Safety Assistant

As our Home Safety Assistant, you will act as the first point of contact for members of the public, partner agencies and internal staff, providing relevant and necessary home safety advice to prevent fires in the home. You will manage and prioritise the diaries for over 30 Home Safety Technicians for home safety visits, replacement alarms and arson letterbox requests, and liaise with other Departments and external agencies where required.

Devon and Somerset Fire and Rescue Service is an Emergency Service, and this is a very busy role which involves conversations with very vulnerable members of the community, some of which can be distressing. In order to prioritise risks and book Home Safety visits accordingly, we need people who are experienced and confident with this type of role.

• Act as the first point of contact for members of the public and partner agencies to process and action any requests for Home Safety Visits for the most vulnerable members of the community.
• Act as the first point of contact for Home Safety Technicians regarding changes to their workloads / schedules, to provide information on points of contact and any additional safety information required.
• Manage phone calls to and from extremely vulnerable members of the community, some of which are distressing, in a calm, reassuring and professional manner.
• Control and Monitor the Fire Kills email inbox and ensure each request is actioned appropriately and in line with required deadlines.
• Use agreed criteria and processes to determine eligibility of highly vulnerable occupants for a home safety visit with an appropriately trained Technician, while also having the authority to use professional judgement to override these criteria and processes when risks are apparent from the initial contact, whether this is over the phone or via written correspondence and arrange a home safety visit.
  
  Provide appropriate safety advice, signposting and information to members of the public who are not eligible for a visit.
• Manage and update the Home Safety systems and other essential Community Safety IT based systems quickly and accurately, and in accordance with GDPR requirements.
• To ensure occupants safety by using agreed criteria, processes, and professional judgement, with sensitive and confidential personal information which is received to escape issues to the Safeguarding Team or Business Safety and to update ORIS information as necessary.

• Good Academic background
• Knowledge of basic office systems and procedures
• Willingness to undergo Vetting/Disclosure & Barring Service (DBS) checks as required by the Service
• Ability to work effectively and efficiently on own initiative as well as a member of a busy team, taking responsibility for personal performance and responding to feedback
• Good listening and questioning skills
• Flexible and facilitative approach
• A commitment to continuous improvement
• Ability to work under conditions where you are interrupted on a regular basis
• 1. Ability to interpret and appropriately act on guidance / procedures.
• 2. Excellent telephone manner; ability to create rapport with client/situation and to determine appropriate need exercising appropriate levels of empathy/patience when dealing with vulnerable callers.
• 3. Two years' experience of dealing with members of the public both face to face and on the telephone; ideally experience in dealing with vulnerable groups.
• 4. Experience of handling conflict/hostile situations with customers.
• 5. Ability to work effectively and efficiently on own initiative as well as a member of a busy team, taking responsibility for personal performance and responding to feedback.
• 6. Ability to work under conditions where you are interrupted on a regular basis.

• 22.2 hours per week (Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday), Fixed Term Contract until 24 August 2026 to provide cover for the secondment of the substantive post holder.
• 22.2 hours per week (days to be discussed with the successful candidate), Fixed term contract for 12 months to cover for the temporary promotion of the substantive post holder.

In return, you will receive a competitive salary of £29540 - £32061 (gross) pro rata per annum. This equates to £17,724 - £19,236.60 (gross) per annum for 22.2 hours per week. Our vision is that together, we will work to end preventable fire and rescue emergencies, creating a safer world for you and your family. Keeping people safe is what we do, and we owe our fantastic reputation to our highly skilled and motivated workforce.