Senior H&S Manager

Volker Rail Major Projects is an expert in collaborative working through joint ventures and alliance schemes. Collaborative working agreements are a proven strategy for delivering large, complex railway projects, and through its strong relationships with other major contractors, Volker Rail Major Projects has helped to deliver several of the biggest rail projects over the last decade.

The SID is a fully integrated team that will bring together the strengths, capabilities, and knowledge of the partners and Network Rail. It will own the renewals work bank, manage it at portfolio level and drive a transition to a production management ethos. The SID is commercially aligned and jointly incentivised creating a ‘share in success’ environment. Business partners within the alliance will generate profit through performance against the Final Determination.

The four partners, Volker Fitzpatrick, Octavius, Atkins, and Volker Rail are aligned to the core asset disciplines with the fifth partner, Network Rail Minor Works, being multi- disciplinary for low complexity, low value works.

As the Health & Safety Lead, you will provide strategic leadership, expert guidance and independent assurance across the Southern Renewals Enterprise. Working closely with operational leaders, project teams, clients and supply chain partners, you will help ensure health, safety and wellbeing remain at the heart of everything we do.

You will champion Volker Rail's Safety of Our People Principles
, helping to create a positive safety culture where people feel empowered to challenge unsafe behaviours, learn from experience and continuously improve.

The role will see you leading a team of Health & Safety Managers, Advisors and Trainee Advisors, ensuring consistent professional support is delivered across multiple projects and work streams while driving continual improvement in safety performance.

Key Responsibilities

Strategic Leadership

• Lead the development and delivery of the Health, Safety and Wellbeing strategy across SRE.
• Provide expert advice and support to senior leaders to drive continual improvement in safety culture and performance.
• Use performance data, trends and risk intelligence to support decision-making and improvement initiatives.
• Support the delivery of Volker Rail's core business principles:
  Safety of Our People, Right First Time and Our Sustainable Future.

Leadership and Development

• Lead, manage and develop a team of health and safety professionals.
• Promote high standards of leadership, professionalism and accountability.
• Coach, mentor and support the development of future safety leaders.
• Drive consistency in health and safety support across all projects.

Safety Culture and Operational Support

• Influence operational leaders to build and maintain positive safety cultures.
• Champion visible safety leadership through site visits, engagement activities and workforce interaction.
• Encourage proactive reporting of close calls, unsafe acts and unsafe conditions.
• Recognise positive safety behaviours and challenge unsafe practices where necessary.
• Support managers in managing significant risks and ensuring effective control measures are in place.

Assurance, Governance and Compliance

• Lead risk-based assurance programmes, audits and inspections.
• Provide independent assurance on health and safety compliance and performance.
• Support internal, client and regulatory audits.
• Monitor compliance with Volker Rail procedures, Network Rail standards and legal requirements.
• Produce performance reports, trend analysis and strategic recommendations for senior leadership.

Continuous Improvement

• Lead investigations into significant incidents and high-potential events.
• Analyse performance trends to identify emerging risks and improvement opportunities.
• Promote organisational learning through sharing lessons learned and best practice.
• Support the effective application of the Worksafe Procedure and behavioural safety initiatives.

You will be an experienced health and safety professional with a proven track record of delivering strong safety performance within major rail, construction or infrastructure environments.

You will be comfortable influencing senior leaders, providing independent challenge when required and building strong relationships across operational, client and contractor teams.

Essential

• NEBOSH Diploma in Occupational Safety and Health.
• IOSH Certified Member (CertIOSH).
• Lead ISO Auditor qualification.
• Minimum 10 years' experience in health and safety leadership roles within major infrastructure, rail or construction environments.
• Strong knowledge of health and safety legislation and Network Rail standards.
• Experience leading and developing Health & Safety teams.
• Full UK Driving Licence.
• Sentinel PTS and OLEC 1 competency.

Desirable

• CMIOSH or actively working towards Chartered status.
• ILM Level 5 Leadership & Management (or equivalent).
• Experience working within rail renewals and maintenance frameworks.
• Experience developing graduates, trainees or emerging health and safety…