Head of Health and Safety

We're looking for a Head of Health and Safety to join us at the National Church Institutions

About the Department/Role

The Human Resources department provides a strategic and operational HR service to the seven National Church Institutions (NCIs) and the 42 Diocesan Bishops' offices. Our HR Operations team focusses on the entire employee lifecycle providing support, advice and guidance to senior leaders, line managers and staff. The Organisational Development team lead on culture, values, wellbeing, development and our belonging & inclusion strategy. Through our External Service team, we also offer HR support on a consultancy basis to other Church of England organisations including our dioceses and cathedrals.

We are a friendly, diverse, well respected and highly engaged HR team who are committed to actively sharing knowledge and learning across the team and beyond. We encourage flexible working within the team and meet online weekly and in-person once a month for collaboration, knowledge-sharing and building relationships within the team.

What you'll be doing

You will lead on the provision of outstanding proactive and professional Health and Safety advice to health and safety risk owners across the National Church Institutions. The role combines providing strategic Health and Safety leadership and advice up to Board level with guidance to operational risk owners as well as oversight, and hands on delivery of some day-to-day health and safety activities. You'll be part of the NCIs Business Continuity Group providing support to its members, as well as working with and our Joint Staff Council, Trade Union representatives, and facilities managers at Lambeth and Bishopthorpe Palaces.

You'll work across the NCIs (a predominantly office-based workforce) as well as supporting the Church of England Pensions Board (which provides retirement housing for clergy), and the Church Commissioners (which provides the homes and offices of the 42 Diocesan Bishops and 180 staff).

You'll be part of our HR Operations team, and report directly to the People Director, with a dotted line to the Director of Housing for the Pensions Board.

Key role requirements

• The HR Operations Team typically works from the London office 1-2 days per week depending on business need. Travel to other sites will also be required from time to time, with occasional overnight stays.
• You will need to have previous experience of developing health and safety strategies and plans and reporting progress and compliance to committees up to Board level.

Essential skills and experience required:

Knowledge/Experience:

* This role requires previous experience of developing health and safety strategies and plans

and reporting progress and compliance to committees up to Board level; provision of

advice on operational health and safety risks (including for example display screen

equipment and general office safety, lone working, facilities and property management and

relevant statutory requirements, advice on overseas travel safety); liaison with union

representatives and other external parties e.g. building landlords, enforcement bodies etc.

* We work in a self-sufficient way and rely heavily on technology to support our customers;

You will therefore need to be a confident IT user including Microsoft Office 365, Teams, and

SharePoint.

Skills & Abilities:

* Excellent verbal and written communication skills, with accuracy and attention to detail

including with numerical data. You will need to be able to communicate clearly to

stakeholders at all levels within and external to the organisation;

* You will be enthusiastic, have a highly organised approach to work, with the ability to

understand and process high volumes of information. You will need to be able to work

comfortably with competing priorities and show flexibility in your approach to customers

to understand differing expectations;

* The successful candidate will need to be proactive and have strong problem-solving skills

in order to deal with complex queries;

* You will be comfortable in negotiating with both internal and external stakeholders, able

to take initiative, to manage supplier performance and both anticipate and implement

change.

Qualifications & Training:

* Recognised Health & Safety qualification at Diploma level e.g. NEBOSH Level 6 Diploma in

Occupational Health & Safety Management (or equivalent);

* NEBOSH (or equivalent) qualifications in construction, environmental and fire safety

management are also desirable;

* Safety Management Systems Auditor Training (ISO 45001) desirable.