Together we are Trusted to Serve Scotland.

At Scottish Water, we believe the safety, health and wellbeing of our people and everyone we work with is fundamental to our success. We believe there is no acceptable reason for anyone to be injured or suffer ill health because of work.

We aspire to create an environment where it is second nature for us all to consider the health and safety implications of our actions, continually improving safety standards and reducing the risk of accidents. No task is so important that we cannot take the time to do it safely. More than that, we want everyone to feel that working at Scottish Water supports their health and wellbeing and that we can apply the learning and experience gained to benefit our personal lives and our communities. We call this going beyond zero harm.

The Scottish Water Health and Safety team provides a vital service in Scottish Water and across our supply chain and partners to plan, deliver, measure, and continually improve H&S performance. Scottish Water’s Health and Safety function is structured in four teams: H&S Field Operations, H&S Systems and Compliance, H&S Construction and Contracting and H&S Process Safety, reporting to the Head of Health & Safety.

We have made significant strides to improve the H&S services over the last five years. We are now looking for a Head of Health and Safety to continue this journey and lead the overall H&S Function in delivering a world-class H&S service to over 6,000 personnel in Scottish Water and across our supply chain and partners, reporting to the Scottish Water Chief Operations Officer.

What you’ll do

You’ll play a key part in the senior management of Scottish Water, responsible for developing H&S policy and strategy and ensuring a world-class H&S culture and management system across Scottish Water.

You’ll provide expert H&S advice, guidance and support to the Chief Operations Officer, SW Executive Leadership and Senior Leaders, ensuring Scottish Water fully meets its H&S obligations and that H&S risk is effectively managed.

You’ll Lead and inspire the 50-strong H&S managers, team leaders and advisors to deliver excellent performance with a strong focus on customer service to over 6,000 personnel in Scottish Water and across our supply chain and partners.

Working with the business, you will lead the development and delivery of the H&S Strategic Improvement Programme, ensuring that it is effectively resourced and governed, reporting monthly to the Scottish Water Board of Directors.

You’ll lead and fulfil key strategic roles, including serious incident case management, director-level H&S incident reviews, and the Trades Union H&S Consultative group.

What you’ll need

Ideally you’ll be someone with previous experience working at a senior level in a large business and be confident working with and advising at a Director level.

You will draw on extensive knowledge and understanding of the H&S Legislation applicable to the working environment of the water industry, being an experienced SHEQ professional with a track record of leading Operational H&S delivery, assurance , improvement and process safety – ideally in a similar industry, e.g. Oil & Gas, Utilities or construction.

You will be a high-performing individual with proven management experience, strong analytical skills, and sound business judgment.

Effective communication and inter-team working is essential in this environment. So, you’ll be an enthusiastic promotor of health and safety, a confident communicator and an influencer who enjoys collaborative working and knows how to change and reinforce behaviours.

You’ll be someone who enjoys working with and inspiring people and maintains a working environment that ensures everyone is cared for with dignity and respect.

You’ll be a professional who embraces change and sees new ways of working as an opportunity to improve, who is creative and innovative, and who seeks new opportunities and ideas.

Ideally along the way, you’ll have acquired your NEBOSH diploma and be a member of IOSH. Professional development in this space is key, so you’ll actively keep up to date with legislation, trends and innovations.

Character is important to us. We look for people who are Bold, Responsible, Inspiring and Caring (and you can expect these characteristics to appear during your interview).

Looking out for you

While our work is important, it’s not the only thing that matters. That’s why we ensure you have everything you need to find a good work-life balance.

The normal working pattern for this role is Monday to Friday, 9-5 p.m. You’ll get plenty of time to recharge with 38 days of holiday every year (including public holidays). And you can even buy five more if you need extra time. You can also take paid time off to volunteer in your community.

Regarding major life events, we have family-friendly policies around adoption, maternity, and parental leave. And for the everyday? Applications with part-time or flexible working requirements will also be considered.

For your future, there’s a significant pension package (the ‘know-what-you’ll-get-when-you-retire’ kind) and life assurance.

As for some nice extras? You can expect an annual company bonus. Not to mention access to SW Splash – handy rewards that can save money on holidays, bills, and shopping.

The not-so-small print

The salary for this position is negotiable.

The role covers the whole of Scotland, so you can be based at any of our main office locations, e.g. Fairmilehead, Stepps, Dundee, Perth, and Inverness. We operate a hybrid working model, so you can expect to spend some days at home, in the office and some days out on-site visits.

If you’re interested in this role – or know someone else who might be - we’ll accept applications until midnight on 29th September 2023. And we’re aiming to do interviews for this role w/c 9th October.

Job offers at Scottish Water are conditional and will be confirmed on completion of our pre-employment screening, e.g. referencing, criminal record checks, license checks, etc. These are conducted on our behalf by a third party. Don’t worry - we’ll ask your permission before starting these checks

Do you have any support needs?

Please let us know if there are any changes we can make to our application and selection process to make it easier and more comfortable for you. Email us here with the vacancy reference number in the subject line so we can work with you to support you throughout your application.

Working at Scottish Water

Scottish Water is one of the UK's leading water companies, the quality of drinking water and satisfaction with the service we provide our customers has never been higher - but we want to be even better – and you could help play an important part!

We take employee engagement very seriously and have an inclusive and collaborative work environment where we respect people’s differences. We are committed to creating an engaging environment and a positive experience for our employees.

We were recently recognised as a Top 10 Flexible Employer in Scotland at the Flexibility Works Awards 2021 and by The Times as a Top 50 Employer for Women in 2019.

In 2019 we also won the Age Inclusive Award at The Herald and GenAnalytics Diversity Awards and were winners of the Best Public Sector Employer at the Family Friendly Working Scotland Awards 2020.
We have Carers Positive Exemplary Status and were Silver Award 2019 & Gold Award winners 2020 of the Defence Employer Recognition Scheme (DERS).

We aim for work to be an energising and fulfilling experience and everyone plays their part to ensure that Scottish Water is trusted to serve our customers and communities.

We are passionate about creating opportunities for young people and are proud to have achieved the Gold standard in the Investors in Young People accreditation, demonstrating our commitment to creating rewarding opportunities for young people.

You will have access to a host of benefits which include 38 days holiday a year, a defined benefit pension scheme, a discounted medical cash plan and cycle to work, plus a variety of agile working arrangements and family-friendly policies designed to support your wellbeing.

Next Steps

Any offer of employment with Scottish Water will be subject to the successful completion of a mandatory pre-employment screening process, including Disclosure Scotland and eligibility to work in the UK. Details can be found on our website.

For more information about this role or if you require any additional support throughout the application process please contact the recruitment team: SWRecruitment@scottishwater.co.uk

As part of our commitment to developing a flourishing Scotland, it is important that Scottish Water employees are resident in Scotland and contribute to the Scottish economy by paying Scottish income tax on their earnings. As a result we ask all potential employees to confirm that they are resident in Scotland, or to confirm their intentions to move to Scotland within 3 months of their start date .

Please note that candidates who have not submitted an application in the last 12 months will be automatically removed from our system records.