Drilling Manager

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Normanton, UK.

Accountable to the Director Ground Investigation, this role provides drilling services and operational support to the business, helping in the delivery of our 5-year Business Strategy.

• Effective planning of drilling staff, activities and resources throughout the country and further afield.
• Safe and high-quality delivery of drilling services to clients, which includes but is not limited to risk assessing drilling activities and implementing appropriate controls, upskilling and training staff to ensure best practice drilling methods are employed, in order to recover and deliver quality soil and rock samples.
• Management and leadership of drilling personnel (approx. 40 staff) and fitters (3 staff).
• Input to pricing and compilation of bids and tenders, that require an element of drilling related services.

• Manage the works Planner with regards to scheduling and assigning drilling personnel and equipment to projects. Manage in a way that maximises utilisation, with a particular focus on supplying the correct drilling resources (type and number of rigs / support equipment, staff etc.) to jobs and sites, for effective, efficient and safe execution.
• Undertake site walkovers on jobs that are deemed challenging, to ensure appropriate equipment and staff are resourced to job.
• Project management and expert support to the Ground Investigation (GI) department, ensuring our GI jobs throughout the UK are managed efficiently and cost-effectively, delivering the best service to our clients. Includes being aware of project budgets, to inform daily decision making.
• Support departments to remain agile to respond to, or pre-empt the needs of clients, in terms of quick response times, reacting swiftly to emergency works, always delivering a professional and technically sound drilling service that exceeds the client’s expectations. This includes but is not limited to arranging Temporary Work Designs and managing Temporary Works Supervisors.
• Lead the drilling division staff (~40 personnel), which includes providing operational advice, as well as team management and leadership.
• On-site supervision, aligned to project plans, including SHEQ plans (Safety, Health Environment and Quality) with a focus on safe, timely and quality delivery.
• Liaise daily with Drilling Supervisors, to support them in delivering of timely and effective support to operational crews throughout the UK.
• Conduct safety and site checks / audits, competency assessments and upskilling where appropriate (including Risk Assessments, Method Statements, Task Briefing Sheets).
• Conduct risk assessments and implement mitigation strategies.
• Manage and coordinate biannual LOLER inspections and certification records.
• Ensure compliance with PUWER regulations and that there is an appropriate maintenance (preventative and ad-hoc), servicing and repairs schedule for all drill rigs and support equipment / tooling, to prevent downtime / extend lifespan. Ensure adherence to the schedule by the fitting staff, reporting any non-compliance to Director: GI (BH) for addressing.
• Manage drilling equipment stock levels.
• Approve employee timesheets and expense reports, once first pass checks undertaken by Admin and Accounts.
• Quickly develop and maintain respectful, professional and high performing working relationships across the business and with clients, to facilitate excellence in the management and delivery of projects.
• Establish a sound understanding of Central Alliance’s and RSK’s ways of working (processes, procedures, guidelines etc.) for drilling, logistics, project planning, execution, etc.
• Supported by the company, maintain and develop technical knowledge, such as British Standards and industry standards.

• Experience in the supervision and management of ground investigation contracts.
• Experience in compliance with CDM regulations and production of H&S documentation.
• The post holder will be expected to attend and pass internal and industry recognised external training courses. These may include, PTS, NRASWA, CCNSG, towing license, CAT, First Aid and manual handling…