Health And Safety, Wellbeing And Business Continuity Manager

The Rural Payments Agency (RPA) is an executive agency of the UK Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra), delivering over £2 billion in payments to farmers, traders and landowners each year.

We are an Operational Delivery Profession organisation, with the majority of our people delivering day to day services to our customers and stakeholders.

We make excellent delivery happen, empowering agricultural and rural communities to create a better place to live.

We manage over 40 schemes, and also make payments on behalf of Natural England, to ensure we have a healthy rural economy, strong and sustainable rural communities, and to protect and enhance the natural environment.

Our vision is to create a great place for people living in this country. We have developed a set of four strategic objectives covering our policy outcomes and corporate objectives. These objectives help us to deliver our ambitious vision to build our green and healthy future and provide a framework for all of the important work that we carry out.

Further information can be found on the Rural Payments Agency website www.rpa.gov.uk

The role of the HSW and BC Manager supports over 2800 RPA employees, at all levels including senior leaders, across the organisation to meet their organisational and personal responsibility. RPA work activities and working environments vary from office/home to field staff carrying out a range of inspection and enforcement activities in a variety of third-party premises including e.g. farms, etc.

The job holder supports the business of RPA and the people working in it in these two important respects:

Health, Safety & Wellbeing (HS&W)

The job holder will be expected to fulfil the role of the Competent Person as defined by the Management of Health and Safety at Work Regulations 1999 (Regulation 7) for RPA in relation to Health and Safety. Safety and Wellbeing team. The role holder will be the senior subject matter expert leading the development, and continuous improvement, of Health and Safety arrangements within the RPA delivered through a small team of HSW advisers.

Business Continuity (BC)

The job holder will manage the Business Continuity support function within RPA and to lead the BC team, acting as primary subject matter expert.

The job holder will be part of the wider Operations Services Team working with colleagues who support RPA people to make the best use of our workplaces and time spent working.

Health and Safety

Primary purpose - Act as the senior subject matter expert for Health and Safety matters in RPA. The role will oversee the development, and continuous improvement, of RPAs organisational Health and Safety management system (e.g., HSG 65 Plan, Do, Check, Act), and provide assurance that suitable and sufficient arrangements are in place to prevent harm to employees and meet legal Health and Safety obligations.

The main responsibilities include:

• Line management and development of a team of HSW advisers to ensure competent subject matter experts across the RPA Health and Safety risk profile, to competent advice to the business
• Development of the approach and procedures to prevent work-related injury and ill health to employees (and others) and assist RPA to meet its legal and moral Health and Safety obligations to staff
• Proactive identification of emerging risks, and any legislative or ACOP changes, to ensure the approach and procedures are up to date and relevant
• Produce HS&W management information for the RPA executive team in the form of a quarterly and annual reports. Presenting the annual report in person to the team and attending on other occasions where the content of the report warrants discussion/decisions at senior level
• Provide relevant and practical advice to the business on a range of risk areas related to safe ways of working and legal compliance, and be the senior subject matter expert for HS&W for RPA
• Advise the business on, and/or undertake H&S risk assessments. These to be undertaken at the request of the business or in response incidents or initiated by the H & S team where new activities arise
• Advise the business on, and/or carry out, incident investigations ensuring that lessons learned are incorporated into the Health and Safety approach and procedures and shared with all relevant colleagues and stakeholders and subsequent reporting using learning from this and from near miss reporting to inform further support to colleagues
• Act as the primary provider of advice in relation to: - occupational disease and ill health, workstation ergonomics, use of hazardous substances, home working, office safety, manual handling, work related driving and travel, risks encountered when working outside the office environment, work related violence and aggression
• Liaise with all areas of the business and the Trade Union Side on all aspects of Health & Safety e.g. On matters relating to the activities of field staff and undertaking H & S walk arounds of RPA work areas, accompanied by TU reps, on an annual basis
• Provide informed input to the management of H&S related contracts e.g.Lone worker
• Develop and oversee monitoring and auditing activity of Health and Safety arrangements – in liaison with Trade Union Safety Reps where possible - to check policies and procedures are being properly implemented by staff, managers and contracted providers (e.g. Facilities Management)
• Represent RPA day-to-day at Defra Group level in relation to HS&W. Providing input that reflects the interests of RPA, providing decisions within area of expertise and seeking decisions from the Executive team where required

Business Continuity

• Be the subject matter expert and point of contact for BC in RPA and for colleagues from across the Defra Group when they require RPA input
• Coordinate activity across RPA business leads to support them in ensuring BC plans are reviewed and remain fit for purpose. Supporting new work areas to develop their plans and establish a review regime
• Produce a six-monthly update report for RPA Agency Management Board
• Support the Disruptions Officer and the Executive Team during incidents
• Represent RPA day-to-day at cross government and cross Defra group BC management forums, influencing any approaches developed so that RPA interests are recognised
• Design and undertake BC exercises with business areas

Liaise with and provide evidence to auditing bodies during BC audits.

Your responsibilities will include:

• Organisational skills and ability to work at pace and under pressure
• Excellent communication skills, both written and oral with the ability to deliver messages effectively so that they land positively with colleagues
• Able to build and sustain effective relationships, bringing people with you and providing challenge where necessary
• Able to communicate confidently with a range of colleagues of all grades
• Ability to effectively influence a wide variety of stakeholders
• Able to the take the initiative, make decisions, and solve problems whilst knowing when to escalate or seek advice
• Committed to developing yourself, and those around you, to create an inclusive and positive HS&W and BC culture

Essential Skills and Experience required for this role:

• Excellent Communication skills – demonstrating the ability to communicate with a wide variety of stakeholders from within RPA, Defra Group and across government to have a positive impact on engagement and reputation
• Engaging Leadership – Lead and engage teams and stakeholders in a straightforward, truthful and candid way to provide input to support and inform RPA’s approach to H&S and BC to help deliver compliance in a manner consistent with the Agency culture and values
• Presentation Skills – You will be expected to present either written or orally to a variety of stakeholders in a credible and convincing way, influencing decisions and considerations sometimes at pace where business critical situations have arisen

There will be an element of line management within the role which will include remote management.

We'll assess you against these behaviours during the selection process:

• Communicating and Influencing
• Seeing the Big Picture
• Leadership
• Making Effective Decisions

• Learning and development tailored to your role
• An environment with flexible working options
• A culture encouraging inclusion and diversity
• A Civil Service pension with an average employer contribution of 27%

Office attendance

Successful candidates are expected to work from one of the office locations listed in this advert. Our current office attendance approach requires 60% attendance in Defra group workplaces or off site meetings with partners and customers. This balance provides thriving workplaces to connect with colleagues, as required by their role and Business team needs balanced with personal flexibility and choice.

Job contact :

Name :
RPA Recruitment Team
Email :
hrresourcingsupport@defra.gov.uk

Recruitment team

Email :
DefraRecruitment.grs@cabinetoffice.gov.uk