While there is an expectation that this role will be of a fixed-term nature, there may be scope for this to be extended, depending on 2029 / 2031 requirements.

Role Responsibilities

Working in support of Field Service Owners and other senior leaders in the programme, you will use your leadership and H&S technical skills and experience to:

• Lead the development, implementation, assurance and continuous improvement of Health and Safety arrangements for Census 2027 Test field operations and other public-facing events, ensuring compliance with legislation, organisational policy and industry best practice.
• Provide expert health and safety advice to senior leaders, operational managers and teams, supporting effective management of operational, wellbeing and regulatory risks.
• Develop and maintain risk assessments, safe systems of work, guidance, controls and implementation plans, to support the safe delivery of Census 2027 Test field and other activities.
• Ensure effective controls are in place for key operational risks, including (but not restricted to) lone working, personal safety, travel, adverse weather, and out-of-hours working.
• Support statutory compliance and operational readiness by ensuring field colleagues have access to appropriate training, information, equipment, supervision, emergency arrangements and welfare support.
• Oversee health and safety governance, conducting audits and assurance checks to ensure arrangements are suitably applied and managed.
• Implement and oversee incident and near-miss management, providing trend analysis, assurance reporting, compliance monitoring and implementing lessons learned.
• Build and maintain effective relationships with internal and external stakeholders, including trade unions, contractors, partner organisations and corporate health and safety teams, to promote practical and inclusive health and safety arrangements.
• Produce and present risk updates, assurance reports and recommendations to governance forums and senior leaders, maintaining clear records and audit trails to support effective decision-making.
• Advise commercial colleagues on H&S requirements for Census contracts to ensure H&S requirements are included where applicable and that liability is correctly attributed and documented.

The role is embedded in the Census 2031 programme, with a dotted line into the corporate Health and Safety team, ensuring that Census Field H&S processes and procedures are aligned with the corporate ONS policies, tailored for Census as appropriate.

There may be some requirement to attend corporate H&S meetings and events on occasion.

The field team for 2027 is likely to be around 480 field officers, spread across England and Wales, and this role will ensure that all officers have access to adequate health and safety provision.

Other teams who you will support, will be much smaller, and will be operational on a more ad-hoc basis.

Person Specification

Essential Criteria

• Proven experience leading H&S initiatives in a large-scale operational environment, providing clear H&S advice and guidance to colleagues, managers and senior leaders.
• Proven ability to build strong relationships at all levels and to work with colleagues and managers, to ensure that working practices are safe, risk assessed and compliant with corporate and statutory H&S policies and procedures.
• Experience developing, iterating and maintaining H&S risk assessments, near-miss and incident reporting, and ensuring lessons are learned.
• Experience auditing H&S statutory compliance, and producing management reports highlighting recommendations for improvements.
• Experience of working with Trade Union and other staff bodies, providing clear H&S advice and influencing complex operational issues.
• Experience using technology to ensure compliance with H&S management arrangements.

Qualifications

• NEBOSH National General Certificate in Occupational Health & Safety
• TechIOSH

Behaviours

We'll assess you against these behaviours during the selection process:

• Communicating and Influencing
• Making Effective Decisions
• Changing and Improving
• Delivering at Pace

Technical skills

We'll assess you against these technical skills during the selection process:

• Proven specialist knowledge of current Health & Safety Legislation - HSE Legislation

Benefits

Alongside your salary of £41,985, Office for National Statistics contributes £12,163 towards you being a member of the Civil Service Defined Benefit Pension scheme. Find out what benefits a Civil Service Pension provides (opens in a new window).

The Office for National Statistics is part of the Civil Service, and as such we share a number of key benefits with other departments, whilst also having our own unique offerings to support our valued colleagues across the organisation.

Whether you are hearing about us for the first time or already know a bit about our organisation, we hope that our careers site will give you a great insight into the benefits and facilities available to our colleagues, and our fantastic working culture.

Inclusion & Accessibility

At ONS we are always looking to attract the very best people from the widest possible talent pool, and we are proud to be an inclusive, equal opportunities employer. As a Disability Confident Leader we’re committed to ensuring that all candidates are treated fairly throughout the recruitment process.

As part of our application process, you will be prompted to provide details of any reasonable adjustments to our recruitment process that you need. If you would like to discuss any reasonable adjustments before applying, please contact the recruitment team in the first instance.

If you would like an accessible version of any of the attachments or recruitment documents below or linked to in this advert, please contact the recruitment team who will be happy to assist.

Things you need to know

Artificial intelligence

Artificial intelligence can be a useful tool to support your application, however, all examples and statements provided must be truthful, factually accurate and taken directly from your own experience. Where plagiarism has been identified (presenting the ideas and experiences of others, or generated by artificial intelligence, as your own) applications may be withdrawn and internal candidates may be subject to disciplinary action. Please see our candidate guidance (opens in a new window) for more information on appropriate and inappropriate use.

Selection process details

This vacancy is using Success Profiles (opens in a new window), and will assess your Behaviours, Experience and Technical skills.

ONS are unable to offer visa sponsorship for this role. Applicants are expected to hold a valid right to work in the UK when employment commences. If you are applying on a time-limited visa, this will need to be valid for at least