Health, Safety and Wellbeing Manager in Inverness

NatureScot office, home and hybrid working considered

£46,682– pay award pending effect from 1st April 2025

Job Purpose Summary

This is an incredible time to join NatureScot. We’re in the last year of our current Corporate Plan Corporate Plan 2022-26 - A Nature-Rich Future for All, and about to start the planning for the next iteration of our strategic aspirations.

Working as part of the People and Organisational Development leadership team, this role will provide leadership of the health, safety and wellbeing provision for the organisation. It will also have responsibility for supporting staff to carry out a variety of different work activities; giving effective advice and guidance to managers, employees, and where relevant contractors. The Health, Safety and Wellbeing Manager will work with leadership and colleagues at all levels across our organisation to understand, learn, and share good and emerging practices which support an improving health, safety, and wellbeing culture.

There is a network of Health, Safety and Wellbeing Coordinators in NatureScot, who function as champions of employee safety across the organisation. The Health, Safety and Wellbeing Manager will have oversight for this network of Coordinators and be responsible for promoting good health, safety and wellbeing practice throughout all NatureScot activities. They will ensure that guidance is clear and implemented consistently throughout the organisation and develop appropriate solutions and systems to effectively manage health, safety and wellbeing risks.

Responsibilities

• To promote good health, safety and wellbeing practice throughout all NatureScot activities.
• To provide leadership of the provision of health, safety and wellbeing support for the organisation.
• To give clear, accurate and timely professional advice and guidance to managers and all employees on health, safety and wellbeing matters as required.
• Devising standardised safety practices and ensuring that these are adopted and maintained.
• Raising awareness of policies across all Activity and National Operations Teams; and ensuring that full regard is given to safety on relevant training courses.
• Carrying out and coordinating a health, safety and wellbeing monitoring and auditing process, which gives assurance that management and monitoring systems and procedures are in place to meet the requirements of Health and Safety legislation and the Safety Policy Statements of the organisation.
• To lead on the Accident and Incident Reporting Procedures, ensuring the maintenance of accident statistics, analysis of trends and proposing and taking remedial action where appropriate.
• To ensure the effective contract management of key health, safety and wellbeing contracts.
• Collate and present quarterly reports to the Senior Management Team on health, safety and wellbeing performance and reporting to the Board and Audit and Risk Committee as per the agreed reporting cycle.
• Lead on the investigation of all serious accidents and RIDDOR reportable accidents involving employees and members of the public and ensure that recommendations to prevent recurrence are taken forward appropriately.
• Lead on the delivery of a rolling programme of audits/support visits across all NatureScot sites.
• Actively working with key stakeholders to ensure there is continuous improvement which supports a proactive health, safety, and wellbeing culture.
• Take an active and leading role in the quarterly Health, Safety and Wellbeing Forum supporting the Health, Safety and Wellbeing Coordinators and Trade Union Representatives by actively ensuring the effectiveness of this forum, providing support to the chairperson as required.
• Take an active and leading role in the Health, Safety and Wellbeing Committee, ensuring the work of this committee actively supports the strategic ambition of the organisation in relation to executing a proactive health, safety, and wellbeing culture, providing support to the chairperson as required.
• Promote effective risk control and safe working systems across the business in line with ensuring with have a holistic and robust health, safety and wellbeing management system in place.
• Lead on the review of existing health, safety and wellbeing policy and guidance and the development of new guidance as appropriate.
• Lead on the development and delivery of health, safety and wellbeing training provision, utilising the support of external providers or working in partnership with the wider P&OD team when required.
• Work with the Head of People and Organisational Development to deliver on the HS&W priorities for NatureScot, ensuring these contribute to achievement of our corporate plan.
• Working with all the Health, Safety and Wellbeing Coordinators, Trade Union Representatives, and the Property team to ensure compliance with Health, Safety and Wellbeing policies and monitoring processes.
• Develop and maintain effective relationships with Trade Union Health and Safety Representatives, Health, Safety and Wellbeing Coordinators and leadership through the organisation.
• Develop and maintain relationships with experts out with NatureScot in Scotland to provide support and specialist knowledge, when necessary, for example partners across the wider Environment and Energy Leadership Group (EELG).

Person Specification

Essential Skills

• Experience of developing and applying health, safety and wellbeing systems and processes within a complex and dispersed organisation.
• NEBOSH National Diploma in Occupational Health, Safety and Wellbeing or equivalent
• Chartered membership of IOSH.
• Ability to effectively plan and prioritise a complex workload, and the allocation of resources out with your direct control to meet conflicting deadlines.
• A proven track record of advising and managing health, safety and wellbeing tasks across various all levels of an organisation.
• Up to date and robust knowledge of Health, Safety and Wellbeing legislation.
• Experience of producing written reports, including the visualisation of data, and presenting the results to drive forward solutions and delivery to mitigate future risks.
• A flexible, pragmatic, and proactive approach to health, safety and wellbeing matters.
• Ability to use your own initiative, and take a solution focused approach to drive action, while working independently with minimal supervision.
• Ability to self-organise and utilise digital solutions.
• Good interpersonal skills with the ability to work with and relate to colleagues at all levels across a challenging geographically dispersed organisation.
• Good working knowledge of MS Office products.

Pre-requisites

• Right to work in the UK.
• To undertake a Standard disclosure Scotland Application.
• Full, clean UK driving licence.
• Although Gaelic language is not a prerequisite it is a desirable skill in support of our commitment to our Gaelic Language Plan.

Working for NatureScot

Our benefits package includes thecivil service pension scheme, a generous holiday leave allowance plus flexi time, and employee discount scheme.Visit the NatureScotwebsite for further detailsincluding below:

• An environment with flexible working options
• A Civil Service Pension with an employer contribution of 28.97% (7.35% employee contributions)
• 41.5 days of annual leave, with 5 fixed public holidays on St Andrews Day, Christmas Day, Boxing Day, New Year’s Day and 2nd January
• Equivalent of 2 days paid volunteering leave
• A focus on wellbeing with access to an employee assistance programme
• Job satisfaction from contributing proactively to the twinned nature and climate crisis
• Death in service benefits
• Cycle to work and electric vehicle salary sacrifice schemes
• Access to an employee discounts scheme
• ·Learning and development tailored to your role
• A culture encouraging inclusion and diversity

NatureScot’s Net Zero commitment

Whether working at home or in an office, or travelling to meetings and site visits, as a NatureScot you will contribute to our Net Zero plan, for example through positive carbon travel choices.

Closing date: Monday 3 November 2025.