Workplace Manager (WPM) High Containment animal areas

Are you passionate about health and safety and facility management, have strong organisational skills and are great at building positive working-relationships?

Do you want to play a part in protecting the UK against some of the most serious threats?

We have a vacancy for a Workplace Manager (WPM) specialising in high containment laboratory animal work practices.
In this role you will ensure that laboratory animal work within our high hazard work spaces is carried out safely and fulfils all applicable legislative and regulatory requirements; working hand in hand with the area’s other WPM, Named Animal Care and Welfare Officer (NACWO) and Facility Management.

Dstl recognises the importance of diversity and inclusion as people from diverse backgrounds bring fresh ideas. We are committed to building an inclusive working environment in which each employee fulfils their potential and maximises their contribution.
We particularly welcome female, ethnic minority and those from the LGBTQI community, as they are under-represented within Dstl at these levels.

In this role you will:

• Work alongside and collaborate with the senior WPM and the NACWO to maintain all the high containment (Advisory Committee Dangerous Pathogens level 3 & 4) animal areas, media preparation areas and some ancillary rooms
• Be involved in planning and allocation of animal studies to the high containment laboratories
• Ensure the work spaces are safe and fit for purpose; ensuring that they are maintained to regulatory standards to maintain a safe system of work
• Ensure equipment is safe and fit for purpose; ensuring that they are maintained to regulatory standards to maintain a safe system of work
• Ensure hazards and risks arising from the activities are as low as reasonably practical.
• Assuring that users are competent to work
• Be confident to be able to stop work or an activity considered unsafe
• Be point of contact (along with the NACWO) for the facility management team, keeping them informed of any issues and agreeing actions
• Make certain that statutory and internal inspections are completed at specified intervals and any identified defects are addressed in a timely manner
• Be point of contact and oversee some maintenance contracts; ensuring that contractors are booked to attend on specified dates to fit facility shutdowns
• Be point of contact within the Workplace for Health, Safety, Environmental and Security issues; taking an active role during regulatory inspections
• Be expected to be point of contact for advice out of hours and support out of hours emergency on-call cover as required (subject to additional payment)
• Be expected to work overtime out of hours and weekends occasionally (if required and subject to additional payments and allowances)
• Ensure WPM cover for the high containment animal area is constantly maintained in collaboration with the senior WPM

We are looking for someone who has:

• The ability to manage the operations within a designated work area, inside the parameters defined by the Facilities Manager (FM)
• The ability to manage the hazards and risks arising from the activities undertaken to ensure compliance with Dstl policy, relevant legislative and regulatory requirements – through validating and implementing suitable Safety risk Assessments (SRAs) with delivery teams
• The ability to keep the FM and NACWO informed of the hazards in the workplace and any changes to the hazard profile as a result of operations and activities
• The appreciation of working with laboratory animals in a high containment setting
• The ability to assure compliance of all non-fixed assets imported into the workplace and to ensure they remain fit for purpose
• The ability to act as the point of contact for activities within the work place for Health, Safety, Environmental and Security issues

Essential skills

• Leadership skills appropriate to managing a workplace
• Development and implementation of a safe system of work for the work area
• Ability to critically assess safety aspects of work activities within workplace, the suitability of work equipment for use in specific facility or activity and allocation of appropriate facilities for work activities
• Ability to identify critical assets and determine required planned preventative maintenance
• Ability to communicate clearly hazards and control measures to users
• Ability to lead Health and Safety inspections and audits of defined areas
• Ability to manage visitor and contractor safety
• Ability to enact emergency plans

Desirable Experience

• Experience of managing laboratory health, safety and environmental aspects, ideally in a high containment laboratory animal environment 
• Experience of hazard management, risk assessment and risk management including in a laboratory animal environment
• Experience of providing advice on health, safety and environmental maters
• Relevant experience of working in an environment with laboratory animals and health, safety and / or environmental hazards 
• Desirable qualifications NEBOSH or IOSH

Important information

Our work in defence, security and intelligence requires our employees to be UK Nationals who are able to gain a high level of security clearance to undertake the projects we are involved in to protect us from security threats. For this reason, only UK Nationals will be able to apply for this role. if you are an international or dual national candidate and you think you have the skills we need please consider applying to any of our government security or defence partners.

This role will require full UK security clearance and you should have resided in the UK for the past 5 years. For some roles Developed Vetting will also be required in this case you should have resided in the UK for the past 10 years 

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

• Leadership
• Communicating and Influencing
• Working Together
• Managing a Quality Service

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

• please explain what you know about working procedures in a laboratory and/ or animal facility

Benefits 

Dstl’s full range of great benefits can be found in the information pack which includes:

• Financial: An excellent pension scheme starting from 26% employer contribution (find out more here). In Year Rewarding Achievement bonuses and thank you vouchers. Rental deposit scheme and cycle to work scheme.

• Flexible working: Options include alternative working patterns such as; compressed hours (e.g. working a 4 day week/ 9 day fortnight), job shares and annualised hours (agreed number of hours per annum paid monthly i.e. working term-time only).

• Working hours: Flexibility around your working day (e.g. start time, finish time). Ability to bank hours in a 12 month reference period including the ability to accrue and use 3 days per calendar month.

• Where you work: Depending on your role, blended working may be available including remote working to suit you and your team. This can be discussed at interview.

• Annual leave: 25 days pro rata (rising to 30 after 5 years) plus 8 public holidays with the ability to buy/sell 5 additional days per annum.

• Family: Maternity, adoption or shared parental leave of up to 26 weeks with full pay, an additional 13 weeks statutory pay and a further 13 weeks unpaid

• Learning and Development: Dstl encourages and supports charterships, accreditations and provides employees access to fully funded apprenticeships up to level 7 (Masters Degree). Dstl will pay for 2 memberships with relevant bodies/institutions. Employees also have access to Civil Service Learning.

• Facilities: Onsite parking, EV Charging points, restaurants, cafés and gyms.

This job is not open to candidates who hold a dual nationality.

Job contact :

• Name : Dstl Recruitment
• Email : dstlrecruitment@dstl.gov.uk

Recruitment team

• Email : dstlrecruitment@dstl.gov.uk