Compliance Officer for Fire Safety and Asbestos

About the Borough

Found in zone 6 with good transport links in and out of London, Kingston is a vibrant and diverse university town which creates the rich sense of community shared across the borough and its Residents. Kingston boasts an idyllic riverside location, good shopping and great restaurants, as well as a mix of modern and historic town centre. Kingston has lots of open parklands and cycle routes that help connect the district town centres into an enjoyable place to live and work.

We are passionate about working closely with our residents and vulnerable groups to help them maintain their independence and create a balance between support and independent living.

About the Service and Team

We have an opportunity for a highly self-motivated and effective individual to join our friendly, professional team in this important Fire Safety Compliance Officer role.

Reporting to Lead Officer Asset & Compliance this role will manage and offer guidance in all aspects of fire safety and compliance for buildings owned or managed by the Council’s Housing Landlord. You will act as the main point of contact for fire safety related issues including the commissioning of works via maintenance or specialist companies. Training will be available to enable the Officer to ensure the Council remains legally compliant and adheres to regulations and guidance.

Ideally you will have experience of working within a regulatory framework where compliance, risk management and precise outcomes are essential. A comprehensive understanding of fire safety Act and asbestos awareness particularly where it relates to social housing. Having, or developing, a good knowledge of risk assessments and safety measures and controls within buildings, you should also be familiar with the Health and Safety Act, Regulatory Reform and all current Building Regulations.

With a customer-focused, flexible, cooperative and well organised working style, you will have excellent communication and interpersonal skills, the ability to communicate compliance information clearly and effectively to colleagues in other departments, good presentation skills and the ability to work effectively under pressure, think strategically and problem solve.

About the Role and Our Ideal Candidate

Key activities

• Approach - Taking a risk based approach to ensure that Fire Risk Assessments, as well as Asbestos Surveys are managed in accordance with relevant Regulations and the resulting remedial actions are carried out within the required timescales.
• Compliance - Ensuring the organisation remains legally compliant in line with government regulations and guidance.
• Programmes - Manage the Fire Risk Assessment programme, Asbestos re-inspection programme and asbestos register, with particular emphasis on ensuring review dates are met and all actions are logged with the correct priority.
• Remedial Works - Ensure that any programme of asbestos and fire safety-related remedial works are monitored, delivered on time and measured against clearly defined success parameters, ensuring performance issues are promptly and appropriately addressed, highlighting potential impact on current and future budget requirements. Place orders and process invoices as required according to relevant procedures.
• Liaison - Liaise with colleagues, residents and other departments as appropriate, to ensure timely and effective management of fire risk assessment remedial actions; highlighting potential impact on future budget requirements. Act as the main point of contact with the London Fire Service and provide input as required to other enforcement agencies.
• Specifications, etc - Work with colleagues to ensure specifications, schedules of work, any cost/estimates and works order/contracts comply with appropriate legislation, codes of practice, British/European standards, the RBK’s Standard, the Council’s Standing Orders and financial regulations.
• Reports - Compile reports for the Head of Property and Senior Management Team regarding progress, new legislation, financial impact and emerging issues. Produce reports for the Head of Property and Senior Management Team and Stakeholders regarding progress, new legislation, budget projection and emerging issues.
• Meetings - Represent at and/or Chair RBK meetings (local or regional) regarding current and emerging Fire Safety policy or Asbestos Management plans
• National Direction - Work with colleagues to ensure that recommendations from the Fire Safety Act are embedded into RBK working practices, in line with emerging policy.
• Contract Management Skills - Demonstrate a competency for Contract Management via experience in managing, amongst other Compliance services, Asbestos and Fire-Safety related contracts to an advanced level.

Our Offer to You

As an organisation that values and nurtures talent, we’re committed to helping you fulfil your potential and will offer you a supportive, friendly and collaborative environment to grow and develop your career and skills. We’re constantly striving to improve our ways of working so putting your ideas across however big or small; will be fully encouraged and supported by your colleagues and our dynamic and experienced management team.

Employees have access to a wide range of benefits to enable staff to achieve a work life balance, some of which include:

• A generous annual leave entitlement of 25-32 days, plus bank holidays (pro-rata if part-time working hours apply) depending on service and grade.
• Enhanced Maternity, Paternity, shared parental, adoption and dependents leave
• Three volunteering days per year in Kingston
• Hybrid working (dependent on the role)
• Flexible and agile working arrangements using Google Chromebooks
• Learning and development portal offering a range of courses
• Discounts on a range of local shops, restaurants, gyms and leisure centres
• Interest free season ticket loans
• Local Government Pension Scheme
• Bicycle loan facilities and cycle to work scheme
• Zip car scheme
• Confidential health & wellbeing and counselling support

Application Process

Apply online outlining what skills, abilities and experience you can bring which makes you an ideal candidate for this role. Please refer to the requirements outlined in the job profile when completing your application and check your CV details have been uploaded correctly in the relevant sections.

We understand and recognise the benefits of using Artificial Intelligence (AI) in the workplace and are embracing AI where appropriate, to boost our productivity and streamline how we deliver our Council services efficiently; to provide the best possible outcomes for our residents and communities.
However, we reserve the right to reject applications where it is apparent that AI-generated content has been used in isolation and without personalised responses. At Kingston we value authenticity and are looking for individuals who can clearly demonstrate their own skills, experience and motivation for the role that they are applying for and embrace and demonstrate our STAR values.
Here at Kingston we have core values of Transparency and this is to be demonstrated during the application process and completion of the supporting statement and will be further tested at interview and selection stage for those who progress forward.

The closing date is given as a guide. We reserve the right to close this vacancy once a sufficient number of applications has been received, it is strongly advised that you complete and submit your application as soon as possible to avoid disappointment.

As part of our award winning Diversity Programme we anonymise all applications received to reduce conscious and unconscious bias enabling every application to be reviewed on the knowledge, skills and experience shown in your application. We encourage our interview panels to be as diverse as possible (age, cultural, neurodiverse etc.) to reduce bias where possible. We are fully committed to removing barriers and enhancing the diversity of our workforce.

Additional Information

We are proud to be a diverse and welcoming Borough and we strive to create a workforce which reflects the community we serve, and instil a sense of belonging in our staff. We celebrate and respect differences and appreciate the value of having a diverse workforce, therefore we welcome applications from under represented groups.

To support our workers and their families we offer a range of family friendly, inclusive employment policies, flexible working arrangements, staff engagement forums and inclusive staff networks who help drive our diversity agenda.

We are also proud to be a disability confident employer and guarantee to interview all disabled applicants who meet the minimum essential criteria for a role. As an accredited London Living Wage Employer all our employees are guaranteed the London Living Wage regardless of their length or type of contract.

The UK has a points-based immigration system affecting EU and Non-EU workers and sponsorship requirements. We advise checking the GOV.UK website for right to work guidance. Sponsorship availability varies and is subject to eligibility requirements and budget limitations. As a result, we cannot guarantee sponsorship for all roles and will evaluate sponsorship requests on a case-by-case basis.