Building Safety Officer

Maidstone, Kent
Hays Construction and Property

Your new company
I am currently working exclusively with Kent police, who are seeking a brand-new Building Safety Officer/Manager. With a strong focus on community engagement, they work to prevent crime, support victims, and uphold justice through both local policing and specialist units. Their efforts span from neighbourhood patrols to complex investigations, all dedicated to protecting the region’s residents and visitors.

Your new role
Conduct risk assessments and audit and inspect construction sites, developing and implementing safety protocols, systems, and programmes, with a particular focus on fire, gas, electric, water safety and structural integrity, to identify potential hazards, mitigate risk and ensure compliance with evolving health and safety and other related regulations. This will involve ensuring governance arrangements are in place and complies with legislation and Force policy, which the post holder will update.

Main responsibilities:

• Implement a programme of inspections and audits of buildings throughout the Force and conduct risk assessments covering the latest legislative position etc. and undertake formal thematic inspections on a regular basis, ensuring that arrangements are in place to implement the findings. This will involve working in close co-operation with the Force Health & Safety Manager within Health Services and the Estate Team who are managing the contracts.
• Provide expert health and safety advice on construction, mechanical and electrical services, the application of CDM regulations, the discharge of duty holder roles and Force policy/standard operating procedures, to develop and improve the standards of health and safety across the Estate portfolio.
• Develop and maintain an up-to-date knowledge of relevant legislation, regulations, and industry standards related to construction safety, ensuring compliance, and proactively addressing any emerging safety issues or changes in regulatory requirements. This involves regular auditing of statutory testing of services within the buildings.
• Lead high-profile safety projects and campaigns, driving continual improvement in building and construction safety performance, demonstrating innovation and best practices to foster continuous improvement across the Kent Police estate and ensure compliance with legislation and policy.
• Conduct accident, incident and near -miss investigations on behalf of the Force when required, linking directly with the Health and Safety Executive (HSE), to provide expert health and safety advice and ensure all health and safety aspects and implications are addressed. This will include documenting and communicating lessons learned throughout the organisation.
• Oversee the implementation of safety and compliance initiatives by developing effective relationships with key contacts across the organisation and external contractors in order to equip, motivate and empower them to take full accountability for safety within their respective areas of the organisation. This will include attending the Force Health and Safety Board meetings and providing in-house training sessions to ensure staff keep up to date with the Forces policies, procedures, and safety regulations.
• Support and advise local county-wide SPOCs and Estate colleagues with their responsibilities for health and safety and fire obligations to ensure that the Force complies with current health and safety and building regulation legislation (including asbestos, water monitoring, fire safety, etc.). Assist and support colleagues on the development and review of RAMS and ensuring contractors follow the control of contractors handbook and relevant procedures.
• Manage all health and safety administration and governance arrangements, including Estate Fire strategy, and Fire risk assessment, ensuring that adequate records are properly maintained in accordance with legislative requirements. The post holder will regularly review all Standard Operating procedures, policies, codes of practice, process and procedure, standardising central documentation with regards to governance.

What you’ll need to succeed
The ideal candidate would have:

• Relevant technical or professional qualifications, such as a degree, or HNC/HND in a related discipline, NEBOSH Diploma or equivalent, and have membership of an appropriate professional body, such as Membership of the Institute of Occupational Safety (IOSH).
• In-depth knowledge of Health and Safety legislation and experience of operational construction or civil engineering safety, with experience of the application of the Construction (Design & Management) Regulations 2015 to different duty holder roles
• Excellent interpersonal, written, and verbal communication skills with the ability to demonstrate sound constructive decision-making, as well as the ability to communicate well when interfacing with regulatory bodies and other organisations and provide training to colleagues across the Force.
• Previous experience of delivering projects to strict criteria and timescales, demonstrable customer relationship and networking skills, excellent organisational skills with experience of working in a small team demonstrating willingness to support colleagues and contribute to wider team activities. High attention to detail and the ability to analyse information is essential.
• Ability to travel within and sometimes outside of Kent. Flexible working hours may be required to meet the needs of the business.

What you’ll get in return
In return, you will receive a wide range of benefits, including local government pension scheme, generous holiday allowance and many more.

What you need to do now
If you’re interested in this role, click ‘apply now’ to forward an up-to-date copy of your CV, or call us now.
If this job isn’t quite right for you, but you are looking for a new position, please contact us for a confidential discussion about your career.

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