Head of Health, Safety & Environment

Workstyle Hybrid Location Blyth- minimum 3 days per week on site. What is your purpose? Accountable for organisational health, safety and environmental governance, assurance, management system effectiveness, regulatory compliance, environmental stewardship and continual improvement across all ORE Catapult activities. As Head of Health, Safety & Environment (HSE), you will provide strategic leadership and expert guidance to ensure ORE Catapult remains a safe, healthy and environmentally responsible organisation.

You will champion a positive and proactive safety culture that enables innovation whilst ensuring compliance with legal, regulatory and industry requirements. Working across all ORE Catapult locations, facilities, projects and programmes, you will embed best practice and continuous improvement in health, safety and environmental management. The role is pivotal in supporting ORE Catapult's mission to accelerate the development of offshore renewable energy by ensuring our people, customers, partners and assets operate within a robust HSE framework.

About ORE Catapult ORE Catapult is the UK's leading technology innovation and research centre for offshore renewable energy. Our unique research, engineering and testing capabilities help accelerate the creation and growth of UK companies in offshore renewable energy. Through collaboration with industry, academia and government, we are helping to create a sustainable energy future while driving economic growth and delivering societal impact.

What will I do? Strategic HSE leadership Develop and deliver ORE Catapult's Health, Safety and Environmental Strategy. Lead the organisation's approach to safety culture, behavioural safety and wellbeing. Act as the most senior HSE adviser to the Executive Team, Board and senior leaders. Prepare and present periodic HSE performance reports, assurance reviews and significant incident updates to the Board and relevant Board committees.

Ensure HSE considerations are integrated into strategic and operational decision-making. Promote a culture where everyone takes ownership of health, safety and environmental responsibilities. Governance, risk and compliance The Head of HSE provides governance, assurance, specialist advice and challenge. Accountability for the management of operational risks remains with line managers and operational leaders. Establish and maintain systems that provide assurance of compliance with applicable HSE legislation and regulatory obligations.

Accountable for the effectiveness, performance and continual improvement of ORE Catapult's Occupational Health & Safety and Environmental Management Systems, including ISO 45001 and ISO 14001 certification. Provide independent assurance to the CEO and Board regarding the effectiveness of HSE governance, risk controls and legal compliance arrangements. Provide organisational assurance through external audits, inspections and performance reviews. Lead risk management processes across testing, engineering, operational and research activities.

Support the Executive Team and Board in establishing HSE risk appetite and tolerance levels appropriate to ORE Catapult's activities. Ensure appropriate governance, reporting and escalation of significant HSE risks. Operational excellence Provide assurance regarding the effectiveness of arrangements for safe delivery across test facilities, laboratories, test sites and operational activities. Establish and maintain contractor assurance frameworks including pre-qualification, monitoring, audit and performance review processes, including permit-to-work processes are in place.

Lead and manage investigations into significant incidents, and support line managers to investigate other incidents, near misses and environmental events. Lead organisational response to significant HSE incidents, ensuring effective investigation, regulatory engagement, organisational learning and implementation of corrective actions. Drive organisational learning through effective root cause analysis and corrective action planning. Support innovation activities by providing pragmatic and proportionate risk management advice.

Lead ORE…