Human Factors Specialist

London: £69,244 – £73,826 ; Regional: £64,579 – £69,526

Permanent

Other

Flexible working, Full-time, Job share, Part-time

1

Birmingham, Bristol, Glasgow, London, Manchester, York

Our Railway Safety Directorate (RSD) regulates health and safety for the entire mainline rail network in Britain, as well as London Underground, light rail, trams and the heritage sector. We want to make sure that our railways are safe not just a safe mode of transport but also a safe place to work.

Our team of more than 100 safety inspectors and professionals are respected across the industry, and they have significant powers of enforcement. They ensure that the railway is safe, and is kept safe, at a reasonably practicable cost.

This role sits within a team that provides specialist, topic-based support our strategic risk priority subjects. We share intelligence; we lead inspection and investigation work across the organisation in our specialist areas. We help influence the strategic direction of industry safety management.

We are looking for a highly experienced human factors professional to join our Specialist Team. As a Principal Inspector specialising in Human Factors, you will provide expertise in order to help achieve the delivery of Our regulation of health and safety on Britain’s railways. We will expect you to help drive improvements in the management of system risk and reliability of the rail network.

You will develop, direct, and carry out inspections on key human factors topics. You will provide technical support to incident investigations, sometimes taking on the role of an expert witness for those areas where you have a proven body of work. You will contribute to the technical and operational policy surrounding the implementation of new regulatory requirements and writing of guidance or approaches to assessment.

You will lead a small team of human factors specialist inspectors, directing their work and assigning priorities to ensure the efficient operation of your team. You will help ensure their continued personal development to maintain their capability. You will mentor or coach inspector colleagues in human factors, periodically delivering training in the discipline.

You will build constructive working relationships with a range of stakeholders, taking the strategic lead in Our engagement with the rail industry on human factors which will contribute to Our governance of the implementation of industry recommendations. Together you will develop tools, approaches and strategies that support the operation of the rail industry.

As a leader you will be expected to support, empower and be a role model for members of the team, and to involve yourself in corporate activities that make Our network a great place to work. We will expect you to be a self-starter and to positively demonstrate Our values and ways of working. You will be a decisive leader and engaging collaborator who can instill change. Together with your line manager, you will be responsible for maintaining and developing your own human factors competence and expertise in order to maintain continued Chartered membership.

For key responsibilities please see the attached job description.

Our hybrid working means that we currently work from our workplace location a minimum of 40% of our working week, although requirements to attend other offsite locations for official business, also count towards this level of attendance. Working arrangements are subject to continuous review.

Full driving licence

Degree in Ergonomics or Human Factors.
OR
Degree in an engineering subject or psychology
AND relevant post-graduate qualification in Ergonomics / Human Factors, or equivalent.

Registered/Chartered member or Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Ergonomics and Human Factors (CIEHF) commensurate with your skills or experience is expected.

And/Or

A Registered/Chartered Occupational Psychologist, with the British Psychological Society (BPS) and Division of Occupational Psychology (DOP).

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

• Leadership
• Seeing the Big Picture
• Communicating and Influencing
• Developing Self and Others

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

• Significant, demonstrable human factors expertise in key topic areas, for example, workload, human error, fatigue, human factors integration and design, competence management and non-technical skills, and workplace assessment
• Awareness of the Health and Safety regulatory framework.

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

This vacancy is part of the Great Place to Work for Veterans initiative.

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