Job Description
Health & Safety Compliance Manager
Application Deadline: 30 June 2026
Department: Estates
Employment Type: Full Time
Location: Wigan & Leigh College
Compensation: £43,815 - £45,119 / year
37 Hours per Week, Permanent
Make safety practical. Give leaders confidence. Help protect everyone who learns and works here.
Good health and safety is not about adding more paperwork.
It is about understanding where the real risks are, helping people control them properly and making sure important actions do not disappear into a spreadsheet.
As our Health & Safety Compliance Manager, you’ll act as the college’s competent source of health and safety advice. You’ll help leaders and managers understand their responsibilities, test whether arrangements are working and provide clear assurance about where the college is well controlled and where further action is needed.
You’ll work across a varied estate and a wide range of activities. That may include classrooms, workshops, laboratories, construction environments, public spaces, contractors, events and new projects. The risks are different, so your advice will need to be practical, proportionate and grounded in how people actually work.
You’ll lead audits and inspections, investigate significant incidents, oversee key safety arrangements and maintain a clear view of actions and emerging risks. You’ll also help build confidence across the college, supporting managers to make sound decisions rather than treating health and safety as something owned by one central specialist.
This role suits an experienced health and safety professional who can combine technical credibility with good judgement. Someone who can challenge when necessary, explain complex duties clearly and work alongside people to find solutions that are safe and workable.
What you’ll do
- Act as the college’s competent source of health and safety advice.
- Maintain the college’s health and safety framework, policies, procedures and improvement plan.
- Plan and deliver a risk-based programme of audits, inspections and assurance activity.
- Track significant findings and actions through to completion and escalate where risk is not being controlled.
- Help departments produce suitable risk assessments and safe systems of work.
- Provide specialist advice on workplace risks including COSHH, manual handling, PPE and display screen equipment.
- Review higher-risk activities and help managers identify practical, proportionate controls.
- Investigate significant accidents, near misses and dangerous occurrences and make sure learning leads to action.
- Maintain accurate incident records and complete statutory reporting, including RIDDOR notifications, where required.
- Provide professional oversight of fire safety, first aid, evacuation and lockdown arrangements.
- Advise on contractor safety, construction activity and the introduction of new equipment or processes.
- Coordinate the Health and Safety Committee and provide clear reports on risk, trends and progress.
- Work with HR and managers to identify training needs and support effective induction and refresher activity.
- Maintain reliable compliance records, dashboards and action trackers.
- Provide clear assurance to the Head of Estates, senior leaders, governors and relevant committees.
- Keep up to date with changes in law, regulation and sector practice and explain what they mean for the college.
What you’ll bring
- A recognised professional health and safety qualification, normally a NEBOSH Diploma or equivalent.
- Membership of a relevant professional body, or the ability to obtain it.
- Significant experience providing health and safety advice and assurance in a complex organisation.
- Experience delivering audits, investigations, risk assessments, training, policy development and statutory reporting.
- Current knowledge of health and safety law and regulatory expectations.
- Experience advising managers on higher-risk activities and proportionate risk control.
- The ability to investigate thoroughly, identify root causes and turn findings into practical improvement.
- Strong written and verbal communication skills.
- Confidence presenting clear, evidence-based advice to leaders and committees.
- Good understanding of governance, assurance and organisational accountability.
- Confidence using digital systems, spreadsheets and dashboards to maintain records and identify trends.
- Experience in education, construction, public service or another regulated environment would be helpful.
What you’re like
- Practical. You turn legal duties into controls people can understand and use.
- Independent. You give honest professional advice, including when it is difficult.
- Proportionate. You focus attention where the risk is greatest and avoid unnecessary bureaucracy.
- Curious. You look beyond the immediate incident to understand systems, behaviour and root causes.
- Clear. You explain complex risk in language that helps people act.
- Credible. You build trust with leaders, employees, unions and technical specialists.
- Persistent. You follow actions through until risk is properly controlled.
- Collaborative. You help managers take ownership rather than treating safety as somebody else’s responsibility.
Essentials
- You’ll need an enhanced DBS check. If you get the job, we’ll do this for you.
- You’re committed to safeguarding, inclusion and the college values.
- You can travel across college sites and attend external meetings when required.
- You’re flexible and happy to work beyond standard hours when incidents, investigations, drills or college activity require it.
Why work with us
A college is a complex place to keep safe.
Every day, students and staff move between classrooms, workshops, specialist facilities, public spaces and practical learning environments. Contractors arrive on site. New equipment is introduced. Projects begin. Events take place. The challenge is not simply knowing the law. It is understanding how all of that activity works together and making sure the right controls are in place.
At Wigan & Leigh College, you’ll have the opportunity to shape that work.
You’ll help leaders understand where attention is most needed. You’ll support managers to make better decisions. You’ll see actions move from reports into everyday practice and help create an environment where people feel confident raising concerns, learning from incidents and improving how work is organised.
You’ll also have a role with genuine influence. Your advice will support decisions about buildings, projects, equipment, working practices and emergency arrangements across the college. You’ll work closely with Estates, HR, curriculum teams, trade unions, consultants and senior leaders.
This is a role for someone who understands that effective health and safety is both technical and human. It needs strong systems, accurate records and professional challenge. It also needs trust, judgement and the ability to make safe practice feel achievable.
Time to recharge
- Generous annual leave entitlement, including bank holidays, depending on your role
- Family-friendly leave policies
- Wellbeing as well as work
- 24/7 Employee Assistance Programme
- Medicash healthcare plan
- Occupational health support
- Confidential counselling
- Specsavers eye test vouchers
- A culture where people look out for each other
Financial peace of mind
- Local Government Pension Scheme
- Salary sacrifice schemes, including Cycle to Work and buy tech
- Railcard and Tusker Green Car Scheme
- Local and national discount schemes
Clear progression routes
- Ongoing professional development
- Support to maintain professional membership and competence
- Opportunities to broaden your experience across estates, compliance and organisational assurance
- Leadership pathways
Please complete our application form in full. We can’t accept CVs.
Health & Safety Compliance Manager. Apply now.
