Hazardous Materials Scientist – Batteries and Explosives

This exciting opportunity will be based in the Science Division of the HSE at our research laboratory and unique outdoor testing facilities, in Buxton, Derbyshire.

HSE’s Science Division is a world leading provider of health and safety solutions to industry and government. The scope of our work requires a diversity of talented individuals.

Our capabilities encompass a wide range of topics including: fire, explosion, process safety and engineering; occupational and environmental health; risk assessment; work environment; and specialist photographic and analytical services.

This breadth of expertise underpins our particular strength in creating multidisciplinary teams to support major incident investigations and policy development, as well as undertaking high quality research.

This vacancy is for a scientist to join our Hazardous Materials Team in the Major Hazards Group, specifically to work in the areas of battery and explosives safety and testing. This is an excellent opportunity to use your skills to contribute to innovative work to support HSE incident investigations, and valuable HSE and industry research projects to directly improve the lives of people in their workplaces.

You will be part of a team of specialists and will also collaborate with technical experts across many other disciplines.

To see a short video highlighting some of the work of the Major Hazards Group, please copy and paste the link below into your browser.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DE2mnZRMHB4

Job description

The role will involve:

Being a key member of the team on explosives testing projects – from small-scale hazard testing of explosives and energetic materials to larger scale classification and performance testing. Full training in explosives testing will be provided.
Being a key member of the team on a number of battery safety projects, this will mean getting involved in the design and build of experimental facilities as well as undertaking a significant role in the testing programme. Full training in battery testing will be provided.
Supporting the development of future research and testing work by engaging with existing and potential customers, contributing to the development of work proposals and presenting technical solutions to both technical and non-technical staff and customers.
Supporting incident investigations as required, working with other agencies such as the police and attending the incident site if appropriate. There is potential for this type of work to lead to court appearances to present evidence.
Undertaking data analysis and interpretation and writing clear, high quality, accurate reports.
Occasional travel in the UK and overseas, including some overnight stays.

This is an experimental role and therefore the successful candidate will be expected to work mainly from our Buxton site.

Part time working hours are available for this role. We can accept part time applicants who can commit to working a minimum of 4 days per week

Person specification

We are looking for candidates who can demonstrate:

A strong chemistry or physical sciences background
The ability to undertake work which can be hazardous, complex and of a high value in a safe, scientifically robust way that meets the required scope.
Practical scientific experimental skills, attention to detail and an ability to work to defined test protocols.
An enthusiasm to contribute to a diverse range of projects relating to (non-military) explosives and other energetic materials and new areas of battery research.
The ability to work well both independently and as part of a team.
Strong communication skills, experience of writing clear, concise documents and the ability to interact productively with a diverse range of stakeholders.

Licences

Full driving license that permits driving within the UK. However, the panel may consider any proposals put forward by applicants with mitigating circumstances. In this instance, please tick ‘Yes’ and provide more details within your application.

Qualifications

Essential:

• An honours degree in chemistry, a physical science or engineering subject.

Desirable:

• Masters or higher degree in a relevant subject.
• Graduate or professional membership of your relevant professional body OR progression towards membership.

Divisional Business Support Team Leader

This is an exciting opportunity as a Team Leader within HSE’s CEMHD Division working as a member of a Divisional Business Support Team and managing one of the administrative support teams within our Bootle office.

As a Divisional Business Support Team Leader, you will have line management responsibility for a team of operational support staff who carry out key processes. You will be responsible for managing a team of Band 6’s, leading, motivating, encouraging, challenging, coaching and supporting your team to work together. Additionally, you’ll take leadership action to deliver and continuously improve business results.

Your team will be responsible for supporting operational inspection teams, providing further support to the division when required. Strong leadership from the front is essential along with the ability to be very much a team player. As the team leader you will oversee the largely reactive workload which also encompasses set planned work at various busy times of the year.

HR Service Delivery Manager

We currently have an exciting and challenging permanent band 4 (HEO) role on our pay and reward team which will make a significant contribution to our business. This role will be part of the wider HR division, based in Bootle, Merseyside. As you will be working as part of a Bootle based team, the successful candidates will be expected to travel to Bootle occasionally.

If successful, you will contribute to the design and development of appropriate performance and reward provisions, implementing reward strategies which support, recognise and reward the successful achievement of business goals and enable HSE to recruit and retain people with the right skills and experience.

The role will involve you working with other members in HR to support the delivery of a wide range of activities as part of the People Strategy and HR Directorate Plan.

Mechanical Engineer/Scientist (Engineering Incident Investigator)

This exciting opportunity will be based in the Science Division of the HSE at our research laboratory and unique outdoor testing facilities in Buxton, Derbyshire.

HSE’s Science Division is a world leading provider of health and safety solutions to industry and government. The scope of our work requires a diversity of talented individuals.

This vacancy is for an engineer or scientist to join our Engineering team in the Major Hazards Capability Group. This is an excellent opportunity to use your skills to contribute to innovative work to support HSE incident investigations, and research and testing projects to directly improve the lives of people in their workplaces.

You can expect to contribute to a diverse range of projects within the health and safety sector, especially HSE incident investigation support, and also be involved in work for other government departments and industrial clients.

You will be part of a team of mechanical, electrical and gas engineers delivering experimental testing in relation to incident investigations but you will also collaborate with technical experts across many other disciplines.

Your technical responsibilities will include:

Supporting incident investigations, including fatalities, working with other agencies such as the Police and attending incident sites as appropriate. This will involve travel and overnight stays away from home.
Supporting the delivery of pressure-related activities such as incidents, research and testing (including measurement of key test parameters), training, and internal statutory compliance; acting as support to the current technical lead in this topic area.
Supporting the development of research and testing work by assisting towards the development of work proposals and presentation of technical solutions to both technical and non-technical staff inside and outside HSE.
Writing or contributing to technical reports in relation to incident, research or testing
Producing expert witness statements, and presenting expert evidence in court.

Fire Scientist/Engineer

We are looking for an experienced scientist or engineer to take a senior role in practical fire studies as part of the Fire Safety Team in the Major Hazards Group. The team carries out research, provides technical advice and investigates workplace incidents. Our work is not limited to supporting HSE in its policy and regulatory functions, so you can expect to contribute to a diverse range of projects in the health and safety sector including research projects, consultancy or delivery of training for commercial customers and other government departments.

Your role will be largely focused on research and testing programmes concerned with fire safety and protection measures across industry (typically construction, major hazards, offshore and manufacturing industries).

This is an excellent opportunity to use your knowledge and skills to contribute to innovative research work and consultancy advice to support HSE whilst being part of a team developing a new focus on fire safety matters within our organisation. This will include working with the newly formed building safety regulator, which will lead directly to maintaining standards and improvements in safety.

Your role will involve:

Leading work which can be hazardous, complex and of a high value in a safe, scientifically robust way, that meets the required scope
Work to high professional standards in science and engineering, including constructively challenging approaches and techniques
Actively supporting the development of research and test work with government and industry by engaging with potential customers and stakeholders, providing quality technical content to proposals and presenting technical information and solutions to both technical and non-technical audiences.
Writing clear, high quality, accurate reports that will assist customers and stakeholders in understanding the evidence and how affects their activities. You will also technically review the work of others.

Operational Support

We’re the first Gateway of the newly established Building Safety Regulator. Our purpose is to improve fire safety in high-rise residential developments across England at the planning stage.

We’re looking for an Operational Support Officer who wants to use their knowledge and experience to contribute towards supporting the Planning Gateway One service in setting a new standard in the quality and safety of Higher Risk Buildings. You will administer and triage a varied caseload, identifying whether the consultation meets the PGO threshold. You will also support the team in arranging meetings with planning officers, developers and fire engineers.

Job description

As an Operation Support Officer you will be the first point of contact for range of stakeholders. You will be able to use your professional expertise and provide high levels of customer service to a range of stakeholders.

You will have good writing and analytical skills and be computer literate in order to provide responses to email queries by local planning authorities. Good organisational skills are also needed to manage a caseload. You’ll work in a supportive environment where you can get advice and share lessons learned with your colleagues. You will gain a basic understanding of fire safety in the context of land use planning considerations.

Main Duties

Triage and administration of email queries,
Identifying whether a case meets the PGO threshold of a relevant building,
Creating of case files using the PGO database,
Responding to queries in a timely manner,
Managing of priority queries by engaging with team leader and the local planning authority,
Arranging meetings between stakeholders,
Providing a range of administrative tasks as required.

Operational Support Team Leader

This is a great opportunity to join CRD’s Divisional Support Team and play a part in driving the delivery of chemicals regulations in the UK at a time of major change. The support team plays a key part in ensuring that colleagues engaged in frontline activities, including regulatory science, permissioning and enforcement, have the necessary support and oversight to fully maximise the division’s impact and efficiency.

This is an exciting, varied, and challenging role within a supportive team. Working alongside the Operational Intelligence and Performance Team Leader, you will provide strong leadership to the Divisional Support Team, inspiring them, developing their capability, leading them through change and driving a culture of teamwork, high performance, and continuous improvement. The team are responsible for delivery of a range of functions and divisional priorities, including regulatory assurance, learning and development and governance arrangements on behalf of the division’s Senior Leadership Team. Currently, the team is also leading a programme of business improvements in each of these areas.

Responsibilities:

Lead a core team of 20 people, including 3 x SEO’s and 2 x B2’s (TDA), creating an inclusive working environment, valuing diverse views and eliminating discrimination and harassment and actively promote wellbeing.
Effectively monitor and act to ensure workloads are managed and that targets, standards and priorities are met.
Set clear priorities and standards for delivery and securing the right outcome.
Participate in and attend CRD Senior Leadership Team meetings to ensure that business requirements and challenges to maintaining high-performance are understood. This includes acting as the divisional focal point for key executive committees such as the HSE Strategic Design Authority.
Build the team’s capability by embedding a learning and development framework.

Recruitment Manager

As a recruitment campaign manager, your goal will be to attract a diverse range of good quality candidates to work for HSE through a positive candidate experience.

Recently the team has grown in size to fulfil HSE’s business requirements and together we deliver a variety of external recruitment activity including single head count vacancies to large-scale campaigns. You will work closely with other campaign managers and Recruitment Attraction Lead to deliver specific vacancies and recruitment projects with an emphasis on talent attraction.

You will be accountable for ensuring all candidate journeys are positive from application to start date including monitoring the work of recruitment advisors during the campaign. As part of managing a positive candidate journey you will also work in a team with senior campaign managers on larger recruitment marketing campaigns or at assessment centres.

Explosives Specialist Inspector

Our Explosives Safety specialists ensure employers across Great Britain – a whole range of essential industries with thousands of workers – to work safely. In this role, you can utilise your considerable technical knowledge and practical experience to influence not only individual employers but whole industry sectors.

You’ll work alongside other HSE technical and regulatory specialists to ensure work activities are operating within the legislative framework by various regulatory interventions including inspecting, investigating and providing advice.

Your work will make the most of your experience – whether that’s inspecting an explosive processing plant, helping an employer understand the right controls to have in place, or contributing to the development of industry standards and guidelines. The balance of an individual’s key responsibilities will depend on their role within the Unit. As you can see this role will broaden your knowledge and your professional credibility like no other role can.

Operational Policy Advisor

We have an exciting opportunity for a Higher Operational Policy officer to join our pesticides team.

You will be responsible for operational policy input to applications from external stakeholders, supporting the translation of policy and legislative requirements into operational processes that support regulatory decisions on pesticides (including maximum residue levels) in the UK.

You will be involved in discrete projects that support operational delivery (such as reviewing technical guidance) and the National Action Plan for pesticides, leading specific pieces of work.

You will manage relations with key strategic external stakeholders, arranging and leading meetings to secure intelligence on their understanding of the current processes and identifying areas for improvement.

You will coordinate the development of material for publication on HSEs website and through ebulletins, overseeing a multi-year programme of work.

You will have the opportunity to shape the regulatory framework of the future, liaising between operational and policy leads to influence any future changes.