Senior Process Safety Specialist (Band 3/SEO)

Job summary

The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) is Great Britain’s national regulator for workplace health and safety. We are dedicated to protecting people and places and helping everyone lead safer and healthier lives.

HSE's Science, Engineering and Analysis Division (SEAD) is a world-leading provider of health and safety solutions to industry and government. Our Science and Research Centre, based in Buxton, Derbyshire, is the heart of our scientific and technical capability, where the most creative and innovative scientists and engineers can come together to address some of the biggest challenges on the national agenda.

The scope of our work requires a diversity of talented individuals, and our capabilities encompass a wide range of topics including fire, explosion, process safety and engineering; occupational and environmental health; risk assessment; work environment; and specialist photographic and analytical services. This breadth of expertise underpins our strength in creating multidisciplinary teams to support HSE’s work on major incident investigations and policy and regulatory development, as well as undertaking high quality research.

We have an exciting opportunity for a Senior Process Safety Specialist to join the Risk Sciences Unit with SEAD. You will apply process safety expertise and risk assessment methodologies to a wide range of health and safety-related applications. Your work could include assessing risks associated with hydrogen and carbon capture, utilisation and storage technologies, supporting major incident investigations, contributing to policy and regulatory developments, and exploring how artificial intelligence could affect safety in high hazard workplaces.

Working pattern

Part time working hours are available for this role. We can accept part time applicants who can commit to working a minimum of 30 hours per week.

Travel

At HSE, we are proud to be able to offer our people the opportunity to work in a hybrid way which combines working from home and the office. The office is in a rural location with no direct public transport What3words:///safely.rules.eclipses. There will be a requirement to travel to the office on a regular basis for various activities e.g. collaborative working, supporting and training colleagues. Please note that if you are successful, hybrid working will be discussed prior to taking up the post.

As part of this role there will be some occasional UK and international travel required; this may include travelling for meetings and events.

Job description

This is an exciting opportunity for an enthusiastic and motivated Senior Process Safety Scientist to join our Risk Team. The team undertakes a broad range of complex technical work, including assessing the safety of carbon capture, utilisation and storage technologies, hydrogen applications, onsite experimental work, and emerging energy technologies; and technical support for HSE process safety inspectors and other professions within HSE and other government departments.

The work is project based and varies considerably in scope and complexity. Projects may include internally and externally funded research, regulatory support, technical safety consultancy and supporting major incident investigations. There is a strong emphasis on team working and collaboration, and you will be expected to work with specialists and technical experts across many other disciplines.

Key responsibilities:

• Deliver quantitative and qualitative process safety and technical risk assessment work for a range of high hazard industries
• Lead and facilitate process safety studies and risk assessment workshops, including HAZID, bow tie analysis, SWIFT, DSEAR and FMEA where appropriate.
• Undertake consequence modelling and interpret and communicate the results to support risk-based decision making.
• Apply technical expertise to support research, regulatory and policy decisions in process safety topic areas such as; process design, pressure relief sizing, safety equipment and risk reduction measures.
• Report the outcomes of scientific work through writing reports and papers, presentations and providing verbal feedback to customers.
• Liaise and collaborate with colleagues in other parts of HSE to support multi-disciplinary teams to offer the best possible service to customers
• Contribute to the development of future work for the Team by seeking opportunities for work for external organisations and developing bids.

Person specification

Essential Skills and Criteria:

• Demonstratable experience with process safety topic areas such as; process design, pressure relief sizing, safety equipment, risk reduction measures and participating in or leading hazard identification and risk assessment studies, including HAZID, HAZOP, bow tie analysis, FMEA and LOPA.
• An in-depth understanding of process safety and risk management methodologies for high hazard industries with significant experience of applying these within an industrial, research or regulatory setting.
• Experience of applying quantitative and semi quantitative risk assessment methods, including QRA, consequence assessment and evaluation of risk reduction measures.
• Practical experience of consequence modelling including critically interpreting and communicating the results
• Proven experience in leading the delivery of scientific or technical projects .
• Developed communication skills, including technical or scientific report writing and presenting to customers.

At HSE, we are proud to be able to offer our people the opportunity to work in a hybrid way which combines working from home and the office. This is a voluntary, non-contractual arrangement, and your allocated office will be your contractual place of work.

There will be a requirement to travel to the office for various activities, e.g., collaborative working, supporting and training colleagues. If hybrid working is suitable for you and your role, you will be expected to attend the office, or other business-related site, for 60% of your working week. The arrangements will be determined primarily by business need, but personal circumstances and other relevant circumstances will also be taken into account.

Therefore, we would encourage candidates to consider if the commute from home to the office is a feasible distance to travel before making an application. Please note that if you are successful, hybrid working will be discussed prior to taking up the post.

Qualifications

A Higher degree (Masters or above) or equivalent such as a Level 7 Diploma or Doctorate within a Science & Engineering topic area relevant to the advertised role - e.g. Chemical Engineering or equivalent and relevant industry experience including experience of process safety, risk assessments research, Hazard identification and developing technical solutions. (For equivalent experience, please tick yes and provide detail within the CV section of your application)

Behaviours

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

• Developing Self and Others
• Managing a Quality Service

Technical skills

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

• Government Science and Engineering Career Technical Framework: Designing systems and solutions - Applying knowledge

Benefits

Alongside your salary of £55,063, Health and Safety Executive contributes £15,951 towards you being a member of the Civil Service Defined Benefit Pension scheme.