Safety Standards & Risks Advisor

82465 - Safety Standards & Risk Advisor

This post reports to the Health and Safety Manager and will work within our Central H&S team, focusing on non-electrical safety based in our in our any of our Eastern, London or Southern offices. This can include Bury St Edmunds, Borehamwood, Crawley, Colchester or Central London. You will be a permanent employee.

You will attract a salary of £68,144 + car/allowance and a bonus of 3%.

Close Date: 21/05/2026.

We also provide the following additional benefits

• 23 Days Annual Leave plus bank holidays.
• Reservist Leave – Additional 18 days full pay and 22 unpaid
• Private Health Insurance / SimplyHealth
• Personal Pension Plan – Personal contribution rates of 4% or 5% (UK Power Networks will make a corresponding contribution of 8% or 10%)
• Tenancy Loan Deposit Scheme, Season Ticket Loan
• Tax efficient benefits: Cycle to Work, Home & Tech, and Green Car Leasing Schemes
• Occupational Health support
• Switched On – scheme providing discount on hundreds of retailers' products
• Discounted gym membership
• Employee Assistance Programme

Job Purpose:

The purpose of the role is to give competent health and safety advice to all business Directorates and UKPN Services, in order to ensure their effective management of safety risks. You will act as subject matter expert on your specialist safety topics – owning the creation, renewal and onwards communication of assigned documents within the safety management system.

Dimensions

N/A

Principal Accountabilities:

• Provide Subject Matter Expert health and safety advice to other advisors, directors, managers, employees, contractors as required, acting as an intermediatory in all queries and challenges with the application of approved UKPN procedures or H&S legislation.
• Lead the review and preparation of existing procedures and development of new procedures or processes, ensuring these are clearly communicated with relevant media to employees and contractors as appropriate.
• Interpret new and existing H&S legislation or codes of practice to ensure compliance with legal and moral obligations.
• Oversee the process of approval and procurement of all new work equipment (tools and PPE) brought into UKPN.
• Act as Subject Matter Expert on investigation panels, for Serious and Very Serious Investigations. Critically review completed investigation reports and provide feedback/coaching to Lead Investigators to improve the quality of investigations.
• Lead engagement and consultation with the wider business and Union Safety Representatives by participation in Safety Action Teams (SAT), working groups and other relevant forums, where appropriate.
• Represent UKPN at external events and conferences such as Energy Networks Association or cross-industry working groups, to bring emerging risks, innovation or best practice from other industries into UKPN.
• Support Technical Training with the development of training for staff and contractors and in conjunction with the Technical Assurance and Assessment and Accreditation Teams, assist in monitoring compliance with safe systems of work within your areas of expertise.

Nature and Scope:

The Safety Standards and Risk team is primarily responsible for the development of new or revised safety procedures to both employees and contractors. The post holder will be required to provide day to day ad-hoc safety advice where requested as well as project manage the development of new or revision of existing procedures, contribute to risk management reviews and incident investigations, develop training and undertake compliance activities.

To actively work within the Central H&S Team and engage with all Directorates and external bodies, providing effective '3rd line of defence' advice to the Directorates for all non-electrical H&S matters as required. This includes providing subject matter expert support to in-business HSS teams and other teams which comprise the '2nd line of defence'.

The post holder will be responsible for preparing and reviewing health and safety procedures. Having a strong background in one or more specialist H&S area(s) will be highly desirable.

This position does not offer blended working. The post holder may be based at any of the locations listed, however they will be expected to travel to all business sites and work locations when required.

Knowledge, Skills, Qualifications and Experience:

• Hold as a minimum the National Examination Board of Occupational Safety and Health (NEBOSH) Diploma or equivalent.
• Relevant experience of providing achievable professional H&S advice in one or more specialist area(s).
• Have a good understanding and experience of the safety management systems and safety legislation relevant to utility sector activities.
• Be a great communicator and team player – you can demonstrate how you have previously worked alongside operational departments to improve safety.
• Have an inquisitive mindset – in this role you need to consistently question why we do it this way, always be thinking about how we can improve, what if this goes wrong?
• Have good communication, presentation, planning and decision making skills and the ability to work with IT software packages such as Microsoft office.
• Hold a full valid driving licence.

Should you not have the full range of essential skills, qualifications and competencies listed below, there may be an opportunity for further training to equip you. If you do not have all relevant competencies for the core grade, it will be appropriate to appoint at a lower grade until you have developed the required competencies.

Health & Safety Responsibilities

Managers and supervisors carry both legal and company responsibilities for ensuring the health and safety of their employees, those under their control and those who might be affected by the work undertaken, i.e. public, visitors and employees of other organisations. This includes briefing individuals working for them and ensuring there is the necessary understanding, competence and application of requirements to work safely and without harming the environment.

Employees will ensure they fully understand the health and safety risks involved in their work activities and their responsibility to apply the controls needed to manage those risks to acceptable levels. Similarly where work activities can have an adverse impact upon the environment, and particularly where there are legal requirements, employees will understand those impacts and the controls they must ensure are applied.

Employees need to be aware that for some craft and operational roles that work at height, or use fall arrest devices, there is an upper weight limit of 116Kg due to maximum safe working load of the safety equipment that is used.

If in doubt ask!

We are committed to equal employment opportunity regardless of race, colour, ancestry, religion, sex, national origin, sexual orientation, age, citizenship, marital status, disability, gender, gender identity or expression, or veteran status. We are proud to be an equal opportunity workplace.

We are committed to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children and young people. Where applicable, this role is subject to safer recruitment processes and robust pre‑employment checks

If you have any queries in connection to this vacancy or your application, please contact us at careers@ukpowernetworks.co.uk quoting the vacancy reference number and a member of the team will get in touch with you as soon as possible.