Health and Safety Advisor

The Health and Safety Team supports the University of Sussex in delivering a safe working environment for over 2000 staff and 19000 students on the Falmer Campus (over 200 acres) and a range of off-site locations. The Health and Safety Team’s key purpose is to promote and improve the safety culture within key areas of the University. As a Health and Safety Advisor in the team, you will support us in promoting this positive safety culture at the University. You will also support colleagues across the University to ensure they are keeping everyone safe and healthy by managing hazardous and dangerous substances effectively.

About you

This is a full time, fixed term contract for you to join our team as a Health and Safety Advisor, to provide health and safety services to the University. You will be providing services such as advice and guidance, conducting investigations, undertaking audits/inspections, producing reports and health and safety policies and guidance.

As the University is undergoing an extensive program of health and safety improvements, with a particular focus on Science and Engineering, knowledge and experience within laboratories is highly desirable. The focus of your role will be to support colleagues in the Health and Safety Team in a program of work dedicated to improving compliance with the Control of Substances Hazardous to Health Regulations (COSHH) and Dangerous Substances Explosive Atmospheres Regulations (DSEAR) and across Schools and Divisions, therefore experience of working on chemical safety is essential and experience of working in DSEAR safety is desirable.

Your key function in this post will be to provide an excellent standard of professional safety advice/guidance to University Schools and Divisions.

Duties will include.

• Working in partnership with the university’s Estates and Facilities Team on new and ongoing projects.
• Providing health and safety advice to Schools and Professional Services Staff, with a particular focus on COSHH and DSEAR.
• Running local   audits/inspections and   supporting  Schools  with external  audits/ inspections.
• Providing an interpretation of any changes in legislation before disseminating key content to relevant members of the University.
• Updating and developing new policies/guidance.
• Incident investigation.
• Reviewing risk assessments
• Attending safety committee meetings.
• Developing and delivering health and safety training.
• Note taking at meetings and some clerical duties will be required as part of this role.

In addition to this you will be expected to perform other tasks as called upon by the Head of Health and Safety, including some distinct project work in support of the core departmental goal of promoting a safe working culture.

The role offers great potential for an insightful and innovative health and safety professional to make a substantial, lasting impact, working in collaboration with a team of other safety professionals. You will have the know-how to advise on a wide range of ‘general’ health and safety issues, with an interest/focus in chemical/DSEAR safety and be confident in applying this in an academic environment. Of key importance will be your ability to build a rapport with the full spectrum of staff and students.

Please contact Katie Bennett, k.a.bennett@sussex.ac.uk for informal enquiries

For full details and how to apply see our vacancies page

The University of Sussex values the diversity of its staff and students, and we welcome applicants from all backgrounds.

Please note: The University requires that work undertaken for the University is performed from the UK. 

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