Safety Management Systems (SMS) Policy Manager

The Office of Rail and Road (ORR) is the independent economic and safety regulator for Britain’s railways and monitor of performance on England’s strategic road network.

This is an exciting time to join ORR, we are delivering a significant transformation programme to create a consistently agile and enabling organisation, with the right capability and a strong, inclusive culture that reflects our talented people. This will ensure we continue to operate as an independent, expert regulator, fit for the future and equipped with the capabilities and ways of working required to support sector-wide rail reform, while contributing to the government’s broader agenda on regulatory reform and economic growth. Further detail on our future role is set out here.

Rail Safety Capability sits within the Rail Safety, strategy & policy team and delivers a range of policy, regulatory and corporate functions as well as providing strategic direction to RSD’s work through risk ranking and prioritisation, data analysis and business planning.

This role plays a key part in helping to make Britain’s railways safer for passengers, workers and the public. By leading ORR’s approach to safety management and working with industry to improve how organisations identify, manage and control risk the post holder will help drive continuous improvement in health and safety performance across the rail industry.

The roles leads the development of ORR’s strategy, policy and regulatory approach to Health and Safety Management Systems (HSMS), ensuring that duty holders have effective arrangements in place to manage safety and learn from experience. Through promoting ORR’s Risk Management Maturity Model (RM3), the postholder supports industry to strengthen safety culture, improve decision making and achieve excellence in risk management.

As ORR’s specialist lead in this area, the role provides expert advice, guidance and training to colleagues and industry stakeholders. Working collaboratively with industry stakeholders, the postholder influences improvements in health and safety management systems and helps ensure that lessons are shared across the industry, delivering better outcomes for those who use and work on Britain’s railways.

Level 6 Diploma in Occupational Health and Safety (or equivalent qualification), or ability to demonstrate performance and experience at an equivalent professional level.

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)

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

For information on the selection process, please see the attached Candidate Information Pack and Job Description.

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