Health & Safety Business Partner (Newtownards)

Lakeland Dairies Co-operative Society Limited (The Group) is the second largest dairy processor on the island of Ireland. The business is complex and ambitious with a milk supply pool of 2 billion litres of milk, drawn from over 3,200 family farms across 16 counties.

With the most modern dairy manufacturing facilities in 8 locations on a cross-border basis, the Group supplies to a broad customer base including some of the world’s foremost ‘blue chip’ companies across the dairy food ingredients, foodservice and consumer food channels on a domestic Ireland, UK, European and global basis. Internationally we export some 240 different products to over 100 countries worldwide.

The Group’s Agribusiness Division (Lakeland Agri) operates a state-of-the-art Animal Feed Manufacturing Facility and is a leading and innovative provider of the highest quality feeds and agricultural inputs to dairy, beef and sheep farmers across the north and south of Ireland.

Applications are invited for the position at our Newtownards site:

The Role: Reporting to our Group Head of Health and Safety, the successful applicant will lead all Health & Safety standards for our site in line with the business’s strategic objective of “Looking after the Safety of Ourselves and Others”. This role is responsible for the promotion of a zero-harm culture where safety is the shared responsibility of everyone, working together with the engagement of people at the centre of safety management plans.

Our Health & Safety Business Partner will reinforce this safety culture by ensuring the site has user-relevant and up-to-date risk assessments and safety audits and will lead the site’s compliance to relevant Health and Safety regulations. This role is responsible for instigating and leading the adoption of best practice in all aspects of health and safety across the Newtownards site and will be further responsible for incident investigation, management of action plans and accurate weekly and monthly reporting also.

Additional Key responsibilities will include (Not limited to):

• Develop and implement safety management plans that engage all people on site in Looking after the Safety of Ourselves and Others.
• Ensure a safe workplace environment without risk to health and the promotion of zero harm.
• Ensure that all Group Health & Safety policies, procedures, rules and regulations are adhered to and are regularly reviewed, updated and communicated.
• Ensure the completion and regular review of risk assessments for all work equipment and operations.
• Contribute to the development and improvement of Group Health and Safety procedures in the workplace.
• Integrate the group programme of documented health & safety inspections, audits and checks.

The person: To be successful in this role applicants shall require:

• GCSE Maths & English (Grade C or above)
• NEBOSH certificate or equivalent
• Demonstrable experience in the engagement of others in achieving health and safety improvements
• Experience of monitoring contractors and their compliance with safety obligations
• Knowledge of Microsoft Office, in particular Word, Excel and Outlook
• Excellent communication skills with ability to express ideas clearly and convincingly.
• Ability to deliver objectives in agreed timeframe and manage priorities effectively.
• Flexible, self-starter with ability to cope with changing priorities
• 3rd level qualification in a technical discipline, experience of a fast-moving manufacturing environment (in particular food) and/or experience of implementing or maintaining an ISO certified management system eg. 45001, 9001 or 14001 would be advantageous.

Application Process: To apply for this role, please send a copy of your CV by email to Glen Young by mid-day on Monday 9th June 2025. Lakeland Dairies Ltd is committed to having an inclusive workplace where every employee feels they belong. If you require accommodations to be made during the recruitment process or have questions relating to accessibility, please contact us.