year. From the first passenger railway in 1825 to today's AI-driven predictive maintenance, the rail industry has continuously evolved. Now, as we enter Network Rail's Control Period 7 (CP7), the focus is on modernisation, sustainability, and operational efficiency.

We're passionate about great service and commit to our service equation vision by "Putting Passengers First". Performance, safety and getting the fundamental basics right is something we strive for, as well as asking ourselves - what can we do to put our passengers and freight users at the centre of everything we do?

Are you ready to make a difference in people's lives? At Network Rail, we connect passengers and freight customers, ensuring safe and efficient transportation across the country. We're an organisation where people truly matter, and when you join us, you matter to us and millions of others. Click here to watch our inspiring video to learn more about us!

We're committed to creating a diverse, inclusive workplace that reflects the communities we serve. To discover more about our ED&I commitments click here. We value flexibility and understand the importance of a healthy work-life balance. As a Disability Confident Leader, we'll do everything we can to accommodate any needs throughout the recruitment process. You can visit Evenbreaks Career Hive for advice on accessibility support.


As a Network Rail employee, you will enjoy a wide range of benefits!

• 28 days annual leave - with the opportunity to buy and/or sell up to 5 days

• Access to a range of contributory pension schemes and the potential to top up your competitive salary with a bonus

• A subsidy of up to 75% on rail and underground season tickets if you travel to work on the train

• Privileged staff travel - Leisure travel discount of 75%

• We can offer you a season ticket loan; annual season tickets are discounted.

• A 35-hour-per-week contract with flexible working options available to help support your work-life balance

• Hybrid working and enhanced family-friendly support

• Take advantage of childcare vouchers, healthcare offers (including discounted healthcare club membership), discounted cycle hire, and online shopping sites

• 5 days of paid volunteering leave

• 2 weeks paid reserve leave for the Armed Forces community

Discover more at www.networkrailcareers.com/benefits

Brief Description

About the role:
There are very few roles within Network Rail that offer the chance to make a significant impact on the workforce, the community, and our passengers. The Head of Safety, Health & Environment role stands out as one of these exceptional opportunities. In this position, you will spearhead the delivery of safety, health, and environmental assurance (SHE) for your region and route. You will be responsible for developing and directing the implementation of effective policies and strategies regarding SHE, ensuring continuous improvement while facilitating efficient and effective delivery. With responsibilities that encompass workforce safety, level crossing safety, operational risk, occupational health, and environmental sustainability, the potential for making a positive and lasting impact is phenomenal.

You will achieve this by:

• Cultivating a 'zero harm' culture focused on safe behaviours

• Ensuring that safety lessons are not only identified but genuinely learned

• Delivering strategy across multiple workstreams in a programmatic and structured way

• Being diligent in transforming data into insights and actionable results

• Building and leading a high-performing team with targeted and measurable success.

Who are we looking for?

We're looking for more than just a technical expert with health and safety credentials. We're seeking an experienced, emotionally intelligent, and authentic leader who can transform our safety performance into a lasting legacy. The successful candidate will be a vital member of a close-knit, supportive Route executive team, contributing to Route strategy and overall business performance. If you're passionate about making a meaningful impact, then this opportunity is for you!

Our route extends from London St Pancras to Sheffield, reaching out to Lincoln, and includes major hubs like Bedford and Derby. Therefore, this role will require 4 days per week in the office at Bedford & Derby, spending two days in each of those locations and a flexible approach to working throughout the route. To find out more about the East Midlands route, please click here!

About the role (External)

To be successful in this role, we would like you to have/to be:
(Essential)

• Must be a member of the Institute of Occupational Health and Safety (IOSH) at Chartered (CMIOSH) level or above

• Membership of a relevant professional body (e.g. MIOSH, CQI, IIRSM or equivalent) with chartered status and/or education to degree level.

• Relevant experience in the successful management of SHEQ.

• Good interpersonal, influencing, communication and organisational skills.

• Strong management and leadership skills.

• Ability to act as a role model to demonstrate appropriate safety behaviours.

• Detailed knowledge of safety and operational issues.

• Good understanding of the UK and European legislative framework and requirements.

• An experienced Health and Safety, Environmental or Quality practitioner.

• Knowledge of audit and investigation

We would also like but it isn't crucial to have/to be:
(Desirable)

• Knowledge of Network Rail's systems and processes.

• Knowledge of railway infrastructure materials and components.

• Competent IT skills

How to apply (External)

Salary : Band 2C £85,395 - £97,991 depending on experience

Closing date: 6th May 2025. Please get your application in as soon as possible, we may close the advert before the listed closing date if we receive enough applications. Late applications may not be accepted.

This role requires 2 days' work out of Derby and 2 days from Bedford & 1 day from any location on the route.

We're dedicated to building a diverse and inclusive organisation that reflects the passengers we serve. To achieve this, we're committed to becoming an open, diverse, and inclusive workplace, leveraging the skills and expertise of our talented workforce. Together, we strive to create a safe and accessible railway for everyone. We pride ourselves on creating safe and welcoming workplaces with fair cultures that encourage innovative and fresh ways of thinking. Discover more about the importance of Diversity and Inclusion at Network Rail by clicking here .

What does our recruitment process look like?

Once you have applied, our Recruitment Specialist & the hiring manager will look at your CV.

If your experience matches what we're looking for, you'll be contacted by our Resourcing Team and invited to an interview.

We're a Disability Confident Leader employer and we'll try our best to adapt the process and offer a reasonable alternative to help support people with disabilities access, apply and interview for roles.

You can visit Evenbreak's Career Hive for advice on accessibility support if you're unsure of the options available. Should you require any reasonable adjustments/modifications, please add a note to your application.

To apply for this role, click 'apply now.

Drugs and Alcohol Standard:

All prospective candidates offered a prospective role will be required to undergo and pass a drugs and alcohol test. Your application will be rescinded if you record a positive test. All positive drug and alcohol test results for prospective candidates will be securely held on the Sentinel database, and a 5-year suspension from applying for a safety critical role, a role which requires PTS certification or a Key Safety role on Network Rail Managed Infrastructure, will be enforced.

All offers of employment are conditional upon satisfactory completion of pre-employment checks. Click here for more information.

Company

Every day, 4.8 million people use our network. Keeping Britain moving and building a better railway for the future is full of challenges – but also tremendous opportunities.

From our commitments to your development, our range of benefits and our approach to Diversity & Inclusion, we believe there are many reasons to join the team at Network Rail.

We’re proactive in empowering employees with the knowledge to help them progress. We encourage all our employees to be ambitious, and offer great training and career development opportunities. As the railway becomes bigger and more technologically advanced, it’s crucial that our employees have the right skills to develop their careers and meet the challenges ahead.

We believe that investing in our people is one of the most effective ways of improving the safety, reliability and efficiency of the railway.

We also know that it’s vital to get each individual’s training programme just right. As well as helping us to meet our immediate needs, we believe this is an approach that encourages people to stay with us and develop their careers.

Your health, wellbeing and benefits

We believe that safety and performance go hand in hand and this doesn’t just mean safety on the railway! We are committed to the wellbeing of our employees and believe, that should come first.

We provide access to support services such as our employee assistance program to help you with finances, family, health and wellbeing. In addition to this, we offer excellent benefits, are sensitive to work-life balance and encourage our employees to use their 5 volunteer days for their favourite causes.

We have a range of benefits including:

• 28 days annual leave entitlement.
• My benefits – Our discounted online shopping site.
• A range of discounted offers including, childcare vouchers, Healthcare offers – cycle to work, healthcare club discounted membership and other benefits.
• Subsidies of up to 75% on rail and underground season tickets.
• A range of pension schemes.
• 2 weeks paid reserve leave for our Armed Forces community.

What Diversity and Inclusion means to us

‘Diversity’ means recognising differences between people while valuing the contribution they make. ‘Inclusion’ means creating safe and welcoming workplaces with fair cultures that encourages innovative and fresh ways of thinking.

Our aspiration is that the behaviours and actions that support diversity and inclusion will come from the conviction of everyone here at Network Rail – making diversity and inclusion a conscious part of how we run our business throughout Britain.

Disability Confident Leader

Network Rail is an accreditedDisability Confident Leader . This means, where a disabled applicant meets the essential criteria for any of our vacancies, they will receive an interview.

Find out more about our recruitment processhere

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