Health & Safety Advisor

Organisation:
The National Trust for Scotland

The post-holder will support the Head of Health & Safety in offering a range of health and safety services for the North East region and is the first point of contact for property management within their allotted property portfolio.

It will be a fundamental function of the post that the post-holder will develop a close and effective working relationship with the management within their allotted properties, including the Regional Director, Business Manager and Operations Managers. This will enable, and require, the post-holder to respond quickly to requests for assistance as well as becoming a relied upon and readily available professional H&S practitioner to properties within their portfolio.

They will become a key member of the planning/decision-making process.

• To contribute effectively and provide essential input to the Trust’s H&S agenda through the ongoing support, development, and dissemination of relevant policy, guidance and information.

• To conduct H&S audits designed to test compliance as a minimum while striving to continuously improve performance by developing and monitoring agreed improvement plans with properties/functions.
• To produce high quality audits and summaries for management to report on property/function-level H&S performance.

• To conduct in depth accident/incident investigations designed to explore their cause(s) with a view to identifying failings and preventing recurrence, so far as reasonably practicable.
• To prepare statistical analyses of accident/incidents to help identify trends and to propose actions to mitigate risk.

• To be the ‘first point’ of specialist contact for their portfolio with regard to H&S matters and to report matters of concern to the Head of Health & Safety and relevant regional management.
• To respond effectively and pragmatically to requests from properties for support and advice.
• To agree areas for improvement – derived either from audits, accident/incident investigations or changes in policy/procedures/legislation – with Operations Managers and property management and liaise with the rest of the H&S provision within the People Directorate to ensure consistency and maximise the effective use of time.

• To attend regional management and property-level meetings (when appropriate) to report on H&S performance, promote improvement initiatives and advise on the implications of NTS H&S policy and procedures.

• To advise on H&S training and development requirements within the directorate and where necessary to liaise with colleagues in the H&S team and People – Training and Organisational Development to meet the demand in the most effective and cost-efficient way.
• To deliver training, as required, and within their level of competence.
• To evaluate training provided to ensure that it raises H&S performance, sustains H&S improvements through effective transfer of learning and is refreshed at suitable intervals.

• To provide information (such as audit data and accident/near miss statistics) for meetings of the Operational Leadership Group, Regional Team meetings where appropriate and contribute as appropriate to the Operational Risk Register.
• To support the Head of Health & Safety in proposing measures to manage risk.

• Driving License, valid for driving within the UK.
• NEBOSH National General Certificate in Occupational Health and Safety or equivalent (or committed to achieving formal qualification within 6 months of appointment).
• A willingness to develop as a health & safety professional within the National Trust for Scotland
• A broad understanding of health & safety issues within a heritage environment

• Full NEBOSH Diploma qualified (or equivalent).
• Fire Risk Assessor trained
• Chartered Membership of IOSH (CMIOSH)

• Experience of H&S auditing.
• Experience of reporting on accidents and near miss/incidents including the development of strategies for preventing recurrence.
• Accustomed to providing H&S support.
• Some experience in the development of procedures, either to sign-off or as a contributor.
• Highly developed communication and influencing skills.
• Self-sufficient in use of MS Office products.

• Knowledge of automated health and safety management information systems
• Awareness of H&S issues in the conservation/heritage sector.
• Knowledge of emergency planning strategies and practice.
• Experience of designing and presenting H&S training