Head of QHSE

The Woods business was established in 1909 and continues to manufacture in Colchester, United Kingdom. We have around 250 people across all business functions from sales through design and product assembly & testing, as well as businesses in USA, UK, Germany & Singapore.

Woods is a brand of Fläkt Group which is an international leader in wider HVAC products, systems, services, and solutions. As part of the wider group, Woods products are sold into multiple global applications through various routes to market including Group Companies, Agents & Distributors, Key Accounts as well as direct B2B.

The Colchester site is also the Centre of Excellence for the group for all Axial, Air Movement and Fire Safety products and serves to enable product & system sales in Building Services, Industrial, Original Equipment, and Tunnel & Metro applications globally. Our brand and product range is internationally recognised and flexible, from short-lead-time standard products through to technically complex design-to-order products. Manufacturing activities on site in Colchester include Assembly, Product Test, Stamping, Machining, Fabrication, and metal forming.

At Woods Air Movement, our culture and values are at our core:

• Ambition: We set ambitious targets, going the extra mile to achieve them and strive for excellence in everything that we do.
• Entrepreneurship: We challenge the status quo and are proactive in finding ways to achieve our objectives. We take initiative, work sustainability, getting things done efficiently and effectively.
• Accountability: We say what we deliver, and we deliver what we say. We behave with integrity and have a strong moral compass.
• Teamwork: We work together as a team, are transparent, inclusive, and leverage the diverse resources we have in the Group.

Main Purpose Of Role

The Head of QHSE is responsible for defining and delivering the Quality, Health, Safety and Environmental strategy, ensuring full legal and regulatory compliance while embedding a proactive, high-performance culture across the organisation. With a whole-business perspective across all operations, products and functions, the role provides leadership to drive continuous improvement in safety, quality and environmental performance, supporting operational excellence and safeguarding our people, customers and brand.

Main Duties Of Role

• Define and lead the QHSE strategy, acting as senior advisor to the leadership team, structuring and developing the function, and embedding a proactive, values-led safety and quality culture across the organisation.
• Ensure full compliance with all health, safety and environmental legislation, leading policies, programmes and improvements to drive risk reduction, incident prevention and regulatory engagement.
• Own the Quality Management System, ensuring robust assurance and control processes, leading resolution of quality issues and embedding a right-first-time, continuous improvement culture.
• Lead environmental and sustainability performance, ensuring legislative compliance and driving initiatives to reduce environmental impact and support broader ESG objectives.
• Establish strong governance, audit and compliance frameworks, ensuring statutory obligations are met and leading incident investigations, root cause analysis and corrective actions.
• Define and monitor QHSE performance through KPIs, providing insight to drive improvements in safety, quality and operational effectiveness.
• Build strong cross-functional relationships, influencing leaders and representing the organisation with customers, regulators and external stakeholders.

Person Specification/Profile

• Significant senior leadership experience in a QHSE role within a manufacturing or industrial environment
• Proven track record of delivering improvements in safety, quality and environmental performance
• Strong experience of regulatory compliance, audits and governance frameworks
• Experience leading and developing multi-disciplinary teams
• Degree or equivalent in Engineering, Quality, Health & Safety or Environmental discipline (or comparable experience)
• Relevant professional certifications desirable (e.g. NEBOSH, IOSH, CQI or equivalent)

In Return We Offer The Following Package

• Competitive salary
• 25 days Holiday (+ bank holidays)
• Hybrid Working
• Christmas Shutdown
• 4% Pension Scheme
• Life Assurance Scheme
• Company Sick Pay Scheme
• Enhanced Family Friendly Benefits
• Employee Discount Scheme
• Holiday Purchase Scheme
• Free Tea & Coffee
• Early finish on Fridays
• Cycle to Work scheme
• Woods Sports & Social Club (voluntary option to take part in events/activities for an additional small charge)
• Long Service Awards
• Free Car Parking
• Employee Assistance Programme & Access to Mental Health Support
• Learning and Development Opportunities

Equal Opportunities: We are an equal opportunities employer, recruiting individuals on their suitability for the role, qualifications and experience. We welcome applications from all communities and backgrounds.

Due to limits on sponsorship allocations, we are not currently able to offer sponsorship for this position. Therefore, applicants who do not have the right to work in the UK, and/or require visa sponsorship to continue working in the UK, cannot be considered for this role.

No recruitment agencies please