Senior Safety Business Advisor

We have an exciting opportunity to join the Merseyrail Safety team as a Senior Safety Business Advisor. Reporting to the Head of Safety, you will provide technical support, advice and assurance to ensure suitable and sufficient health, safety, security and environment (HSSE) practices are in place for Merseyrail’s Operations management function across the network so that the business complies with industry and statutory requirements. Additionally, you will be responsible for the management of the Safety Business Advisors who cover the Stations, MEC, Revenue Protection & Onboard Cleaning portfolios along with the Safety Data Advisor who is responsible for statutory reporting.

You will provide assurance that train operations (including traincrew management) is being conducted in accordance with all applicable health and safety legislation, regulation and industry standards, and support & deliver robust processes to provide meaningful safety and security information to the Company’s employees which engender measurable improvements to Merseyrail’s safety culture. Communication skills will be an essential part of this role as you will build relationships with key partners to ensure the effective delivery of the safety strategy and annual improvement plans.

In this role you will carry out assurance activities to ensure compliance with standards and continuous improvement, which will include establishing, tracking and enabling delivery of any recommendations.

How you'll make an impact:

• Design and implement annual health & safety improvement plans
• Coach and support the operations and wider management teams to ensure safety culture and practices continue to mature.
• Assist the Head of Safety in ensuring that serious high potential safety of the line and personal accidents and incidents are investigated to the appropriate degree with root cause correctly established. Co-ordinate the taking of appropriate remedial action and ensure an effective process and lessons learnt database is in place to deal with statutory reporting requirements.
• Develop suitable leading and lagging safety key performance indicators (KPIs), monitor and analyse the results obtained for their effectiveness in managing operational safety risk.
• Support or lead, as appropriate, incident investigations and ensure the delivery of recommendations.

What you'll need to succeed:

The successful candidate must hold a minimum of a level 3 safety qualification such as Nebosh General Certificate, but preferably hold or be working towards a level 6 Qualification in Safety, and be able to demonstrate a good understanding of operational safety. Merseyrail is looking for an individual with either previous operational rail experience or an individual who understands railway operations inline with rule book requirements. You will need good computer literacy, numerical and oral skills including word with a strong focus on excel and report writing skills. The successful candidate should also have the ability and confidence in building excellent working relationships with colleagues and internal/external customers alike.

Successful candidates will be invited to attend a competency-based interview.

About Merseyrail

Merseyrail stands out as one of the most punctual and reliable rail networks in the UK. Over the last 15 years, we consistently achieve customer satisfaction scores above 90%, winning multiple national awards for our exceptional customer service and punctuality! With around 1,200 employees, we recognise that our team members play a vital role in our ongoing success. We’re committed to investing in the development of our people and fostering inclusive practices that empower everyone at Merseyrail to reach their full potential.

As a self-contained network, we proudly offer the most affordable fares in the country. We operate over 600 regular services daily to 69 stations throughout the Liverpool City Region, with our four underground stations running trains every few minutes. On average, more than 90,000 passengers travel with us weekdays, and Liverpool Central station ranks among the busiest stations outside of London.

We’ve modernised significantly in recent years, with our new state-of-the-art trains now on the network. These brand-new electric and environmentally friendly trains, designed specifically for the Merseyrail network, feature pioneering sliding step technology, making us one of the most accessible networks in the UK. We’ve also refurbished many of our city centre stations, achieving step-free access at two-thirds of Merseyrail stations. We are working closely with the LCRCA to achieve our Metro Mayor's vision of a step-free network by 2030. We’re also developing the use of online ticketing in the near future, to then be followed by the introduction of barriers requiring just a tap of a contactless bank card.

We are actively engaged in the continuous development of our network. In 2023 we opened Headbolt Lane station, which extends the Kirkby line and benefits many additional passengers in the local area. Additionally, plans are underway for a new station, Liverpool Baltic Station, located just south of Liverpool City Centre. This station will serve the Baltic Quarter, the city's fastest-growing area, which is recognised as one of the UK's coolest neighbourhoods.