Health & Safety Manager

Role Overview

Irish Life is looking for a specialist Health & Safety Manager to work within our Workplace Services division to lead and continuously improve the health, safety, and welfare framework for ILG within the GWL group companies in Ireland. The role ensures legal compliance and promotes a practical, proactive safety culture for employees, contractors, suppliers, visitors, and others affected by the organisation’s activities.

The role acts as the competent person for health and safety, advising the business, developing policies and processes, overseeing risk controls, supporting incident management, coordinating audits and inspections, and keeping arrangements aligned to legislation, operations, and best practice.

Key Responsibilities

• Develop, implement, and maintain the QHSE strategic plan, health and safety framework, policies, procedures, and supporting processes within the agreed group framework.
• Act as the competent person for health and safety, with the provision of guidance and practical expertise on all HSE matters across a complex business.
• Ensure compliance with company policies, Irish health and safety legislation, regulatory obligations, professional & technical standards, and applicable construction safety requirements, through management system audits.
• Maintain the organisation’s health and safety risk profile, risk register, safety statements, and related documentation.
• Responsibility for the Fire Safety Management plan including associated business continuity and operational readiness in conjunction with key stakeholders across the business.
• Liaise with various regulatory bodies on all HSE matters to ensure best practice, audit, governance, and compliance processes are robust.
• Coordinate hazard identification, audits, inspections, risk assessments, method statements, control measures, and corrective actions.
• Develop, maintain and oversee the Group’s People assessment framework and program including stakeholder engagement, risk management and the timely resolution of identified actions.
• Deliver the annual health and safety programme, including audits, training, compliance reviews, communications, consultation and identify appropriate initiatives and differentiators to enable performance improvement.
• Manage multiple staff benefit schemes with complexity and interdependencies.
• Support safe working arrangements for employees, contractors, suppliers, visitors, and building users across campus, regional, facilities, workplace services, project, hard services, and soft services activities.
• Lead or support incident reporting, investigations, root cause analysis, corrective actions, and preventative actions are implementation as part of lessons learned.
• Advise business units, Workplace Services, Facilities, People teams, managers, employees and suppliers on health and safety obligations, controls, and implementation.
• Oversee health and safety training needs arising from legislation, risk profile, incidents, or business change.
• Collaborate with suppliers, contractors, and external providers to maintain standards and meet organisational requirements.
• Maintain health and safety reports, metrics, agree functional standards, KPI’s, SLA’s, audit schedules and provide management information, identifying trends, issues, and opportunities for continuous improvement.
• Support consultation mechanisms, including health and safety committees, and promote an embedded, proactive safety culture.
• Provide health and safety input to projects, workplace change, due diligence, company onboarding or exit, fit-out activity, and operational change.
• Management of the H&S budget, including planning, reporting in conjunction with management and relevant stakeholders.
• Manage, coach, and develop your team members or risk champions to support delivery across the business, ensuring operational excellence, resilience, and succession planning.

Qualifications

• NEBOSH Diploma in Occupational Health & Safety/QQI Level 8 or equivalent.
• Formal management qualification in health & safety management.
• NEBOSH Fire Safety Certificate.
• CMIOSH or IIRSM desirable.
• Auditing, quality, environmental or construction safety qualifications are desirable.
• Able to fulfil the competent person requirement for health and safety.

Preferred Experience, Knowledge, and Skills

• Strong knowledge of Irish health and safety legislation, including the Safety, Health and Welfare at Work Act 2005, associated regulations, governance, risk, control, and relevant standards.
• Experience developing and maintaining health and safety frameworks, safety statements, policies, procedures, risk registers, and management systems.
• Practical experience in compliance management, audits, inspections, risk assessments, incident investigation, corrective actions, and continuous improvement.
• Good understanding of workplace, facilities, construction, project, hard services, soft services, and contractor-related risks.
• Ability to interpret legislation, assess operational risk and make proportionate, evidence-based recommendations.
• Sound judgement to balance compliance, business continuity, staff welfare and operational practicality during incidents, outages, workplace change and contractor activity.
• Credibility and confidence to resolve day-to-day health and safety matters with managers, Workplace Services, Facilities, People teams and business representatives, escalating strategic, budgetary, or business-impacting decisions through governance routes.
• Strong stakeholder management, influencing and communication skills, with the ability to provide practical advice, build ownership and collaborate effectively across teams, suppliers, and business units.
• Strong planning and organising skills, with the ability to prioritise, adapt and deliver across multiple locations, stakeholders and workstreams.
• Results-focused approach, with the ability to follow through, maintain focus in a changing environment and support safe, consistent outcomes.
• Experience producing clear policies, procedures, reports, management information, trend analysis, and performance reporting.
• Continuous improvement mindset, with the ability to improve systems, processes, reporting, controls, and ways of working.
• Strong IT and administration skills, including health and safety reporting systems and standard office applications.
• Knowledge of ISO 45001, ISO 14001, and ISO 9001 principles.

Hybrid / On-Site Requirement

This role is an on-site role (4 days subject to business requirements), occasional travel may be required to regional offices.