Safety Assurance Lead (Track)

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

The main purpose of this role is to ensure South Western Railway conducts a Safe, Secure and Reliable Operation through delivery of its independent assurance activities predominantly focusing on the track maintenance team on the Island Line and mainland depot track maintenance teams. Some participation delivering Safety Management System (SMS) audits will also be required. The post holder will collaborate with colleagues working across all departments to reinforce effective monitoring of standards and driving continuous improvement. The postholder will lead on developing the annual audit plan for the track maintenance activities on the Island Line as well as mainland, assessing emerging trends and making recommendations to the Senior Safety Assurance Manager. The post holder's primary objective will be to ensure South Western Railway keep its staff and customers safe, by managing effective process control in relation to standards set by the safety management systems, managing audit findings, assign action owners, and track recommendations through to completion using SWR actions tracking system.

Your main responsibilities will be:

• Deliver Occupational Safety audits of the Island Line and mainland depot track maintenance activities as a lead auditor, making appropriate recommendations, assigning action owners, agreeing timeframes, and tracking to completion using SWR actions tracking system
• Step in where required participating in the occupational safety SMS audits.
• Develop annual audit plans, advising the Senior Safety Assurance Manager on scope in relation to the audit strategy.
• Produce updates regarding audit activity and actions on behalf of the Senior Safety Assurance Manager for review at key meetings.
• Manage the audit actions on the company action tracking system to ensure that all significant recommendations from internal audits are logged and their progress is tracked to completion.
• Collaborate with stakeholders within the business and advise on matters of Safety.
• Participate in key industry groups as determined by the Senior Safety Assurance Manager.
• Maintain theoretical and practical competence in the field of Safety, including the application of relevant legislation and industry requirements.
• This role will incorporate a specialism in track maintenance activities.

You'll need:

• Formal Safety qualification such as NEBOSH General Certificate or equivalent.
• Experience of auditing within a complex safety management system, preferably within the transport industry.
• Excellent understanding of Safety Management Systems, Risk management and audit control.
• Excellent communication skills, both written and verbal, with the ability to influence both management peers and the behaviour of front-line employees, but also to listen to their ideas and concerns.
• Be able to communicate audit findings via report writing.
• Be confident in challenging unsafe working practices or conditions.
• Ability to generate audit plans in line with the audit strategy whilst also advising the Senior Safety Assurance Manager on matters of scope.
• Proven ability to engage a range of stakeholders, across functions and businesses, and at different levels of seniority, including tailoring audit reports to the needs of different audiences.
• Ability to work on own initiative, self-motivated and able to set and achieve demanding targets.
• Ability to work in an evolving and occasionally unpredictable environment, to which adapting workload and tasks may be required.

It would be a benefit if you have:

• ISO 45001 lead auditor certification (willingness to work towards if not held already).
• Demonstrable experience of working with a wide range of stakeholders including Network Rail
• Working knowledge of audit tools.
• Membership of the Institute of Occupational Safety & Health (IOSH) or equivalent professional qualification.

About the location

This role will require regular travel across the entire SWR network, including the Isle of Wight. Your base office location would be our Head Office in South Bank Central, London, with an option to work from a more local office where diary commitments allow.

South Western Railways HQ is based on the 4th Floor at South Bank Central, a stone's throw from the River Thames and a 10 minute walk from our busiest station, Waterloo. It is local to many well-known attractions, restaurants and retail facilities and is easily accessible by public transport. 

Working pattern

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

Flexibility is required.

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/