Biological Safety Advisor

Salary: £45,585 to £48,350 with progression to £54,395 per annum

Newcastle University is a great place to work, with excellent benefits. We have a generous holiday package; plus the opportunity to buy more, great pension schemes and a number of health and wellbeing initiatives to support you.

Closing Date: 25 February 2024

The Role

We are looking for a Biological Safety Adviser to join our team within our Occupational Health Support Service (OHSS), providing critical support to research, teaching and service colleagues.  We are a central support service consisting of a Health & Safety Team and an Occupational Health Team.  Our aim is to ensure the health and safety of staff, students, visitors and others, across the full spectrum of University activities and locations.

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We are looking to hear from candidates who have biological laboratory experience such as researchers, technicians or those who have worked in an advisory role. 

Your role will be to act as an adviser to the University on Biological Safety as well as other laboratory-based health and safety requirements. You will work as part of a busy and highly professional health and safety team. The nature of the work associated with this role is diverse, challenging and highly rewarding.

There is a high level of autonomy associated with this role and you will be expected to assist leading the University’s biosafety agenda. You will be highly successful in this role if you can demonstrate excellent inter-personal and communication skills.

We are looking for someone with a minimum of a bachelor’s degree in a laboratory based biological discipline and a post-doctoral laboratory research background is desirable. We will support you to success in this role by providing a significant level of training and development.

Please reach out to Chris Walton, Head of OHSS at chris.walton@ncl.ac.uk for a chat about this opportunity.

To apply please upload your CV and a letter of application which specifically evidences how your skills, experiences and knowledge align with the requirements of the person specification below.

We are currently working with a hybrid model of some place based and home working and are happy to discuss flexible working requirements with you.  We can support colleagues with relocation packages for candidates applying from outside of the region and as a grade A sponsor, can support with candidates who may require a skilled worker visa.

Interviews will be held on 11th March 2024

Key Accountabilities
•    Advise and liaise with OHSS colleagues on Biological Safety or laboratory safety matters as necessary to ensure that the University can be assured of its legal compliance, continual improvement and excellent health and safety culture
•    Assist the OHSS Manager in the development, oversight, maintenance, monitoring and review of the University biological and genetic modification health and safety management standards and processes  
•    Provide specialist, competent and solutions orientated advice and support to a range of stakeholders on all activities involving biological agents and genetically modified organisms so as to enable them to meet their statutory obligations 
•    Assist in ensuring that all necessary statutory notifications, risk assessments and licence applications relating to work with biological agents, genetically modified organisms or other biological materials are carried out appropriately; and that all necessary statutory registrations and/or authorisations are obtained 
•    Attend and provide input to the agenda of the Biosafety Sub-Committee 
•    Lead in the development, oversight, maintenance, monitoring and review of other laboratory safety-related matters including; 
o    Advising on the design, construction and refurbishment of laboratories, other facilities and equipment intended to be used in connection with biological agents or other hazardous substances.
o    Managing a contract for the provision of local exhaust ventilation statutory inspections and monitoring the outcomes of statutory testing.
o    Ensuring that statutory notifications, registrations, licences or other authorisations are carried out or obtained where relevant for hazardous or regulated chemicals.
•    To lead in the development, oversight, maintenance, monitoring and review of the University Transport of Dangerous Goods Management Standard and processes.  This includes: 
o    Assisting in providing advice to key stakeholders in the classification, packing, labelling and shipping of dangerous goods, providing
o    Effective training/development, advisory and communication support to specialist colleagues 
o    Acting as a specialist contact for enforcement authorities and other expert practitioners in relation to the transport of dangerous goods
•    Support the development, update and facilitation of Biological Safety for colleagues and students 
•    Support the OHSS audit and inspection programme, working with Health and Safety Advisers to conduct audits and/or inspections in relevant Units
•    Assist in the investigation of significant incidents involving biological agents, the transport of dangerous goods or other laboratory safety matters and to compile comprehensive reports that identify root causes and appropriate follow up actions
•    Exercise delegated authority to stop any work immediately and/or request additional control measures to be put in place where this is judged by the post-holder to be necessary 
•    Support the Head of OHSS and other colleagues in responding to a major University level emergency incidents where required. This may entail very infrequent out-of-hours site attendance
•    Maintain membership of relevant professional organisations and to update and maintain personal  competence in biosafety/laboratory safety/transport of dangerous goods through continuing professional development 
•    To establish and maintain effective professional networks with Biological Safety advisers at other institutions e.g. the Northern Biosafety Officers Forum
•    To undertake other tasks commensurate with the grade, as required by the Head of OHSS 

The Person

Knowledge, Skills and Experience 

•    An extensive and up to date knowledge of biological research (in particular, various genetic modification technologies) and Biological Safety control strategies/techniques over a wide range of disciplines
•    Ability to understand and scrutinise the scientific and technical content of risk assessments, with particular regard to genetic modification
•    Thorough knowledge of the regulatory requirements surrounding Biological Safety
•    Evidence of continued professional development throughout career
•    Significant post graduate experience of undertaking research or providing technical support in a relevant laboratory based biological or biomedical discipline
•    Understanding of laboratory design and statutory inspection regimes for equipment such as local exhaust ventilation
•    Demonstrated ability to work as an effective team member to achieve performance objectives
•    Ability to manage a large workload and achieve challenging deadlines
•    Proven ability to work without direction
•    A teaching-based qualification or prior experience in the development and delivery of training

Desirable
•    Membership of University based safety organisations (such as ISTR) or corporate membership of leading Biological Safety professional institutes
•    Advanced computing skills for databases, website design, spreadsheets or other relevant areas
•    Experience of working in a Biological Safety 
•    Experience of dangerous goods safety adviser role or familiarity with dangerous goods regulations
•    Containment level 3 practitioner experience working with pathogens (human or animal)
•    Experience of laboratory-based audits and/or inspection
•    Experience of working in a large multi-disciplinary organisation
•    Experience of carrying out comprehensive incident investigations

Attributes and Behaviour

•    Ability to write succinct, clear reports to a high standard of literacy and presentation
•    Confident and engaging with excellent presentation skills
•    Ability to communicate effectively with colleagues and students at all levels
•    Ability to influence and persuade colleagues and students at all levels
•    Ability to build effective and productive partnership relationships
•    Ability to demonstrate tact, sensitivity and discretion
•    Ability to be assertive when circumstances require
•    Ability to prioritise workload to meet deadlines
•    IT literate and proficient

Qualifications
•    Bachelors degree in a relevant laboratory based biological discipline

Desirable

•    PhD or equivalent in a laboratory based biological discipline
•    ISTR Biosafety Practitioner Level 1 registration or Biosafety Professional Level 2 accreditation (or willingness to work towards on appointment)
•    Dangerous Goods Safety Adviser certification (or willingness to work towards on appointment)
•    NEBOSH certifications
 

Newcastle University is a global University where everyone is treated with dignity and respect.  As a University of Sanctuary, we aim to provide a welcoming place of safety for all, offering opportunities to people fleeing violence and persecution.

We are committed to being a fully inclusive university which actively recruits, supports and retains colleagues from all sectors of society.  We value diversity as well as celebrate, support and thrive on the contributions of all of our employees and the communities they represent.  We are proud to be an equal opportunities employer and encourage applications from individuals who can complement our existing teams, we believe that success is built on having teams whose backgrounds and experiences reflect the diversity of our university and student population.

At Newcastle University we hold a silver Athena Swan award in recognition of our good employment practices for the advancement of gender equality.  We also hold a Race Equality Charter Bronze award in recognition of our work towards tackling race inequality in higher education REC.  We are a Disability Confident employer and will offer an interview to disabled applicants who meet the essential criteria for the role as part of the offer and interview scheme.

In addition, we are a member of the Euraxess initiative supporting researchers in Europe. 

Requisition ID: 26688