Senior Health and Safety Practitioner - Census 2031

Job summary

The Office for National Statistics (ONS) is the UK's largest producer of official statistics and home to over 5,000 colleagues. We create the data that drives decisions, from measuring economic growth and tracking population changes to informing policy on everything from housing to healthcare. Our statistics don't just sit in reports; they directly influence how billions of pounds are allocated, how services are planned, and how communities are supported across the country.

Census 2031 represents our most ambitious data collection project yet – a once-in-a-decade opportunity to capture a complete picture of everyone living in England and Wales. Building on the digital success of 2021, we're pioneering new ways to reach every household and community, ensuring no one is left uncounted. This vital work will provide the foundation for policy decisions, resource allocation, and community planning for the next decade.

Your work will support delivery of this transformational project that will shape how we understand and support our nation's future. You’ll be part of a team that ensures everyone is counted—and every voice is heard. We're building a culture that values collaboration, fresh thinking, and respect for diverse expertise. Whether you're a seasoned professional or bringing new perspectives, you'll be part of a team that welcomes bold ideas, works transparently, and thrives on solving complex challenges together.

Job description

Are you ready to be part of something that shapes the future of our nation? Do you thrive on variety, enjoy working with lots of teams, and want to make a real difference? If so, this could be the opportunity you've been looking for.

The post holder will be responsible for leading and coordinating health and safety provision for the Census 2031 nationwide field data collection operation.

This role ensures that Health & Safety risks to field colleagues and managers are identified, assessed and controlled, and that the field procedures (including recruitment, training, logistics and operations) are compliant with relevant H&S legislation and organisational policy.

Reporting to the G7 Census HR Operations Lead, the Health and Safety Advisor acts as a bridge between the Census 2031 Programme’s Field Services and commercial function, as well as ONS’ corporate Health and Safety function, Social Surveys Directorate and People & Places Directorate.

Building on and modifying processes already established in ONS’ Social Surveys Field teams, the role shapes the Health & Safety requirements for the Census Field operation (and supporting services) and oversees the Health and Safety of the field operation in the 2027 Census Test, the 2029 Census Rehearsal and the 2031 Census operations. In 2027, the field teams are planned to be c450 posts, based in 6 Test Areas. In 2031, the field teams are likely to be up to 30,000 Field Officers and Managers, dispersed across England and Wales.

Role Responsibilities:

Working in support of Field Service Owners and other senior leaders, you will use your leadership and H&S technical skills and experience to:

• Lead the development, implementation, assurance and continuous improvement of Health and Safety arrangements for Census field operations, ensuring compliance with legislation, organisational policy and industry best practice.
• Provide expert health and safety advice to senior leaders, operational managers and field teams, supporting effective management of operational, wellbeing and regulatory risks.
• Develop and maintain risk assessments, safe systems of work, guidance, controls and implementation plans, to support the safe delivery of Census field activities.
• Ensure effective controls are in place for key operational risks, including (but not restricted to) lone working, personal safety, travel, adverse weather, and out-of-hours working.
• Support statutory compliance and operational readiness by ensuring field colleagues have access to appropriate training, information, equipment, supervision, emergency arrangements and welfare support.
• Oversee health and safety governance, conducting audits and assurance checks to ensure arrangements are suitably applied and managed.
• Implement and oversee incident and near-miss management, providing trend analysis, assurance reporting, compliance monitoring and implementing lessons learned.
• Build and maintain effective relationships with internal and external stakeholders, including trade unions, contractors, partner organisations and corporate health and safety teams, to promote practical and inclusive health and safety arrangements.
• Produce and present risk updates, assurance reports and recommendations to governance forums and senior leaders, maintaining clear records and audit trails to support effective decision-making.
• Advise commercial colleagues on H&S requirements for Census contracts to ensure H&S requirements are included where applicable and that liability is correctly attributed and documented.

The role is embedded in the Census 2031 programme and is required to work across the Census Field Services teams, with a dotted line into the corporate Health and Safety team, ensuring that Census Field H&S processes and procedures are aligned with the corporate ONS policies.

There may be some requirement to attend corporate H&S meetings and events on occasion.

The field team for 2031 is likely to be around 30,000 field officers, spread across England and Wales, and this role will ensure that all officers have access to adequate health and safety provision.

Person specification

Essential criteria:

• Proven experience leading H&S initiatives in a large-scale operational environment, providing clear H&S advice and guidance to colleagues, managers and senior leaders.
  
  
• Proven ability to build strong relationships at all levels and to work with colleagues and managers, to ensure that working practices are safe, risk assessed and compliant with corporate and statutory H&S policies and procedures.
  
  
• Experience developing, iterating and maintaining H&S risk assessments, near-miss and incident reporting, and ensuring lessons are learned.
  
  
• Experience auditing H&S statutory compliance, and producing management reports highlighting recommendations for improvements.
  
  
• Experience of working with Trade Union and other staff bodies, providing clear H&S advice and influencing complex operational issues.
  
  
• Experience using technology to ensure compliance with H&S management arrangements.

Qualifications

NEBOSH National General Certificate in Occupational Health & Safety
TechIOSH

Behaviours

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

• Seeing the Big Picture
• Working Together
• Managing a Quality Service
• Leadership

Technical skills

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

• Proven specialist knowledge of current Health & Safety Legislation - https://www.hse.gov.uk/legislation/

Benefits

Alongside your salary of £41,985, Office for National Statistics contributes £12,163 towards you being a member of the Civil Service Defined Benefit Pension scheme. Find out what benefits a Civil Service Pension provides (opens in a new window).

The Office for National Statistics is part of the Civil Service, and as such we share a number of key benefits with other departments, whilst also having our own unique offerings to support our valued colleagues across the organisation.

Whether you are hearing about us for the first time or already know a bit about our organisation, we hope that our careers site will give you a great insight into the benefits and facilities available to our colleagues, and our fantastic working culture.

Inclusion & Accessibility

At ONS we are always looking to attract the very best people from the widest possible talent pool, and we are proud to be an inclusive, equal opportunities employer. As a Disability Confident Leader we’re committed to ensuring that all candidates are treated fairly throughout the recruitment process.

As part of our application process, you will be prompted to provide details of any reasonable adjustments to our recruitment process that you need. If you would like to discuss any reasonable adjustments before applying, please contact the recruitment team in the first instance.

If you would like an accessible version of any of the attachments or recruitment documents below or linked to in this advert, please contact the recruitment team who will be happy to assist.

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 Behaviours, Experience and Technical skills.

ONS are unable to offer visa sponsorship for this role. Applicants are expected to hold a valid right to work in the UK when employment commences. If you are applying on a time-limited visa, this will need to be valid for at least 18 months at point of application.

To work at the ONS, candidates must meet the UK right to work requirements.

If you are unsure whether you meet the appropriate right to work eligibility criteria, please refer to the guidance on Gov.uk or contact the recruitment email provided in the advert before applying. Failure to meet these requirements will result in your application being rejected and employment offers being withdrawn.

Number of Stages: 2 stage process

Stage 1: Application

Stage 2: Interview

Stage 1 - Application

The assessment process at the application stage will be based on your work history, CV, skills, experience, and personal statement. It is important that your application is tailored to highlight the skills, knowledge, and experience relevant to the role.

A personal statement is required at application stage, the maximum word count allowed is 1250, which should not be exceeded. You should provide evidence for each essential skill criterion listed in the person specification. As these criteria are scored, it is advisable to give clear examples for each one, including the impact of your actions, ideally utilising the STAR technique (Situation, Task, Action, Result).

Please note that Success Profiles Behaviour examples are not required at this stage of the application process.

We often have similar roles available at different grades. If a candidate is suitable for a similar role or a lower grade than they have applied for, we may offer the candidate that role without the need to go through a further selection process providing the role has the same behaviours, and essential skills.

When a high volume of applications are received, the sift pass mark may be adjusted. Candidates will be invited to interview based on their merit order, with those achieving the highest scores being prioritised. Applicants who score below the adjusted pass mark but still pass will be placed on hold and may be invited to interview at a later date.

Stage 2 – Interview

If invited to interview, you will be assessed using techniques aligned with the Civil Service Success Profiles framework, covering all behaviours and Technical skill listed in the job advert.

You will be required to provide a 5 minute presentation at interview. The presentation topic will be emailed to candidates who have passed the initial online application stage, 1 week prior to interview. This presentation will assess candidates against the Success Profiles Behaviour 'Working Together'.

Interviews will be held in person at our Titchfield Office - Segensworth Rd, Titchfield, Fareham PO15 5RR.

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

Important Dates

The Sift will be conducted - w/c 14th August

Interviews will be conducted - w/c 7th September

Dates are subject to change.

For the full terms and conditions of the post, please see attachment.

Please note that all campaigns may be subject to withdrawal at any stage if the internal resource position changes.

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.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 : Sue Stokes
• Email : scs.recruitment@ons.gov.uk

Recruitment team

• Email : scs.recruitment@ons.gov.uk

Further information

If you feel your application has not been treated in accordance with the Recruitment Principles and you wish to make a complaint, in the first instance, you should contact recruitment.complaints@ons.gov.uk. If you are not satisfied with the response you receive from the Department, you can contact the Civil Service Commission

Attachments

2721 Advert 1B Permanent - ONS National v1-00 Opens in new window (pdf, 83kB)Role4_Census2_Requirements Opens in new window (pdf, 70kB)