Risk and Safety Officer

Transformationunitgm; Leigh; On-site; GBP 29,000 - 37,000; Full time

Job summary

An exciting opportunity for a Risk and Safety Officer at a leading NHS Trust in Leigh. This role involves supporting the Health and Safety Team, managing risk, and ensuring compliance with health and safety regulations. Ideal candidates will have strong organisational and interpersonal skills, along with a commitment to promoting a safe working environment.

Qualifications

• Strong organisational skills required to manage a varied workload.
• Excellent interpersonal skills to communicate with diverse staff groups.
• Efficient IT skills, proficient in Microsoft Office packages.

Responsibilities

• Develop and maintain databases for risk management.
• Assist with promoting health and safety practices in the workplace.
• Support the Health and Safety Team during serious incident investigations.

Skills

Organisational skills

Interpersonal skills

IT skills

Minute taking

Data analysis

Education

GCSE or equivalent, including Maths and English

Business Administration NVQ Level 4 or willingness to undertake

European Computer Driving Licence (ECDL) or equivalent

First Aid at Work Qualification or willingness to complete

NEBOSH General Certificate in Occupational Safety and Health or willingness to complete

Job description

Main area Health and Safety Grade NHS AfC: Band 5 Contract Permanent Hours

• Full time
• Part time
• Job share
• Flexible working

37.5 hours per week (5 days (Monday to Friday). No on-call rota requirement) Job ref 302-25-7122309CPR

Employer Wrightington, Wigan and Leigh Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust Employer type NHS Site Wrightington, Wigan and Leigh Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust Town Leigh Salary £29,970 - £36,483 per annum, pro rata Salary period Yearly Closing 23/05/2025 23:59

Risk and Safety Officer

NHS AfC: Band 5

Choose Well - Choose WWL

Job overview

An exciting opportunity has arisen for an enthusiastic Risk and Safety Officer.

The successful candidate will join the Health and Safety Team whose role it is to provide a comprehensive health and safety advisory service to the Trust. The role of Risk and Safety Officer is a fundamental part of that structure and service.

As Risk and Safety Officer, you will be responsible for supporting the daily functions of the Health and Safety Team and will assist with the co-ordination of risk management and health and safety across the organisation.

The post requires a person who is a team player, someone who has:

• Strong organisational skills that allow you to plan and prioritise a varied workload and be able to work to defined timescales with a high degree of initiative and accuracy.
• Excellent interpersonal skills that enable you to communicate effectively with a variety of staff groups at all levels.
• Efficient IT skills and be experienced and proficient in the use of Microsoft packages including word, excel and PowerPoint, and other risk management related software systems.
• The ability to take minutes, prepare statistics and manage databases.

Main duties of the job

• Developing and maintain databases that support the Trust’s Risk and Safety Management System.
• Performing general administrative and support tasks as directed to support the operation of the Risk, Health and Safety Team, including producing relevant and meaningful reports.
• Assisting with promoting risk, health and safety and safe working practices in the workplace.

Working for our organisation

Wrightington, Wigan and Leigh Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust are the proud providers of acute hospital and community services to the people of the Wigan Borough and surrounding areas. At WWL, we value our staff believing that ‘happy staff, makes for happy patients’. We have a recognised track record in staff engagement and living our values.

· People at the Heart

· Listen and Involve

· Kind and Respectful

WWL are committed to placing the patient at the heart of everything we do, and in the provision of safe, effective care that acknowledges and ensures dignity. We are seeking to recruit people who share our values and beliefs.

At WWL we value the benefits a rich and diverse workforce brings to our community and therefore welcome applications from all sections of society.

Detailed job description and main responsibilities

Duties and Responsibilities

Key results from the job holder

· Administer the risk register module via Datix Risk Management System, supporting the Head of Risk and Divisions to report, review and action risks within the risk register module for escalation at Divisional and Trust wide meetings.

· Support the Head of Risk to produce the Board Assurance Framework report for Board, Sub-Committee and Locality meetings and keep up to date records via Datix Risk Management System.

· Administer, review, and follow-up on all non-clinical, staff and organisational incidents and investigations, via Datix Web Risk Management System, with the daily review and quality check of incidents.

· Perform preliminary investigations in response to non-clinical incidents, including co-ordinating and supporting the Trust’s RIDDOR (Reporting of Injuries, Diseases and Dangerous Occurrences Regulations) Investigation process.

· Provide administrative support to the Health and Safety Team during serious incident investigations as required.

· Assist the Head of Risk to ensure all external reporting is carried out in a timely manner to the Health and Safety Executive under RIDDOR (Reporting of Injuries Diseases and Dangerous Occurrences Regulations) to ensure the Trust is compliant with the Regulations.

· Contribute to report production by keeping accurate records, collating and quality checking data, and undertaking initial statistical analysis so that themes and trends can be identified, and action taken to address.

· Administrate risk, health and safety software systems and support the ongoing maintenance.

· Facilitate meetings as requested including preparing agenda papers, sourcing agenda items where necessary, taking minutes of meetings and distribute as required, including those of the Risk Management Group and Occupational Health and Safety Group, and following up meeting actions and recording their status.

· Administrate the software systems the Trust uses to support various safety management systems.

Planning and Organisational Duties

· Arrange meetings as required, including the booking of rooms etc., so that meetings are well administered.

· Undertake general administrative duties, which include for example:

o Collecting, opening, and sorting incoming mail

o Copy typing of letters, reports and presentations using the full range of Microsoft Office programs, producing work of a high standard and to tight deadlines.

o Maintain accurate filing systems, both paper and electronic

· Provide adequate office cover to maintain a presence in the office during core hours to be able to deliver a professional and responsive service.

· Plan and manage a range of duties as well as prioritising and organising own workload within set timescales for efficient and effective working.

· Use own initiative and be able to work without direct supervision.

· Respond professionally to enquiries both internal and external to the organisation.

· Assist in the ongoing collection of data for internal and external accreditations and inspections so that the Trust is always prepared.

· Construct, manage and manipulate databases, e.g. Excel, in an accurate and timely fashion e.g. maintaining the First Aider Register.

· Provide administrative support with the drafting of policies, procedures, training materials, handouts and the compilation of reports.

· Performing other general administrative and support tasks as directed to support the operation of the H&S Department.

Communications and Key Working Relationships

· Maintain high customer service standards that show a professional attitude when interacting with staff at all levels within the organisation.

· Assist the Head of Risk with dissemination of all relevant new legislation, guidance and supporting documentation regarding health and safety so that staff are up to date.

· To operate risk and health and safety specific outlook e-mail accounts to facilitate the timely exchange of information e.g. Risk Management, RIDDOR, DSE

Responsibility for Finance

The post holder will have no budgetary responsibilities, however, will:

· Raise orders and manage the Procurement process, via Oracle, as requested by and on behalf of the Head of Risk.

· Maintain stock control e.g. stationery and other supplies/orders, including the ordering of this stock via Oracle.

· Coordinate the Trust’s Eye and Eyesight Test Reimbursement Process on behalf of the Health and Safety Team, liaising with the Finance Division as necessary.

Responsibility for Human Resources

This post has no responsibility for human resources.

Responsibility for Health & Safety

· Contribute to consultation processes linked to policy, standard operating procedure, and risk assessment development.

· Assist with accident investigation, including responding to Legal Services requests for information regarding Employer and Public Liability Claims.

· Assisting with display screen equipment (DSE) workstation assessments.

· Be an engaged team player with a proactive, positive attitude towards improving health and safety standards and contributing to a positive health and safety culture.

· The postholder is required to:

• follow Trust policies, procedures, and risk assessments to keep themselves and others safe at work.

• help keep a healthy, safe, and secure workplace for everyone.

• work in a way that reduces risks to health, safety, and security.

• know what to do in an emergency at work, know how to get help and act immediately to get help.

• report any issues at work that may put themselves or others at risk.

Compliance with the Health & Safety at Work Act 1974 – the post holder is required to fulfil a proactive role towards the management of risk in all of their actions. This entails the risk assessment of all situations, the taking of appropriate actions and reporting of all incidents, near misses and hazards, and a statutory duty of care for their own personal safety and that of others who may be affected by their acts or omissions.

Responsibility for Teaching

· Prepare PowerPoint presentations and other required training / educational materials.

· Assisting the Head of Risk with Risk Register workshops.

· Ensure that all training data is recorded in the correct manner.

· Provide and maintain an electronic training database system including co-ordinating training specific to Risk Management, First Aid and Emergency First Aid at Work etc.

· Ensure training files are up to date and adjust as necessary.

· Occasionally provide training in activities or workplace routines to new or less experienced employees in own specific areas of work.

Work Circumstances & on-call

· Use of computer and telephone will largely be continuous therefore good keyboard skills are required.

· The postholder will have the ability to pay attention to detail when there are frequent predictable and unpredictable interruptions to the work pattern. Adapt, be flexible and responsive at short notice and can work under pressure.

· A combination of sitting, standing, and walking with little requirement for physical effort, however, some manual handling of files, stationery and supplies to be expected.

· Work will be predominantly office based although travel to other Trust locations may be required.

· The post does not have responsibility for on-call duties.

Person specification

Qualifications

• Minimum GCSE or equivalent, including Maths and English
• Business Administration NVQ Level 4 or a willingness to undertake
• European Computer Driving Licence (ECDL) or equivalent
• First Aid at Work Qualification or a willingness to complete
• NEBOSH General Certificate in Occupational Safety and Health or a willingness to complete

Knowledge

• Computer literate and good knowledge of Microsoft Office.
• Ability to use databases.
• Ability to concentrate when undertaking problem solving, data analysis
• Awareness of and adherence to security, confidentiality, and data protection
• Knowledge of the NHS.
• Knowledge of risk management databases e.g. Datix.

Skills

• Excellent oral and written communication skills
• Exceptional interpersonal skills with the confidence to communicate appropriately with various stakeholders at all levels.
• Ability to deal with sensitive, confidential and sometimes distressing information.
• Advanced keyboard skills.
• Good numeracy and literacy.
• High degree of accuracy in work, with a keen eye for detail.
• Exceptional time management and prioritisation skills involving sometimes an intense and varied service delivery workload.
• Minute taking.
• Ability to analyse data to identify themes and trends.

Experience

• Administrative / Secretarial Experience
• A strong working knowledge of Microsoft Office Packages, in particular Outlook, Excel, Word and PowerPoint.
• Experience of working in a team with varied roles and responsibilities.
• Experience of working in an NHS Environment
• Experience of working with risk management databases e.g. Datix.

Additional

• A keen interest in Occupational Safety and Health.
• Polite, confident, telephone manner.
• Able to keep confidences.
• Able to facilitate multi-site working
• Flexibility to get the job done and meet set deadlines
• Speak English to an appropriate standard relevant to their role, i.e. with confidence and accuracy, using correct sentence structures and vocabulary, and without hesitation
• Knowledge of RIDDOR
• Interest in incident investigation
• UK Driving License and access to a road worthy vehicle.

Our Trust prefers candidates to submit applications online. Please contact the Recruitment Team on 01942 244000 if you have difficulty applying online.

The Trust reserves the right to close adverts earlier than the stated closing date if there is a high volume of applications.

We endeavour to inform all applicants of the outcome of their application by email or SMS text message.

Guidance on Completing Your Application

Applications are scored against the person specification, therefore we recommend that you use the supporting information section of your application form to demonstrate how you meet the essential and desirable criteria for the role, providing illustrative examples where possible.

On-Call

Please note that some roles may require you to participate in an on-call rota, if the role is predominantly operational.

WWL has signed up to the Greater Manchester Continuous Service Commitment. and will recognise your continuous or ‘unbroken’ service in any Greater Manchester Local Authority or NHS organisation, Transport for Greater Manchester, Greater Manchester Fire and Rescue Service or Greater Manchester Combined Authority; giving you access to our service-related benefits.

Employer certification / accreditation badges

The postholder will have access to vulnerable people in the course of their normal duties and as such this post is subject to the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act 1974 (Exceptions) Order 1975 (Amendment) (England and Wales) Order 2020 and as such it will be necessary for a submission for Disclosure to be made to the Disclosure and Barring Service to check for any previous criminal convictions.

Name John Harrop Job title Head of Risk Email address [e-mail] Telephone number 07880154814

If you have problems applying, contact

Address Buckingham Row
Brick Kiln Lane
Wigan
WN1 1XX
Telephone [phone]