62659 - Health and Safety Manager

We encourage applications from people from all backgrounds and aim to have a workforce that represents the wider society that we serve. We pride ourselves on being an employer of choice. We champion diversity, inclusion and wellbeing and aim to create a workplace where everyone feels valued and a sense of belonging. To find out more about how we do this visit: https://www.gov.uk/government/organisations/ministry-of-justice/about/equality-and-diversity.

Grade:

SEO

Salary range (depending on location):

National - £37,683 to £41,506

London - £43,647 to £48,067

Please note that unless you are currently employed by the MoJ at this grade, if successful you will be offered the minimum for the grade depending on your location.

Location:

National (at any LAA Office in England & Wales).  Minimum of twice weekly attendance required at LAA office (base location), and frequent attendance at other LAA offices required.

Directorate:

Corporate Services

Team:

Health and Safety

Working Pattern:

The post is supported by the MOJ flexible working policy and includes colleagues who work flexibly, remotely, part time or as part of a job share etc.

Reporting to:

Head of Governance

Closing date for applications

15th August

The Legal Aid Agency

We are an executive agency of the Ministry of Justice (MoJ). We provide civil and criminal legal aid and advice in England and Wales to help people deal with their legal problems. 

Our people are at the heart of achieving excellence. Employing around 1,200 colleagues across England and Wales, we feel proud to have some of the best People Survey results in the Civil Service.

Our LAA commitment to Diversity and Inclusion

The LAA is committed to diversity and inclusion and we positively promote flexible working, including job shares.

We will consider all applications on merit regardless of age, disability, gender identity, sexual orientation, socio-economic background, religion, ethnicity, preferred working pattern and except for exceptional circumstances your working location.

As a Disability Confident organisation, we will offer a guaranteed interview to candidates with a disability who meet the essential criteria for this role. Under the Equality Act 2010 a disability is defined as a physical or mental impairment which has a substantial and long-term adverse effect on your ability to carry out normal day-to-day activities which has lasted, or is expected to last, at least 12 months.

If you are responding to a role within the Legal Aid Agency and would like to be considered under the guaranteed interview, please ensure that you attach the Disability Confident Scheme Form when you return your application. You can use the same form to let the recruiting manager know of any reasonable adjustments you may require during the sift or later selection processes.

Corporate Services

The Corporate Services Team helps shape and enable the priorities of the Chief Executive, Executive Leadership Team and People Committee to be delivered.

Corporate Services Assurance

The role of Health & Safety Manager sits within the Legal Aid Agency’s Corporate Services Assurance Team reporting to the Head of Governance. The team provides advice and assurance on the Agency’s strategic management of risk, information security, physical security, business continuity planning and health & safety. The Health & Safety Manager also has a Health & Safety Adviser reporting to them.

Job Summary

• Are you passionate about making a difference to the health, safety and wellbeing of staff?
• Do you enjoy collaborating with colleagues across varying roles to make things happen?
• Are you ready to achieve your full potential by being fair, proud and supportive of others?
• Do you enjoy a fast-paced decision-making role?

The role of Health & Safety Manager is to lead on all aspects of strategic Health & Safety and to ensure that all operational and local Health & Safety management arrangements are maintained at the highest standard in line with LAA and MOJ policy to ensure the CEO as the Responsible Person has the support and assurances required by the Health & Safety At Work Act 1974.

Our offices cover 16 sites in England and Wales, ranging from single occupancy to shared office space alongside other government departments and private companies. Our people are primarily working in a hybrid workplace model, and as a business we are increasingly promoting flexible working practices that allow everyone the opportunity to work from an office and regional hubs/home. We also employ contract managers, solicitors and advocates, who routinely work alone and drive as part of their role, while our main postal hub and records centre highlight the importance of safe manual handling and work at heights. 

The role includes working closely with MOJ Facilities management and LAA Estates lead on facilities management, projects and closer working partnerships with other agencies.

Key Responsibilities:

• To ensure the Legal Aid Agency (LAA) meets the requirements of Health & Safety legislation and lead in the delivery of the corporate Health and Safety strategy and arrangements.
• To educate and advise senior leaders and managers on the implementation and delivery of the corporate Health and Safety Policy, procedures and the LAA Health & Safety Delivery Plan, while utilising the support of Site Leads and a network of regional Health & Safety representatives.
• To work with our union representatives and Health & Safety Committee to provide assurance, performance against our strategy objectives and operational improvement plans.
• The post holder will develop and maintain key contacts across the wider Health & Safety community (in particular with other government departments and other MOJ Arm’s Length Bodies), to provide consistent and balanced advice relevant to LAA offices and staff. promoting a positive health and safety culture.
• The post holder will be required to ensure all investigations, audits and training related to all aspects of Health & Safety are designed and delivered effectively.
• The post holder will be required to work with colleagues in the leadership teams of, security, facilities management, agency partners and communications to support cross MOJ agendas.
• Develop a strategic action plan with recommendations in all aspects of Health & Safety operational delivery ensuring continuous improvement through engagement with the ambitions of our assurance team.
• Lead projects and team delivery programs within the team, working towards a shared purpose in supporting business continuity, data protection and physical security.
• The role includes travelling to inspect and deliver support to all 16 LAA offices with occasional overnight stays dependent on base location.
• Promote and maintain practices which are free from discrimination, support equality of opportunity and reflect the LAA diversity and equality policy.
• Ensure that their own and team continuous professional development is prioritised. 

Essential Qualifications

·         Minimum qualification: National and Vocational Qualification (NVQ/SVQ) Level 6 Diploma in Occupational Health and Safety Practice or to a level such as that would satisfy the criteria for Graduate Membership of IOSH.

·         You will be subject to a CTC security clearance check (this will be conducted by the business for the successful candidate, if not already held) 

Essential Knowledge, Experience and skills

·         Experience in fire safety, water hygiene and asbestos risk management.

·         Ability to efficiently plan, organise time and workload to ensure delivery of plans.

·         Ability to communicate effectively with colleagues at all levels.

·         Ability to interact and engage colleagues – beyond your own team - to achieve shared goals.

·         Ability to work autonomously, identify and mitigate risks and spot opportunities to improve the health, safety and wellbeing of staff.

·         Knowledge and understanding of health, safety and wellbeing strategies to provide competent and trusted advice.

·         Ability to write engaging copy with some experience of writing for impact e.g. policy, procedures and risk assessments.

·         Knowledge and/or experience of how to use quantitative and qualitative data to inform future plans, including ISO standards in H&S.

·         Experience of facilitation of workshops, design and delivery of training and planning and delivering events.

·         Experience of managing health and safety teams.

Desirable Knowledge, Experience and skills

·         Working towards Chartered IOSH or equivalent.

·         Experience of a variety of digital and remote working tools.

·         Experience working in a multi-disciplinary group.

Person Specification

·         You have a passion for ensuring health and safety, wanting to actively develop this among your team and the wider business. 

Assessment approach

Application Process

To apply please submit a CV and statement of suitability showing how you meet the essential criteria in no more than 1250 words. 

Your statement should demonstrate your ability to do all of the essential criteria listed, using examples can help strengthen your application. 

Interview / assessment Process

If you are successful through the application stage, interviews will be conducted in person at one of the LAA office locations, where you will be assessed against the following: 

·         Strengths relevant to the role

·         The following Behaviours

o   Managing a Quality Service

o   Working Together

o   Delivering at Pace

o   Making Effective Decisions

·         Your Experience of implementing or promoting diversity and inclusion

·         Delivering a short presentation in which you will be asked to review and prioritise a number of H&S issues and then lead the panel through your decisions and the reasoning behind them. 

Please see below definitions of Civil Service Behaviours: 

Managing a Quality Service - Develop, implement, maintain and review systems and services to ensure delivery of professional excellence. Work with stakeholders to set priorities, objectives and timescales. Successfully deliver high quality outcomes that meet the customers’ needs and gives value for money. Identify risks and resolve issues efficiently. Involve a diverse range of colleagues, stakeholders and delivery partners in developing suggestions for improvements. Establish ways to find and respond to feedback from customers about the services provided. 

Working Together – Encourage joined up team work within own team and across other groups. Establish professional relationships with a range of stakeholders. Collaborate with these to share information, resources and support. Invest time to develop a common focus and genuine positive team spirit where colleagues feel valued and respect one another. Put in place support for the wellbeing of individuals within the team, including consideration of your own needs. Make it clear to all team members that bullying, harassment and discrimination are unacceptable. Actively seek and consider input of people from diverse backgrounds and perspectives. 

Delivering at Pace – Show a positive approach to keeping the whole team’s efforts focused on the top priorities. Promote a culture of following the appropriate procedures to ensure results are achieved on time whilst still enabling innovation. Ensure the most appropriate resources are available for colleagues to use to do their job effectively. Regularly monitor your own and team’s work against milestones ensuring individual needs are considered when setting tasks. Act promptly to reassess workloads and priorities when there are conflicting demands to maintain performance. Allow individuals the space and authority to meet objectives, providing additional support where necessary, whilst keeping overall responsibility. 

Making Effective Decisions – Understand own level of responsibility and empower others to make decisions where appropriate. Analyse and use a range of relevant, credible information from internal and external sources to support decisions. Invite challenge and where appropriate involve others in decision making. Display confidence when making difficult decisions, even if they prove to be unpopular. Consult with others to ensure the potential impacts on end users have been considered. Present strong recommendations in a timely manner outlining the consideration of other options, costs, benefits and risks. 

Shortlisting is planned for week commencing 15th August

Interviews are planned for week commencing 29th August

If you would like more information on this opportunity, please contact – Gary.Winter@Justice.gov.uk

Complaints procedure

If you have any complaints about this recruitment activity, please share your concerns by emailing LAACentralRecruitmentFunction@justice.gov.uk initially. We aim to respond to any complaint within 10 working days.

If you are dissatisfied with our response, we will forward your complaint to the Civil Service Commission, an independent body, for review.