Health and Safety Technical Lead

Grade and Salary D (€61,531 - €92,296)

We are Uisce Éireann. Every day, we are responsible for the delivery of secure, safe, and sustainable water services for the people of Ireland. As Ireland’s national regulated water utility, our vision is a sustainable Ireland where water is respected and protected, for the planet and all the lives it supports.

Our purpose at Uisce Éireann is to rise to the challenge of delivering transformative water services that enable communities to thrive. That means we are proud to take on the responsibility of protecting our water supply and passing on a safe and secure water system to a rapidly growing population and empowering Ireland’s social and economic growth. So, we’re passionate about helping our people to do the best work of their lives, to enable them to make a positive difference to communities all over Ireland. Our aim is to attract and develop talented and skilled people with diverse backgrounds and an evolving range of expertise and insight. We believe that such a strong workforce will help us achieve our goals and allow us to continue investing in, and advancing, Ireland’s water services. 

The Role:

The Health and Safety area is responsible for ensuring & supporting compliance with company, national & European level health, safety, quality & environmental standards for Uisce Éireann. The team provides governance and specialist advice across the business areas and manages the maintenance and assurance of the quality, environment and energy management systems to ensure appropriate H&S compliance with regulatory requirements.

The Health and Safety Team support the operational areas of the business to deliver on their health and safety responsibilities. They support the implementation of the safety management systems and roll out tools including processes and procedures to support health and safety compliance. They support the development of a safety culture appropriate to our organisational values which facilitates us to deliver on our Work Safe Home Safe vision and beliefs. The team also provide governance and specialist health and safety advice across assigned business areas and are the visible presence of safety in the regions. The team work with the business and the broader health and safety team to monitor the implementation of safety management systems and investigate and respond appropriately to internal health and safety trends and developments and external requirements such as legislative changes and regulatory requirements and expectations.

Reporting to the Regional Health and Safety Manager, The Health and Safety Technical Lead is responsible for supporting the rolling up of the HSQE strategy and supporting its delivery nationally. They will be responsible for developing action plans and delivery of company wide health and safety initiatives, projects and programmes to deal with continuous improvement of our Safety Management System, HSQE non-compliances raised across other teams, coordinating with the relevant Regional Health & Safety Managers and advisors, as appropriate.

Main Duties and Responsibilities:

• Support the rolling up of the HSQE strategy and the roll out of our Safety Management System nationally. 
• Deliver company-wide health and safety initiatives, projects and programs as required for the continuous improvement of our Safety Management System 
• Act as an employee safety support function to support the continuous improvement of our safety management system
• Deliver safety programmes, initiatives, and continuous improvement projects to ensure ongoing risk reduction for personnel and assets coordinating with the relevant Regional Health & Safety Managers, as appropriate.
• Develop action plans to deal with Health & Safety non-compliances raised across other teams, coordinating with the relevant Regional Health & Safety Managers, as appropriate.
• Gather, co-ordinate, analyse and trend key HSQE performance reports for the Regional Health & Safety Manager/s and other key stakeholders
• Support in the overall co-ordination and governance of the Work Safe Home Safe framework and associated safety action plans across Uisce Éireann
• Responsible for supporting the HSQE teams by facilitating compliance with company, national and European level health, safety, quality and environmental standards for Uisce Éireann by advising on Uisce Éireann’s HSQE training requirements.
• Support in the implementation of the Leadership and Safety Culture Pillar under our Work Safe Home Safe Framework
• Support the implementation of the safety coach forum and process across Uisce Éireann
• Responsible for providing specialist health and safety advice across the business areas to ensure strategy and organisational compliance are embedded in HSQE Policies/Procedures/Water Practices.
• Identify the appropriate Occupational Health and Safety requirements for functional areas, and work with the business to scope the organisational needs for HSQE at a role/team/functional level.
• Liaise and collaborate with key stakeholders to understand the needs and key activities of the business to inform the HSQE needs of the relevant teams/roles. Also responsible for understanding how future needs will impact on HSQE needs.
• Responsible for coordinating the health and safety needs of employees including rolling out of induction, policies, accident recording, reporting and investigating, as required by the Regional Health & Safety Manager/s.
• Encourage and support a culture of continuous improvement by looking at HSQE needs to ensure relevance for both organisational and legislative requirements.
• Work with the business to track and audit HSQE compliance with our Safety Management System, safety legislation, company standards and best practice.
• Liaise and collaborate with the business team to ensure HSQE training needs are met and compliance is achieved across the various business functions and field based teams.
• Improve Uisce Éireann’s culture and quality across HSQE by supporting HSQE programmes/projects working with the business to ensure that all HSQE Mandatory requirements are identified and complied with accordingly. i.e. training, operational controls etc. 
• Partner with the business Functions to deliver a safe and excellent service to internal and external stakeholders, ensure Uisce Éireann employees and contractors are operating in compliance with our safety management to deliver service to our customers.
• Responsible for having knowledge and keeping up to date with HSQE best practices and legislative requirements to understand relevant documentation, guidelines and processes for use by teams in order to ensure consistency in HSQE across Uisce Éireann.
• Responsible for leading, managing, motivating, coaching and developing the Health & Safety Advisors and Co-ordinators to maximise their performance. Responsible for setting objectives, reviewing and monitoring the performance and development of all team members using key performance measures
• Working closely with Health and Safety team to understand key activities and issues at a national, regional and local level, also responsible for assessing what HSQE needs are required to support these activities.
• Responsible for carrying out any other duties deemed necessary and/or required, which the Health and Safety Manager/s may reasonably request.
• Providing guidance and expertise on Health and Safety requirements to, functional areas, managers, team leads and the Heads of functions as required.
• Monitor and report KPIs for processes over which they have ownership.
• Responsible for supporting the Regional Health & Safety Managers in ensuring that statutory reporting of accidents is undertaken in accordance with current legislation.
• Other duties from time to time as directed by business need or Regional Health & Safety Manager/s. 

General Duties and Responsibilities 

• Collaborate with key internal stakeholders across the UÉ business. 
• Responsible for promoting and delivering health and safety commitments across UÉ and its supply chain, reinforcing positive behaviours and delivering health and safety objectives and requirements to the highest industry standards. 
• Support the delivery of the Uisce Éireann Transformation Programme, driving results required within the Directorate and supporting organisation-wide objectives.
• Provide visible leadership for your team, coaching and developing them to achieve their full potential and deliver business objectives, promoting collaboration and highlighting the behaviours that are expected from everyone in the team.
• Other duties as required.

Knowledge, Skills and Experience:

• Relevant third level qualification and or accreditation is desirable and or relevant experience
• A minimum of 5 years’ Experience in the water, utilities or similar industries is desirable
• Demonstrated people management experience, with strong people, change management and conflict resolution skills
• Experience providing coaching in the development of the technical skills and abilities in others
• Highly motivated individual, working to the highest professional standards and with proven ability to deliver results
• Strong analytical skills and ability to identify and analyse problems and potential improvements, and propose and implement solutions
• Demonstrate adaptability and the ability to change focus and direction in line with business strategy and requirements
• Proactively identifying new areas of improvement and using newly gained knowledge and skill on the job

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