Snr Occupational Safety Officer

Organizational Setting and Work Relationships

The Senior Occupational Safety Officer job normally reports to the Head of Staff and Health and Wellbeing within the Divisions of Human Resources.
Occupational health and safety has been a requirement from CEB and HLCM and it has been endorsed by Secretary General for all UN. All agencies must develop a framework for occupational health and safety. This framework remains under the note of Duty of Care. The high Commissioner has delegated to SHWS the task of developing and implementing OSH framework as outlined in the UNHCR/HCP/2021/2 Policy on Managing Occupational Health and Safety. The Senior Occupational Safety Officer is responsible for providing overall technical advice and works as a focal point on issues related to health and safety in UNHCR.
The Staff Health and Welfare Service (SHWS) is a part of the Division of Human Resources Management (DHRM) responsible for ensuring that the workforce of UNHCR has a safe and healthy work environment, in the interests of good functioning and productivity. Occupational health focuses on enhancing and maintaining the health of people at work, ensuring they operate safely; and the organisational effectiveness of UNHCR by providing expert advice to management.
The job requires strong degree of cultural awareness and capacity to positively interact with people of diverse backgrounds.
The incumbent may supervise occupational safety personnel.
All UNHCR staff members are accountable to perform their duties as reflected in their job description. They do so within their delegated authorities, in line with the regulatory framework of UNHCR which includes the UN Charter, UN Staff Regulations and Rules, UNHCR Policies and Administrative Instructions as well as relevant accountability frameworks. In addition, staff members are required to discharge their responsibilities in a manner consistent with the core, functional, cross-functional and managerial competencies and UNHCR¿s core values of professionalism, integrity and respect for diversity.

Duties

• Develop and maintain UNHCR standards for occupational safety performance.
• Develop, implement, and coordinate a UNHCR specific Occupational Safety Risk Management Programme in line with UN CEB guidelines and UNHCR/HCP/2021/2 Policy on Managing Occupational Health and Safety.
• Monitor the implementation of UNHCR OSH Risk Register and draft annual report for ACOSH consideration.
• Develop and maintain an online safety incident reporting system.
• Review quality of significant incident investigations; and reports and preventative actions are completed in a timely manner.
• Promote and raise awareness on safety behaviour at all levels of the organisation.
• Be secretary of the Advisory committee on occupational health and safety and take the minutes of such meetings.
• Develop and coordinate OSH trainings and exercises to ensure that operational readiness and competencies are maintained to national or UN OSH standards.
• Manage the development, review and update of any written specific OSH risk management procedures and guidance regularly when needed.
• Lead OSH inspections, audits and fact-finding exercises or missions as required or requested by senior management
• Develop and implement strategies and plans that promote occupational safety practices and for formulation and dissemination of best-practice within the organisation.
• Monitor and provide oversight on UNHCR performance, in terms of compliance with occupational safety standards.
• Collate information on performance, analyse trends, identify areas where improvements can be made, and propose and implement necessary actions.
• Perform other related duties as required.
  Minimum Qualifications
  Education & Professional Work Experience
  Years of Experience / Degree Level
  For P4/NOD – 9 years relevant experience with Undergraduate degree; or 8 years relevant experience with Graduate degree; or 7 years relevant experience with Doctorate degree
  Field(s) of Education
  Natural Sciences Management;
  Safety Management;
  Mechanical/ Electrical/ Civil Engineering; or other relevant field.
  (Field(s) of Education marked with an asterisk* are essential)
  Certificates and/or Licenses
  *Project Management
  *Internal Auditor
  *Occupational Safety Quality Management System
  *NEBOSH IGC for Occ Hlth & Sfty
  (Certificates and Licenses marked with an asterisk* are essential)
  Relevant Job Experience
  Essential
  9 years of relevant work experience in the delivery of environmental and health and safety management systems (preferably certified) in industry. Demonstrated knowledge on Occupational safety systems development will be advantageous. Experience working with internal process compliance is an asset. Demonstrated experience managing people in an international environment. Development and implementation of occupational safety training. Demonstrated knowledge on risk management and critical risk control management.
  Desirable
  At least 9 years of progressively responsible experience in system management or related work experience. Experience working in UN operations in particular high risk environments.
  Functional Skills
  OS-Occupational Health and Safety critical risk control methods
  OS-Implementation of behaviour based safety interventions
  TR-Training and capacity building of personnel
  OS-Occupational Health and Safety statistical reporting
  OS-Operational Health and Safety systems development
  OS-Occupational Health and Safety incident root cause analysis/ investigation
  OS – Occupational Health and Safety internal systems auditing (ISO45001)
  (Functional Skills marked with an asterisk* are essential)
  Language Requirements
  For International Professional and Field Service jobs: Knowledge of English and UN working language of the duty station if not English.
  For National Professional jobs: Knowledge of English and UN working language of the duty station if not English and local language.
  For General Service jobs: Knowledge of English and/or UN working language of the duty station if not English.
  All UNHCR workforce members must individually and collectively, contribute towards a working environment where each person feels safe, and empowered to perform their duties. This includes by demonstrating no tolerance for sexual exploitation and abuse, harassment including sexual harassment, sexism, gender inequality, discrimination, and abuse of power.
  As individuals and as managers, all must be proactive in preventing and responding to inappropriate conduct, support ongoing dialogue on these matters and speaking up and seeking guidance and support from relevant UNHCR resources when these issues arise.
  This is a Standard Job Description for all UNHCR jobs with this job title and grade level. The Operational Context may contain additional essential and/or desirable qualifications relating to the specific operation and/or position. Any such requirements are incorporated by reference in this Job Description and will be considered for the screening, shortlisting and selection of candidates.

Position Competencies

C001L3 – Accountability Level 3
C002L3 – Teamwork & Collaboration Level 3
C003L3 – Communication Level 3
C004L3 – Commitment to Continuous Learning Level 3
C005L3 – Client & Result Orientation Level 3
C006L3 – Organizational Awareness Level 3
M001L3 – Empowering and Building Trust Level 3
M006L3 – Managing Resources Level 3
M005L3 – Leadership Level 3
M002L3 – Managing Performance Level 3
M003L3 – Judgement and Decision Making Level 3
X005L3 – Planning and Organizing Level 3
X001L3 – Analytical Thinking Level 3
X008L3 – Stakeholder Management Level 3

Desirable Attributes

Previous experience on and knowledge of Occupational Health and Safety;
Previous experience serving as Snr Safety Officer;
Experience in and familiarity with Cority Health and Safety systems and MSRP;
Experience in implementing framework for Occupational Health and Safety (OHS) management
Experience in providing an accurate representation and analysis of workplace incidents, injuries and illnesses in order to prevent them in the future;
Experience in providing overall technical advice on issues related to health and safety
Experience on working in high risk environment
Training and capacity building of implementing and governmental partners;
Demonstrated drafting skills in English;
Demonstrated ability to manage a large team and coordinate with other Field Offices;
Consensus teambuilding and cultural sensitivity needed as the team is diverse;
Multi-agency co-ordination and dealing with the public;
Ability to come up with innovative and creative solutions to operational challenges;
Strong analytical skills in conducting research and developing policy, guidelines and concept papers;
Strong stakeholder engagement skills
As this unit deals with all UNHCR offices, this Snr Health and Safety position requires flexibility to cover different time zones.
Ability to travel to the field when possible for inspection missions, occupational health and safety audits in the different regions of UNHCR

Current Situation

The post is based in Hungary Budapest
The Policy on Managing Occupational Health and Safety has been newly introduced in December 2021.
The Incident recording system developed under Cority software is now available to all UNHCR staff.
Development of a training campaign to improve occupational health and safety awareness for UNHCR staff is on-going.
Establishment of regional, national and local committees on occupational health and Safety for the year 2022 is started but not yet fully implemented.
Training plan on OSH managing safely scheduled between January to March 2022.

Working and Living Conditions

Very good infrastructure as well as leisure and recreational facilities;
Hospitals and clinics are of European standards with facilities for all necessary surgical procedures;
Both international and national banking is possible in Hungary with a full range of bank and financial services.;
Budapest is a family duty station, education is available in English, Spanish, French and Japanese (International Schools) and Hungarian.
Hungary lies in the temperate zone with a continental climate.
11 degrees centigrade in average. coldest month January (average -2 °C, nightly -10 °C), hottest July (day 32 °C, night 23 °C).
Housing and apartments can be easily found;.
Shopping is easy in Hungary.

Security Considerations

Personal security is generally not a problem in Budapest, it is safe to walk almost anywhere in town, even at night. Only a few incidents involving UN staff or UN offices have been reported in recent times. However, staff members and their families are encouraged to take responsibility for their own personal and residential security

Additional Factors

English is the only essential language.