Fire Safety Advisor

Job responsibilities

Planning and Organisational Duties

• Development and maintenance of a long-term Fire Safety Strategy for the Trust which incorporates prioritised actions in respect of practical fire safety improvements.

• Provide on-going planning, preparation co-ordination and collaboration with identified divisional leads for the Trusts annual assessment against the Firecode management certificate of compliance and the General Risk Management Standards in order to secure compliance with and progression to, increased compliance levels.

• Liaise with Divisions and Directorates on all aspects of Fire Safety Management, to provide specialist advice in delivering against corporate and divisional/directorate risk management objectives.

• Plan and organise regular fire drills and staff training, witnessing the effectiveness, or otherwise, of fire drills and recommending remedial action when necessary.

• Plan, prepare, produce and regularly revise existing and new complex Fire Safety management policies, procedures and documentation to ensure it is maintained up to date and complies with both local and national recommendations.

• Plan and conduct complex / highly complex fire risk assessments and fire safety audits throughout the trust.

• Identify, plan, prepare, and deliver a schedule of generic and specific Fire safety management training programmes throughout the year to ensure all staff groups and divisions are kept up to date on both local and National Fire Safety Management initiatives and requirements.

• Provide highly complex, often contentious specialist advice to management, contractors, external consultants and external agencies such as local authority building control in the pragmatic interpretation and application of the provisions of complex legislation, Firecode and other legal guidance in respect of fire safety systems within the Trust. This occurs at short notice and involves disruption to planned work patterns.

• Provide specialist advice to management of their initial and continuing responsibilities in respect of their designated premises, under the Regulatory reform (fire safety) Order 2005 and associated legislation.

• Regularly liaise with appropriate staff, external contractors and planning teams, local authority building control and fire authorities in the specification of fire precautions and systems in new and existing premises.

• Ensure that the presence and activities of contractors working on site does not subvert fire precautions in existing premises by ensuring that the contractor has adequate arrangements in place.

Communications and Key Working Relationships

• Communication of developments in fire safety.

• Close working with the Capital Project Officers and Estates Managers communicating and translating requirements of Fire Safety Legislation and Guidance.

• Cascading of information relating to Fire Safety across all divisions.

• Close working with other Divisional Heads of Governance to ensure that Fire safety issues are addressed.

Responsibility for Finance

Assist the Budget Holder for the Fire Safety Department

• Assist to prioritise the assignment of the annual capital allocation budget for Firecode and statutory works in conjunction with the Head of Capital and Property Services.

Responsibility for Human Resources

• Ensure they work within the parameters of all Trust policies and procedures.

• Contribute their skills to enable teams to deliver safe effective services.

Responsibility for Health & Safety

• Ensure that all work is carried out in a safe manner with due regard to Health & Safety regulations.

• Assist in ensuring a safe place of work is maintained.

• Mandatory training ensure compliance with accordance with Trust policies.

• To ensure their own actions reduce risks to health and safety and to promote a health and safety culture within the workplace.

• To respond to emergencies as appropriate.

Compliance with the Health & Safety at Work Act 1974 the post holder is required to fulfil a proactive role towards the management of risk in all of their actions. This entails the risk assessment of all situations, the taking of appropriate actions and reporting of all incidents, near misses and hazards, and a statutory duty of care for their own personal safety and that of others who may be affected by their acts or omissions.

Responsibility for Teaching

• Prepare and deliver Trust-wide fire safety management training to all staff groups and grades attending corporate Induction and Mandatory training programs.

• Prepare and deliver Trust-wide specialist fire safety specific training programmes in order to meet identified local and national training requirements / directives.

• Preparing programmes for the fire response team and designated staff within the Trust.

• Prepares and provides evidence-based training sessions, resources and support in respect of the principles of Incident control, incident reporting, Fire risk management/patient safety, risk assessment and the standards and recommendations of the Firecode suite of documents and controls assurance standards to facilitate the continued development of enhanced patient and staff safety standards and practices.

• Create PowerPoint presentations for training, meetings and presentations.

• Expand external client base to income generate through training provision.

Work Circumstances & on-call

• This is a 37.5 hour post based at Buckingham Row but with requirement to work across all sites.

• Provide services on 24 hour, 7 days a week as and when the service demands.

No on call duty is required.

Qualifications

Essential

• oScience- or engineering-based education; or extensive experience of fire safety.
• oCertificate in Training Practice or extensive experience of preparing and delivering training.
• oMembership of a professional organisation (e.g. the Institution of Fire Engineers (IFE); the Institute of Fire Prevention Officers (IFPO), Institute of Fire Safety Managers (IFSM).

Desirable

• oProfessional qualification in a fire-related subject.
• oTraining in healthcare fire safety.
• oRegistered as a fire risk assessor with a recognised accreditation body.

Experience

Essential

• oExperience of preparing and delivering training courses.
• oExperience of working across organisational boundaries to improve standards.
• oExperience of working with external agencies and influencing internal change.
• oExperience and knowledge of undertaking fire risk assessment.
• oExperience in auditing fire risk assessments.
• oPractical knowledge and interpretation of the Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order 2005.
• oPractical knowledge and interpretation of the Building Regulations.
• oExperience of working on own and as a member of a team.
• oExperience of working in a health care setting.
• oAbility to prioritise workload effectively.
• oCan meet deadlines within allotted time frames.
• oWorking with sensitive / confidential information.

Desirable

• oPractical knowledge, interpretation and application of the HTM 05 series of documents.
• oUnderstanding of fire modelling techniques.
• oExperience of checking plans and giving advice on fire safety proposals.
• oKnowledge of risk management techniques.

Skills

Essential

• oHighly developed and effective negotiating and influencing skills and ability to develop and maintain constructive relationships with professional and managerial disciplines.
• oHighly developed and effective verbal and written communication skills. oUnderstanding the principles of risk assessment.
• oUnderstanding the principles of risk assessment.
• oGood organisational skills with practical and methodical project planning and ability to manage a number of concurrent schemes.
• oThe ability to concentrate for long periods of time and prioritise and manage a varied and unpredictable work pattern.
• oAble to satisfy the physical demands of the job.
• oOccasional working at heights and in confined spaces e.g. scaffold or roof voids.
• oOccasional moderate physical effort required as duties dictate e.g. evacuation of patients etc.
• oOccasional moving of heavy equipment e.g. extinguishers, training equipment.

Desirable

• oKnowledge of clinical audit / research methodology.
• oKnowledge of statistical techniques.

Knowledge

Essential

• oUp to date knowledge of root cause analysis investigation methodology.

Desirable

• oUp to date knowledge of the Datix risk management system.
• oUnderstanding of NHS policy and other key documents.

Additional

Essential

• oFlexible and positive approach to work.
• oEnthusiasm/motivation.
• oProfessional integrity.
• oDigression within role and the team.
• oWorks well within a team.

Desirable

• oAttention to detail.
• oRequirement to work to policy and procedure.

Disclosure and Barring Service Check

This post is subject to the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act (Exceptions Order) 1975 and as such it will be necessary for a submission for Disclosure to be made to the Disclosure and Barring Service (formerly known as CRB) to check for any previous criminal convictions.

Certificate of Sponsorship

Applications from job seekers who require current Skilled worker sponsorship to work in the UK are welcome and will be considered alongside all other applications. For further information visit the UK Visas and Immigration website (Opens in a new tab).

From 6 April 2017, skilled worker applicants, applying for entry clearance into the UK, have had to present a criminal record certificate from each country they have resided continuously or cumulatively for 12 months or more in the past 10 years. Adult dependants (over 18 years old) are also subject to this requirement. Guidance can be found here Criminal records checks for overseas applicants (Opens in a new tab).