Head Of Corporate Health And Safety

THE EXTRAORDINARY STORY OF TIFFENY’S POWERFUL VOICE

At Westminster City Council, we don’t just listen to the voices and experiences of our residents – we listen to our people too. Tiffeny is a single mum whose young son has ADHD and before joining our team, she never thought she’d find a job that gave her flexibility and freedom to support her son’s needs. As a neurodivergent woman herself, she also never expected to be part of a team that not only supports her needs, but actively celebrates them – where people encourage her to be her true self. And that’s what she found here at the City of Westminster.

Working as an Engagement Officer Within the corporate property team means that she gets to meet people from all walks of life within the community supporting the development of positive change, especially being the voice for young people where it matters – in education, training, or employment. Her experiences and her amazing ability to relate to others means that within the first few months of joining our team, she’d already made a huge impact on things like accessibility in the Borough. Tiffeny feels heard and that’s because we know how important it is to listen.

The Role:

As Head of Corporate Health & Safety you can make your own powerful contribution to Westminster’s success. Providing leadership and strategic advice, you’ll promote a culture where the council’s activities are managed in a manner which reduces risk and enhances H&S for staff, residents and visitors. Working within our statutory and policy framework, and in line with the highest professional standards, we’ll also expect you to develop, implement and continuously improve our culture, both across the Council and among our suppliers.

Ensuring effective governance and scrutiny with a wide range of stakeholders, and representing the Health & Safety team at all relevant meetings, you’ll manage the resolution of Corporate risks and implement a comprehensive training strategy. Another key task will be to put in place comprehensive performance measures, monitoring systems and audit programmes.

It's important that you keep up-to-speed with the latest legal and technical developments in your field of expertise and ensure that the relevant information is available to everyone who works for the council. We’ll also expect you to implement a communications strategy that embeds a H&S culture throughout our organisation, and provide ad-hoc advice to any third sector partners who may require signposting to the relevant resources.

About You:

With a degree in H&S or a related discipline, or a relevant NEBOSH Level 6 qualification, you’ll be a Chartered Member of IOSH and have a proven record of continuous professional development. It’s important that you possess well developed experience of working at a senior H&S management level in a comparable, complex public sector corporate environment, and of working with a range of stakeholders including senior teams and Directors.

With wide knowledge of H&S legislation, and the ability to work on audits to determine the effectiveness and reliability of the relevant governance systems, you’ll have experience of systems management for the reporting of accidents, assaults, injuries, occupational diseases and dangerous occurrences. A superb communicator and capable of informing and educating your colleagues to ensure compliance with H&S, we’ll also look for the ability to produce clear and concise reports for our senior management team.

Please note that a DBS check is required for this role, and before progressing to formal interview, all shortlisted candidates will be invited to participate in a Technical Panel which involves a written exercise as well as an interview. If you’re successful at this stage you’ll be invited to meet the Corporate Health & Safety Team on the same day as your formal interview.

The Council is committed to achieving diverse shortlists to support our desire to increase the number of staff from underrepresented groups in our workforce. We especially encourage applications from a global majority background and, while the role is open to all applicants, we will utilise the positive action provisions of the Equality Act 2010 to appoint a candidate from a global majority background where there is a choice between two candidates of equal merit. If you are from a Global Majority background, you can self-declare this to the hiring manager as part of our positive action commitments.

What We Offer:

Westminster is an amazing place. We are home to more than 200,000 residents from all backgrounds, over 50,000 vibrant and vital businesses and three-quarters-of-a-million people work in Westminster. 

Westminster City Council’s strategy is to work towards a Fairer Westminster. A Fairer Westminster is one in which our communities are at the heart of our decision-making and help to determine the city’s future. By working directly with our communities and other partners, we can build a more inclusive city that celebrates our diverse communities, and where residents, workers and visitors from all backgrounds will feel welcome and safe.

At Westminster City Council, we pride ourselves on being an inclusive workplace and employer of choice. We encourage and welcome applications from people from all backgrounds and aim to have a workforce that, at all levels, represents the communities we serve. We champion equality, diversity, inclusion and wellbeing and aim to create a workplace where everyone feels valued, has a sense of belonging and is empowered to be their best, that is the Westminster Way. To find out more about how we do this visit  https://www.westminster.gov.uk/health-and-social-care/public-health-strategy-policies-and-reports/equality-duties

As a forward thinking Council we appreciate that people work in different ways, therefore our staff benefit from working a range of flexible working patterns as well as Agile working.

The Council is a Disability Confident Employer. If you have declared a disability in your application , we guarantee an interview if you meet the essential criteria of the job. If you are invited for interview, you will be asked if you need any reasonable adjustments in order to attend, and we will make these wherever possible.

Closing date: 26 May 2024

Interview date: Week commencing 10 June 2024

Contact details for Informal discussion: Claire Nangle, Acting Director of Corporate Property, via email: CNANGLE@WESTMINSTER.GOV.UK