Head of Health, Safety and Environmental Protection

This post offers a rare opportunity to be part of the MOD Police (MDP) senior leadership team during an exciting period of change across the Force.

The Ministry of Defence Police are an independent constabulary, reporting to the Secretary of State. The Force’s officers and non-uniformed staff support key Defence, Nuclear and Critical National Infrastructure sites across the UK with a variety of health, safety and environmental issues to manage reflecting their firearms, marine and land patrols, dog handling, nuclear convoys, protester removal and other specialist operational capabilities. 

The role of the MDP Head of HS&EP is to provide strategic direction to the Chief Constable as Senior Duty Holder to develop and implement management responsibility in respect of the Safety, Health, Environmental Protection and Fire Safety issues in connection with MDP activities and in accordance with both MOD policy and UK legislation, ensuring regulatory compliance.

The MDP Head of Health, Safety and Environmental Protection will lead on monitoring the health and safety performance of our Force on behalf of the Chief Constable. This will assure the Ministry of Defence that MDP’s approach to health and safety risk management maintains compliance with health and safety legislation and minimises the risks to officers and staff, the Defence community that we work with and to members of the public that we serve.

This position is advertised at 37 hours per week (part-time will be considered).

Key Responsibilities

• Leading development and delivery of the health and safety strategy and arrangements for the Force and providing assurance activity to satisfy MDP’s legal responsibility for matters under its control
• Identifying, by consultation and research, areas where policy and practice needs updating, or where changing legislation or external factors lead to a requirement to change policy or practice
• Pro-actively leading on planned assurance activities of operational policing and working with operational unit leads on their own safety improvement plans
• Improving on and reporting of incident management leading to analysis of performance data for onsite contractors and internal departments
• Supporting incident investigations and leading on root cause and human factors analysis
• Leading on development of safety management systems for the Force
• Developing and updating legal and risk registers, site improvement and operational team plans
• Oversee Common Law Negligence claims handling for claims made against the MDP. Ensure appropriate recording and retrieval of claims information; analyse patterns/trends and prepare reports for inclusion in SHEP and the Chief Officers Group quarterly reports
• Oversee the delivery of SHEP training (such as IOSH and mandated e-learning) to appropriate roles/ranks in accordance with risk analysis. Develop in-house training and awareness for recruits and promotional courses
• Develop contacts and networks within MOD, the police, and other relevant communities to ensure that the MDP stays abreast of developments and best practice and benchmarking to other forces. Represent MDP regarding SHEP issues at local and national levels at relevant MOD meetings/steering groups, forums, seminars and conferences
• The post holder will be primarily based at RAF Wyton and will act as Line Manager to 4 geographically dispersed HEO Grade SHEP Advisors covering the stations across the country. NOTE: on appointment, the post holder will be required to review the current team structure and roles to ensure it remains fit for purpose

The post holder will be required to undertake short periods of detached duty including overnight absences from home visiting key sites across the UK. Due to the geographical spread and the remoteness of a number of MDP sites a full UK driving licence is highly desirable as there are no public transport alternatives.

Successful candidates will be able to demonstrate the following qualifications, skills & experience:

• Significant experience in a health and safety management role
• Demonstrable experience in proactive monitoring techniques such as inspection and audit and development and close-out of action plans with deadlines
• Experience of incident investigation, report writing, root cause analysis, action plan development and reporting data to prevent recurrence
• Demonstrable experience in developing and monitoring key performance indicators (KPIs) and taking action where there is non-compliance in order to improve health and safety performance
• Attention to detail to ensure accuracy of data analysis
• The ability to influence and communicate with people at all levels to support decisions which may be contrary to current thinking or practice
• Logical approach to work and the ability to be creative in a high-pressure situation so that decisions can be made/influenced in a timely manner
• Analytical and problem-solving skills
• Strong Microsoft Office Skills
• NEBOSH Diploma (or equivalent) in Occupational Health and Safety (or willing to work towards)

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

• Leadership
• Changing and Improving
• Communicating and Influencing
• Seeing the Big Picture

• 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%
• Minimum 25 days leave, rising to 30 with service, plus public holidays

The role is based at the MDP Headquarters, RAF Wyton, and will also require regular visits to other MDP operational locations. The post holder is expected to be in office or on site visit for 40 to 60% of the working week.

The post does not offer relocation expenses.

External recruits who join the MOD who are new to the Civil Service will be subject to a six-month probation period.

Please Note: Expenses incurred for travel to interviews will not be reimbursed.

Please be advised that the Department is conducting a review of all pay related allowances which could impact on those allowances that the post currently being advertised attracts.

Any move to MOD from another employer will mean you can no longer access childcare vouchers. This includes moves between government departments. You may however be eligible for other government schemes, including Tax-Free Childcare. Determine your eligibility at https://www.childcarechoices.gov.uk/.

The Ministry of Defence is committed to providing a safe and healthy working environment for its staff which includes educating them on the benefits of not smoking, protecting them from the harmful effects of second-hand smoke and supporting those who want to give up smoking. Under the Smoke-Free Working Environment policy, Smoking and the use of all tobacco products (including combustible and chewing tobacco products) will not be permitted anywhere in the Defence working environment however some exemptions are in place, please refer to local guidance. The policy is Whole Force and includes all Defence personnel, contractors, visitors and other non-MOD personnel. All applicants seeking, considering, or accepting employment with the Ministry of Defence should be aware of this policy and that it is already in place at a number of Defence Establishments.

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Job contact :

• Name : TIMOTHY.HIGGINSON100@mod.gov.uk
• Email : TIMOTHY.HIGGINSON100@mod.gov.uk

Recruitment team

• Email : DBSCivPers-Resourcingteam3@mod.gov.uk