Health and Safety Adviser

Job summary

The Food Standards Agency (FSA) is a small government department with a big mission: to keep food safe, ensure that it is what it says it is, and that it is increasingly healthy and more sustainable. With such a diverse remit, it’s important that our teams have everything they need to deliver their important work successfully. The Health, Safety and Wellbeing Unit (HSWU) ensures that staff at the FSA work in an environment that supports their needs.

We are looking for a Health and Safety Adviser who can support our efforts to provide a safe workplace for our operational colleagues. You’ll deliver operational safety advice to FSA managers and employees, ensuring that safety protocols are effectively communicated and implemented.

Job description

You will advise and support line managers on health, safety and wellbeing policies, support managers to conduct risk assessments, and provide technical support for workplace adjustments, report trends to the Health and Safety Manager and also support various HSWU projects and initiatives.

Strong stakeholder engagement skills are essential, as you will liaise with Trade Unions and act as the first point of contact for HS incident reporting. This role offers the opportunity to make a significant impact on workplace safety and wellbeing.

The FSA carries out important work to keep food safe, but it can’t function without a staff that is safe, looked after and empowered to do the best work they can. If you are a qualified professional who can engage with those around them and prioritise their work so they can deliver in a timely manner, apply today to help us better support the work our colleagues do.

Working pattern guidance

If applying as a job share partnership you should both complete separate application forms on Civil Service Jobs but should make it clear that you are applying as job sharers. Further details on job sharing can be found here JSF – What is the recruitment process for job sharers? , Civil Service Careers (civil-service-careers.gov.uk)

Person specification

Please read the attached Candidate Pack to discover further details about the role, our organisation, who we are looking for and the criteria we will assess against during the selection process.

We look forward to receiving your application and wish you every success.

Licences

Full Driving Licence (Manual or Automatic) for category B vehicles

Qualifications

A minimum of NEBOSH General Certificate in Occupational Health and Safety (or equivalent qualification)

and

A Technical Member of IOSH (TechIOSH)

Technical skills

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

• A minimum of NEBOSH General Certificate in Occupational Health and Safety (or equivalent qualification) AND A Technical Member of IOSH (TechIOSH)

Benefits

Alongside your salary of £34,955, Food Standards Agency contributes £10,126 towards you being a member of the Civil Service Defined Benefit Pension scheme. Find out what benefits a Civil Service Pension provides.Our candidate pack details the benefits that the FSA has to offer. Please also refer to the attached Terms and Conditions statement.

Things you need to know

Artificial intelligence

Artificial intelligence can be a useful tool to support your application, however, all examples and statements provided must be truthful, factually accurate and taken directly from your own experience. Where plagiarism has been identified (presenting the ideas and experiences of others, or generated by artificial intelligence, as your own) applications may be withdrawn and internal candidates may be subject to disciplinary action. Please see our candidate guidance (opens in a new window) for more information on appropriate and inappropriate use.

Selection process details

This vacancy is using Success Profiles (opens in a new window), and will assess your Experience and Technical skills.

Full details of the selection process are detailed in the attached candidate pack.

Application and shortlisting

You will be asked to provide personal details (not seen by the Panel) and to confirm your eligibility to apply for the role.

Technical: You will be asked ‘Yes / No’ questions to confirm that you meet the Technical requirements of the role.

• Licence - Full Driving Licence (Manual or Automatic) for category B vehicles

• Qualifications – detailed below

If you cannot answer yes to these questions – you will not be able to proceed further with your application.

You will then be asked to complete an application which will be used to assess you against the following essential and desirable criteria. (Desirable criteria will only be assessed in the event of a tie between candidates).

Essential criteria

Technical

Lead criteria 1:

• A minimum of NEBOSH General Certificate in Occupational Health and Safety (or equivalent qualification)

and

• A Technical Member of IOSH (TechIOSH)

Experience

• Lead criteria 2: Previous experience of providing competent health and safety advice in an organisational setting.

• Excellent planning and organisational skills – able to deliver to deadlines and organisational requirements effectively.

• Experience of working within established databases and reporting systems – including the analysis of complex information and production of reports. Able to demonstrate a continuous improvement approach

• Has excellent interpersonal and communication skills with experience of influencing a wide range of internal and external stakeholders - effectively managing competing demands and perspectives.

Desirable criteria (Desirable criteria will only be assessed in the event of a tie between candidates).

Experience

• Experience of delivering HSW within a food industry setting.

Technical

• IOSH Training qualification

Lead Criteria

An initial sift will take place on the two lead criteria stated above.

In the event that we receive a large number of applications, the minimum pass mark for the lead criteria may be raised at shortlisting stage. Candidates who apply under the DCS, GPTW or RIS schemes and meet the minimum requirements will be unaffected by the pass mark raise.

Interview

If successful at shortlisting stage, you will be invited to a final interview in whichwe will assess you against the criteria below.

Experience

• Experience of providing competent health and safety advice in an organisational setting. (Assessed via briefing exercise – details below)

• Excellent planning and organisational skills – able to deliver to deadlines and organisational requirements effectively.

• Experience of working within established databases and reporting systems – including the analysis of complex information and production of reports. Able to demonstrate a continuous improvement approach.

• Has excellent interpersonal and communication skills with experience of influencing a wide range of internal and external stakeholders - effectively managing competing demands and perspectives.

Technical

• A minimum of NEBOSH General Certificate in Occupational Health and Safety (or equivalent qualification) and

• A Technical member of IOSH

Details of assessment exercise

Details of the briefing exercise, and preparation needed beforehand, will be included in the invitation to interview.

Expected Timeline

Advert closes: 29 March 2026 (23:55)

Sift: Expected to take place from 30 March 2026

Final panel interview: Expected to take place during week commencing 13 April 2026

Interviews will be held remotely via MS Teams. (If you do not have the Microsoft Teams application installed on your computer, you can join on the web without installing the application).

Please note that indicated dates may be subject to change.

Childcare Vouchers

Any move to the Food Standards Agency from another employer will mean you can no longer access childcare vouchers. This includes moves between government departments. You may however be eligible for other government schemes, including Tax Free Childcare.

Determine your eligibility at https://www.childcarechoices.gov.uk

Reserve List

A reserve list will be held for a period of up to 12 months from which further appointment may be made.

Candidates that do not pass the interview but have demonstrated an acceptable standard may be considered for similar roles at a lower grade.

Visa Sponsorship

Please note that the FSA does not hold a licence to sponsor any visa applications and we are unable to provide any advice about visas.

Feedback will only be provided if you attend an interview or assessment.

Security

Successful candidates must undergo a criminal record check.People working with government assets must complete baseline personnel security standard (opens in new window) checks.

Nationality requirements

This job is broadly open to the following groups:

• UK nationals
• nationals of the Republic of Ireland
• nationals of Commonwealth countries who have the right to work in the UK
• nationals of the EU, Switzerland, Norway, Iceland or Liechtenstein and family members of those nationalities with settled or pre-settled status under the European Union Settlement Scheme (EUSS) (opens in a new window)
• nationals of the EU, Switzerland, Norway, Iceland or Liechtenstein and family members of those nationalities who have made a valid application for settled or pre-settled status under the European Union Settlement Scheme (EUSS)
• individuals with limited leave to remain or indefinite leave to remain who were eligible to apply for EUSS on or before 31 December 2020
• Turkish nationals, and certain family members of Turkish nationals, who have accrued the right to work in the Civil Service

Further information on nationality requirements (opens in a new window)

Working for the Civil Service

The Civil Service Code (opens in a new window) sets out the standards of behaviour expected of civil servants.

We recruit by merit on the basis of fair and open competition, as outlined in the Civil Service Commission's recruitment principles (opens in a new window).The Civil Service embraces diversity and promotes equal opportunities. As such, we run a Disability Confident Scheme (DCS) for candidates with disabilities who meet the minimum selection criteria.The Civil Service also offers a Redeployment Interview Scheme to civil servants who are at risk of redundancy, and who meet the minimum requirements for the advertised vacancy.

Diversity and Inclusion

The Civil Service is committed to attract, retain and invest in talent wherever it is found. To learn more please see theCivil Service People Plan (opens in a new window) and the Civil Service Diversity and Inclusion Strategy (opens in a new window).

Apply and further information

This vacancy is part of the Great Place to Work for Veterans (opens in a new window) initiative.The Civil Service welcomes applications from people who have recently left prison or have an unspent conviction. Read more about prison leaver recruitment (opens in new window).Once this job has closed, the job advert will no longer be available. You may want to save a copy for your records.

Contact point for applicants

Job contact :

• Name : Louise Butler
• Email : louise.butler@food.gov.uk

Recruitment team

• Email : hr.recruitment.campaigns@food.gov.uk

Further information

If you wish to raise a complaint then please email hr.recruitment.campaigns@food.gov.uk in the first instance.

Attachments

v1.0 Candidate Pack - Health and Safety Adviser (HEO) Mar 26 Opens in new window (pdf, 1057kB)Terms and Conditions as at April 2020 Opens in new window (pdf, 42kB)