Head of Health and Safety (Sovereign House)

Health and Safety Job Description: Are you an experienced Health & Safety leader looking for your next challenge?

We have a fantastic opportunity to join Sovereign as Head of Health & Safety. Providing leadership of our Health & Safety function, this role is key in ensuring that we build high quality capability across the organisation, to continuously improve Health & Safety both for our residents and employees.

As a leading Housing Association, Sovereign are committed to providing quality, affordable homes and services within sustainable, successful communities. We’re led by our values and driven by a strong social purpose, placing our residents at the heart of everything we do.

What you’ll be doing:

You’ll be responsible for the delivery of our Health & Safety strategy, working to develop and embed the priorities, programmes and practices that will enable Sovereign to achieve a sector leading approach to Health & Safety.

Key responsibilities include:

• Being accountable for leading the delivery and ongoing development of the Health & Safety strategy, including the objectives and programmes that underpin it
• Developing and delivering the annual Health & Safety plan, identifying task milestones and owners
• Establishing and maintaining a corporate Health & Safety management system, including the policies, procedures, and processes that will drive continuous improvement
• Providing robust management information and assurance to the Board, Executive Board and relevant sub-committees
• Coaching, guiding and advising the business on occupational Health & Safety matters
• Designing and deploying a safety leadership and culture programme to deepen and embed safety capability and commitment across the organisation
• Leading and developing a dispersed Health & Safety team, enabling them to be excellent business partners within the organisation

What we need from you:

You should have demonstrable experience in a similar senior role, leading Health & Safety services across a large organisation. Any experience within housing would be beneficial but is not essential.

• Significant experience managing, motivating and developing occupational Health & Safety teams
• Strong generalist knowledge of Health & Safety, ideally including legislation relevant to the housing sector
• Experience developing and implementing health and safety strategy as well as policies, procedures and processes to drive improvements
• Proven track record delivering strategic change and implementing Health & Safety transformation programmes
• You’ll be innovative, forward thinking and inquisitive, excited by the opportunity to try new approaches and being flexible in your approach and comfortable adapting to change
• Strong relationship building and stakeholder engagement skills
• A professional qualification in Health and Safety, such as NEBOSH Diploma or equivalent, is desirable

We’re all working from home at the moment, however when we do start safely returning to offices this role will be based in Basingstoke with some continued flexibility for home working. There may be some travel required with this role across our operating area so you should have a full driving licence with access to your own vehicle and be happy to travel.

It’s a fantastic time to join us at Sovereign. We have an ambitious corporate plan to deliver an inspiring agenda of change and growth in a sustainable way. You’ll be joining a highly skilled team at the forefront of driving these improvements and we’d love to hear from you to explore your skills and experience further.