Lead Station Safety and Competency Manager

Who are we?

South Western Railway (SWR) operates over 1,500 services each weekday across the network and employs more than 5,000 people. We provide easy and convenient mobility, connecting people and communities in South West London, southern counties of England, and the Isle of Wight.

Join our team and help us continue to bring people together to get the most out of life.

About the job

This role has primary responsibility for driving functional improvements in safety and compliance. The role ensures, through a team of Safety and Competency Managers, that the function operates within regulatory / legislative requirements, within SWR policies and procedures and that it adheres to internal and external safety audit findings, company safety procedures, and relevant safety acts / regulations.

The role is responsible for all safety and operational initiatives within the function and for providing professional, expert and independent safety advice and leadership. The role holder will also lead the delivery of any functional safety related project work such as new train introductions and contingency planning. They will be responsible for ensuring that all required members of the station team remain within their safety critical competencies.

Your main responsibilities will be:

Operational Safety Management

• Inspires, empowers and holds to account a team of Safety and Competency Managers to complete clear and thorough competence assessments with station colleagues, that are risk based and support continuous improvement in safety.
• Responsible for the assessment of functional, and contingency, managers to ensure they are competent to carry out station specific safety critical activities.
• Responsible, through a team of Safety and Competency Managers, for ensuring all competence assessments are completed as per SWR standards whilst working with Operational Standards to manage any deviations.
• Support the delivery of all functional safety operational activities and projects.
• Supports the function with the implementation of new train introductions.
• Develops / implements innovative strategies / initiatives that enhance the safety of our customers and colleagues.
• Ensures all Station operations are within legislative and regulatory compliance with all authorities and within SWR policies and procedures.

Safety and Compliance Management

• Challenges / improves functional safety culture to a proactive rather than reactive safety culture.
• Responsible for the provision of professional, expert, and independent safety advice, assistance and support to the function.
• Develops and implements an effective and clear safety communications strategy for the function.
• Ensures all staff and managers undertaking station operations are effectively trained, monitored and assessed to current legislative standards.
• Implements special-topic safety audits in the function to improve standards.
• Provides support and guidance to the function on incident investigations, necessary actions to prevent recurrence and where necessary, carries out investigations into more serious and significant incidents.
• Supports the HQ Safety team to develop the SWR SMS and assist them with its applicability to the function.
• Maintains theoretical and practical competence in the field of safety and competence management.
• Implement a verification procedure to ensure standardisation across all functional assessments.
• Acts as a positive role model in all matters relating to safety and customer service on behalf of SWR

Stakeholder Relationships

• Develops and maintains effective working relationships with relevant trade unions, through agreed principles of engagement on all matters related to safety and competence within the function.
• Holds Regional / Station Managers to account for their local safety performance / compliance.
• Develops effective working relationships with industry partners including Network Rail, the ORR and RSSB.
• Works with relevant departments across SWR to ensure collaboration and insight.

You'll need:

• Holds a formal safety management qualification (NBOSH Certificate or equivalent).
• Experience in competency management and assessment with a Level 3 qualification in workplace assessment and a Level 4 qualification in Internal Quality Assurance preferred.
• Has in depth knowledge of relevant safety legislation, regulations and industry standards.
• Relevant experience of working within a regulated environment including compliance to safety regulations and operational standards.
• Evidence of influencing and negotiation skills with internal and external stakeholders.
• Ability to work independently and as part of a team and successfully adapt to changing priorities.
• Strong, effective and empathetic communication, presentation and influencing skills.
• Experience of stakeholder management.
• Ability to analyse data and use it to create plans / business cases (including to a high visual standard).
• Proven ability to deal with and overcome difficult and challenging business issues.
• Evidence of strong planning and organisational skills.
• Has the ability to lead, motivate and influence the actions and behaviors of others.
• Operational railway knowledge / experience.

Working pattern

You will work an average of 37 hours per week across 5 days per week, typically, Monday - Friday.

The role participates in the Station Management on-call roster.

The Reward

In return we offer a competitive salary and a variety of valuable benefits, including:

• Free duty and leisure travel on SWR services for employees
• Free leisure travel for spouse/partner and dependants (criteria dependent)
• 75% discount on many other train operating companies
• Full training and support with development
• Excellent pension scheme

We all belong at SWR. Our vision is to provide an inclusive environment for all colleagues, ensuring all candidates have an equal opportunity to access meaningful employment.

We value our differences such as age, gender, LGBTQIA+, ethnicity, religion, and disability. We maintain a zero tolerance towards any form of prejudice towards our colleagues, customers, and future talent.

We celebrate and encourage diversity of thought, progressive ways of working and seeing all our colleagues grow and thrive.

If you require additional support to complete your application due to a disability or neurodivergent condition, for example, dyslexia, dyspraxia, or autism, please follow the links below.  We encourage you to share any additional needs you may require so we can provide a fair and equal process for all who apply.

https://exceptionalindividuals.com/neurodiversity/

https://www.healthassured.org/blog/neurodiversity/