
Head of Health, Safety & Wellbeing - Construction Safety
- Reading
- £90,000 per year
- Permanent
- Full-time
- Act as the organisation's lead competent person on CDM 2015 and construction health, safety and well-being. Support designers and project teams during pre-construction, manage statutory notifications (F10), assess contractor competence, and coordinate health and safety information.
- Coordinate risk reviews during design stages to identify buildability hazards and ensure appropriate design risk mitigation.
- Conduct inspections, audits, and assurance activities across construction sites to verify compliance with company standards and CDM duties.
- Develop and enforce site-specific HSE arrangements, including permit-to-work, RAMS validation, toolbox talks, and emergency planning.
- Facilitate HOP-informed learning activities such as “work-as-done” reviews, learning teams, and after-action reviews-shifting culture from blame to systemic learning.
- Partner with delivery teams to integrate safety into work planning, ensuring systems are designed to anticipate error and support workforce adaptability.
- Lead investigations with a focus on understanding context and conditions, applying root cause analysis that aligns with HOP principles and supports continuous improvement.
- Deliver inspiring safety briefings, inductions, and multi-disciplinary forums to enhance cultural ownership of safety and wellbeing.
- Maintain and report on safety performance metrics, audit results, inspection records, and CDM compliance documentation.
- NEBOSH Construction Certificate. (minimum); NEBOSH Diploma or Masters degree preferred.
- Membership of IOSH or equivalent.
- Professional membership with a relevant body. (e.g., APS, IIRSM, ICE H&S Register)
- Recognised qualification in Occupational Health & Safety, Construction Management, or Engineering. (minimum HND-level or equivalent)
- Extensive experience in UK construction HSW roles. With CDM 2015 responsibilities.
- Demonstrable knowledge of UK construction hazards and safety risk controls.
- Proven delivery of HOP tools in construction or high-risk environments.
- Track record of conducting audits, inspections, and leading incident investigations.
- Confident communicator and facilitator with experience running safety briefings, workshops, and stakeholder engagements.
- Strong digital literacy, including use of safety management platforms.
- CDM 2015 competency: experience fulfilling Principal Designer, Client Adviser, and general CDM Adviser roles.
- Strong understanding of UK CDM regulations, able to implement compliance structures and lead design and construction safety coordination.
- Construction site safety expertise: risk assessments, safety inspections, permit-to-work systems, toolbox talks, and emergency response planning.
- Incident investigation skills: root cause analysis driven by HOP principles. Capability to lead no-blame reviews and learning-focused after-action assessments.
- Competent in design-phase reviews, competence assessments, and statutory notifications.
- Competitive salary offering up to £90,000 per annum, depending on experience.
- Annual Leave - 26 days holiday per year increasing to 30 with the length of service. (plus bank holidays)
- Car Allowance.
- Performance-related pay plan directly linked to company performance measures and targets.
- Generous Pension Scheme through AON.
- Private Medical Health Care.
- Access to lots of benefits to help you take care of you and your family's health and wellbeing, and your finances - from annual health MOTs and access to physiotherapy and counselling, to Cycle to Work schemes, shopping vouchers and life assurance.