Health and Safety Officer

West Sussex County Council; Chichester; Hybrid; GBP 35,000 - 38,000; Full time

Job summary

West Sussex County Council seeks a Health and Safety Officer to enhance safety performance for its 850,000 residents. The role entails providing expert advice, conducting inspections, and training, ensuring compliance with health and safety legislation while fostering a safe working environment.

Benefits

Local government pension scheme

Generous holiday entitlement

Flexible working options

Volunteering opportunities

Training and development opportunities

Employee Assistance Programme

Qualifications

• Previous experience in Health and Safety service provision.
• Theoretical knowledge of health, safety, and wellbeing legislation.
• Experience in developing health and safety systems in large organizations.

Responsibilities

• Provide support across various Council and School activities.
• Conduct inspections and audits to ensure H&S standards.
• Develop and deliver health and safety training programs.

Skills

Policy interpretation

Relationship building

Practical knowledge of HSW

Education

Relevant qualifications in Health and Safety

Job description

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West Sussex County Council provided pay range

This range is provided by West Sussex County Council. Your actual pay will be based on your skills and experience — talk with your recruiter to learn more.

Base pay range

Direct message the job poster from West Sussex County Council

Recruitment Resourcer | West Sussex County Council | HR Planning

An exciting opportunity for a Health and Safety (H&S) Officer to join West Sussex County Council has arisen.

You will be supporting the services who look after our 850,000 residents.

The Opportunity

Salary: £35,235 to £37,938 per annum.

Working Pattern: Full-time, 37 hours per week.

Location: Chichester, with smarter working options to work from home available.

Interview date: Friday 04 July 2025

In this role as a H&S Officer, you will work as part of the central Health and Safety Service in providing advice and support across a wide range of Council and School activities. You will support the Senior H&S Officers in providing assurance that H&S standards are followed through a system of inspections and audits, as well as delivering training and reviewing arrangements and processes to improve Health, Safety, and Wellbeing (HSW) performance.

You will be expected to exercise independent judgement and initiative in most day-to-day situations including;

• Making policy interpretations and giving practical advice.
• Presenting a credible image to clients as a knowledgeable and professional H&S Officer.

You will act as the technical expert on the management of premises safety providing an insight and assurance into levels of performance and compliance and be responsible for running programmes and initiatives under the guidance of the Senior H&S Officers. You will also be responsible for designing, delivering, evaluating, and developing HSW training, forms, guidance, and systems, both generally and within the specialism.

What are we looking for?

• You will have previous experience of providing an effective HSW service and experience advising on an area of H&S for example premises safety or fire safety. You will have experience contributing to policy and procedural improvements and providing a high level of advice and guidance.
• Be able to demonstrate good theoretical, practical, and procedural knowledge of the interpretation and application of HSW, fire safety, and other associated legislation.
• Experience of developing systems and procedures to improve employee HSW in a large organisation, with diverse workplaces and multiple HSW risks, issues and environments, and the HSW of non-employees affected by another employer.
• You will be adept at building effective working relationships with stakeholders at all levels of the organisation.

If you do not meet all the requirements listed above and in the Job Specification but have a keen interest in HSW, an interest in developing your expertise in this area, and/or experience within a similar relevant field we would still encourage you to apply.

Working for us

As well as adding real value to our service users and our communities, as an employer we recognise our employees are central in being able to achieve this. To recognise this we want to help support your development and provide an great place to work ensuring you can fulfil your full potential, have access to a range of benefits including:

• an excellent local government pension scheme
• generous holiday entitlement of 27 days (plus opportunity to buy additional leave)
• a range of flexible working options, depending on your job role
• maternity, paternity, dependency and adoption leave
• volunteering opportunities
• training and development opportunities, including coaching and mentoring
• a range of discounts giving our staff access to hundreds of offers; groceries, travel, cinema tickets, days out, leisure activities, high street retailers and the opportunity to save over £1,000 a year through our West Sussex Choices benefits platform (see our Staff discounts page if you are a business looking to offer a discount)
• health and wellbeing benefits including access to our Employee Assistance Programme, Mental Health First Aiders and Voluntary Health Cash Plans

For a full list this can be found at our Rewards and Benefits page.

Further information

The reference number for this role is CRS00945.

For an informal conversation or for further information regarding the role, please contact Amanda Rablin, Health and Safety Manager at [e-mail] For issues or queries regarding your application please contact [e-mail].

To apply, please follow the links below to upload your CV and Cover Letter. In your cover letter please outline your motivations for applying and explaining the skills and experience you can bring to the role (please refer to the key skills) ensuring that any gaps in employment are covered in your CV. Please ensure you have saved the job description attached to the main advert on our website as, once the job has closed, you may not have the opportunity to download again.

There will be a need to travel independently to / from a variety of council workplaces including temporary sites as required, and to work outside at times to carry out site monitoring visits. Personal protective equipment (PPE) will need to be worn when required, e.g. safety footwear, hard hat, high visibility clothing or disposable gloves. The role sometimes will require physical demands such as climbing ladders and accessing awkward spaces.

We are committed to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children, young people and vulnerable adults. This post is subject to 3 years referencing and a health check.

Equity, inclusion and accessibility is very important to West Sussex County Council. We welcome and encourage applications from everyone, as this helps us build a diverse and talented workforce, that reflects the communities we serve. We ensure our approach to recruitment is flexible and supportive to enable all applicants to be at their best and to ensure they have the best possible chance of success.

We operate a guaranteed interview scheme for applicants that have a disability, are a veteran or are a care leaver. More information can be found on our application help page.

Seniority level

• Seniority level

  Not Applicable

Employment type

• Employment type

  Full-time

Job function

• Job function

  Other

• Industries

  Government Administration and Health and Human Services

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