Health and Safety Officer

Calderdale and Huddersfield Solutions; Huddersfield; On-site; GBP 25,000 - 38,000; Full time

Job summary

Calderdale and Huddersfield Solutions (CHS) is seeking a Health & Safety Officer in a development role to support the delivery of H&S services across CHS and CHFT. You will work with the Health & Safety Manager and Adviser to develop competence toward a Health & Safety Adviser role.

You will perform inspections, audits, incident investigations and COSHH management, while providing practical H&S advice and escalating complex issues to senior team members.

Qualifications

• Good written and verbal communication skills.
• Confident communicator with staff at all levels.
• Initiative to contact staff, visit work areas and have open discussions.
• Ability to explain health and safety matters clearly.
• Basic IT skills including Word, Outlook and Excel.
• Ability to organise workload and priorities.
• Ability to analyse information and identify trends or areas requiring follow-up.

Responsibilities

• Operational responsibility for defined H&S workstreams including DSE programme, action tracking, electronic monitoring and COSHH QA.
• Independently manage a varied workload across departments and engage with managers to resolve compliance issues.
• Analyse incident data to identify trends and contribute to assurance reporting and improvement of H&S systems.

Skills

Communication skills

Stakeholder engagement

Problem solving

MS Office

Independent working

Education

GCSEs English & Maths

HND/Foundation degree

IOSH/NEBOSH certificate

Tools

MS Word

Outlook

Excel

Job description

The Health & Safety Officer will support the delivery of the Health & Safety service across Calderdale and Huddersfield Solutions (CHS) and Calderdale and Huddersfield NHS Foundation Trust (CHFT).

This is a development role for someone wishing to establish and progress a professional career in health and safety.

Working alongside the Group Health & Safety Manager and Health & Safety Adviser, the postholder will take responsibility for defined areas of H&S activity while progressively developing the knowledge, experience and professional competence required to progress towards a Health & Safety Adviser role.

Previous applicants need not apply.

Main duties of the job

The postholder will undertake a varied range of operational H&S duties including workplace inspections, audits, incident investigations, DSE assessments and compliance monitoring.

They will coordinate and monitor actions arising from incidents, risk assessments and inspections; maintain H&S records and electronic monitoring systems; support COSHH management arrangements; and prepare reports, dashboards and management information.

The postholder will also provide practical H&S advice to managers and staff within their level of competence and escalate more complex or specialist matters to senior members of the H&S team

About us

At CHS we understand the differences in delivering our services in complex environments and we have a flexible approach to meet the needs of our customers. Our Estates and Facilities management functions alongside our Clinical Engineering, decontamination and procurement service, provides the following:

• Fully managed estate and building maintenance
• Clinical Engineering and Decontamination
• Procurement advice, guidance and governance
• Capital project management
• Transport
• Grounds maintenance.
• Catering
• Cleaning (including robot and deep cleaning)

All provided to nationally recognised standards giving you assurance that your premises and equipment will be the best they can, and your customers will have confidence in you as a provider.

Job responsibilities

Detailed Job Description

• The Health & Safety Officer will hold operational responsibility for a number of defined H&S compliance workstreams, including the Trust-wide DSE programme, action tracking systems, electronic compliance monitoring and elements of COSHH quality assurance.
• The postholder will independently manage a varied workload across multiple departments, engage directly with managers and staff to resolve compliance issues and progress corrective actions, and undertake lower and medium-complexity investigations within their competence.
• They will analyse information from incident and compliance systems, identify trends and areas requiring intervention, contribute to organisational assurance reporting and identify opportunities to improve the effectiveness and consistency of H&S systems and processes.

Main Responsibilities

• The postholder will be responsible for managing allocated H&S workstreams and ensuring that associated assessments, records and actions are appropriately monitored and progressed.
• They will exercise judgement in determining priorities and appropriate follow-up action, challenge unsafe practices where identified, and escalate significant or complex concerns appropriately.
• The role requires regular engagement with staff and managers across CHS and CHFT and increasing day-to-day autonomy as competence develops.
• The postholder will be expected to actively participate in training, mentoring and professional development, with the longer-term objective of developing the professional competence and qualifications necessary to undertake a broader Health & Safety Adviser role

Person Specification

Knowledge and Skills

• Good written and verbal communication skills
• Confident communicator able to speak with staff at all levels of the organisation from senior leadership to front-line staff
• Comfortable taking the initiative to contact staff, visit work areas and open honest discussions, even where there may be resistance or discomfort
• Displays the confidence and integrity to engage in difficult conversations, challenge unsafe practice and stand by professional advice in order to support effective, well led and safe services
• Ability to explain health and safety matters clearly and practically
• Ability to interpret and apply procedures and compliance processes within defined areas of responsibility
• Basic IT skills including Microsoft Word, Outlook and Excel
• Ability to organise workload, prioritise competing demands and manage tasks effectively
• Ability to analyse information and identify trends or areas requiring follow-up
• Ability to build and maintain positive working relationships across departments
• Able to work independently within defined areas of responsibility while seeking support and guidance appropriately
• Able to use initiative to identify and progress tasks and support the wider workload of the Health and Safety team
• Able to organise workload effectively and manage routine tasks with limited supervision as confidence and experience develop

Experience

• Experience maintaining electronic records, databases or monitoring systems
• Experience communicating with managers or coordinating actions across teams
• Experience in an administrative, customer service, compliance or office environment
• Experience supporting compliance, governance, safety or quality systems
• Experience working in healthcare, estates or facilities environments

Qualifications

• GCSEs or equivalent including English and Maths at Grade 4 (C) or above
• HND, Foundation Degree or equivalent higher education qualification
• Health and safety qualification such as IOSH Working Safely or NEBOSH National General Certificate

Disclosure and Barring Service Check

This post is subject to the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act (Exceptions Order) 1975 and as such it will be necessary for a submission for Disclosure to be made to the Disclosure and Barring Service (formerly known as CRB) to check for any previous criminal convictions.