Head of health and safety – Permanent – Full Time – Birmingham
ID: 326805Job Specialism: Strategy and GovernanceLocation: BirminghamSalary: 62225Closing Date: Monday, 19th October 2026
About the role
We are in search of an experienced Head of Health and Safety to provide organisation-wide leadership for health and safety at Sense. Reporting to our Chief Strategy and Governance Officer, you will lead the strategic direction and operational delivery of health and safety across a large and diverse organisation. From frontline services and offices to retail shops and other Sense locations, you will be responsible for ensuring we meet our legal requirements, manage risk effectively and continue to build a positive safe culture.
This is a senior and highly influential role, where you will be the lead health and safety expert, providing trusted advice to chief officers, senior leaders and trustees, while working closely with managers and teams to make sure health and safety is understood, embedded and owned across Sense. We are looking for someone who can balance strong technical expertise with people-focused leadership, enabling our teams to deliver safely without losing sight of the people, purpose and values behind what we do.
Key responsibilities
As our Head of Health and Safety, you will:
- Provide strategic leadership for health and safety across Sense, ensuring our approach supports organisational priorities, statutory responsibilities and our values.
- Act as a trusted expert adviser to chief officers, senior leaders, trustees and committees on health and safety risk, compliance and emerging issues.
- Develop and continuously improve our health and safety strategy, policies, procedures, standards and management systems.
- Ensure robust arrangements are in place for risk assessments, safe systems of work, incident reporting, investigations, audits, inspections and training.
- Lead serious incident reviews, ensuring learning is captured and appropriate corrective and preventative action is taken.
- Develop meaningful health and safety reporting, including risk indicators, compliance dashboards, incident trends, audit outcomes and action tracking.
- Coach and support managers to confidently understand and take ownership of their health and safety responsibilities.
- Promote a positive safety culture focused on learning, improvement and prevention rather than blame.
- Monitor legislative and regulatory developments and translate these into practical action across Sense.
- Lead and develop the Health and Safety team, creating an inclusive, collaborative and high-performing culture.
- Build effective relationships with regulators, insurers, auditors, contractors, consultants and other external partners.
- Work collaboratively across areas including operations, retail, property, people, governance and risk.
- Contribute your expertise to wider areas including business continuity, safeguarding, quality, property compliance and organisational risk management.
About you
You will have:
- Significant experience working as a health and safety practitioner within a large or complex organisation.
- Strong knowledge of UK health and safety legislation, regulatory expectations and recognised health and safety management systems.
- Experience developing and implementing health and safety strategies, policies, assurance frameworks and improvement plans.
- Experience advising senior leaders and presenting clear, evidence-based information at executive and/or board level.
- Strong experience across risk assessment, incident investigation, audit, inspection and performance monitoring.
- A proven ability to influence and coach managers, building ownership of health and safety throughout an organisation.
- Strong analytical skills and the ability to translate complex technical information into clear, practical action.
- Experience leading change and working across multiple functions and priorities.
- An understanding of the legal, regulatory and operational environment within charities and/or social care.
- A collaborative leadership style, combined with the confidence to constructively challenge where standards need to improve.
- A NEBOSH Diploma, NVQ Level 6 Diploma in Occupational Health and Safety Practice or an equivalent professional qualification.
- Chartered membership of IOSH, or evidence that youre working towards Chartered status, would be desirable. Additional expertise in areas such as fire safety, wellbeing, property compliance, environmental management, safeguarding, risk management or business continuity would also be advantageous.
About Sense
Sense is a leading disability charity, here to break down barriers alongside disabled people with complex needs. We use our knowledge and expertise to deliver personalised, creative and flexible support at every stage of life. Together, we drive change, building a future where everyone has the power, choice and control to live the lives we choose.
Were proud to be aDisability confident leaderand a charity where people can grow their skills and careers in a supportive, flexible environment.
Our values
Our values shape the way we behave and work alongside disabled people with complex needs to break down barriers.
- We’re creating change
- We’re always learning
- We’re better together
To apply
Please use the link below to complete your application. Managers will use your application to shortlist candidates for interview, in relation to the Personal Specification. Therefore, it is very important you complete this section thoroughly. We would recommend that you read the job description and person specification before applying.
Please note to avoid disappointment, we advise you to submit your application as soon as possible as we reserve the right to close posts at any time.
No agency submissions please: any submissions without prior authorisation from the Sense Recruitment Team will be treated as our own and as such no fee will be payable.
- If you require any further assistance, please contact the Recruitment Team on 0121 415 6735 or recruitment@sense.org.uk
- Sense is committed to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of vulnerable children and adults and expects all employees to share this commitment. Therefore, all offers of employment, where appropriate, are subject to a DBS check; level dependent on the nature of the role.
Sense is here to break down barriers alongside disabled people with complex needs. That’s why we’re committed to increasing the number of disabled people working across our organisation and creating an environment where everyone can thrive.
We actively encourage disabled people to apply for our vacancies and believe that a diverse range of perspectives, experiences and talents makes us stronger.
We know there’s always more we can do to become a truly inclusive employer, and we’re working together to achieve that. Join us and help create the change thousands of disabled people with complex needs and families told us they want to see: a world without limits.
If you need us to adjust our recruitment process to help you access our vacancies, then please get in touch with a member of the talent acquisition team. We are a Disability Confident Leader and commit to interviewing disabled people who meet the minimum criteria for a role. More information on this can be found hereOur commitment as an employer | Sense Careers
Precise Location: 750 Bristol Road, , Birmingham, West Midlands, B29 6NA, United Kingdom…