Job Title: Fire Safety Manager(s) (Protection Department)
Contract: Permanent
Working Hours: Watch Manager B / 42 hours per week, Day Duty system Grey Book staff (Operational). Grade 8 / 37 hours per week, Green Book staff (Non-Operational)
Salary: Grey Book £44911, Green Book £37261 – £40478 (Pay award pending)
Location: To be confirmed on appointment
As an operational employee, you will be required to maintain your operational competence, support availability and work from various stations across the county, in line with our Day-Duty Officers Riding (DDOR) principles This is a requirement of the role and an essential condition to maintaining Grey Book terms and conditions.
The Role
Do you share our passion for making our communities safer? Can you provide practical advice on how to make our buildings and workspaces safer places? Are you excited to learn more about making Essex a safe place to live work and travel putting your knowledge and skills into practice in a diverse and challenging county?
If so, then the right opportunity for you has arisen within our Protection (formerly known as Fire Safety) team. As part of our Prevention and Protection strategies we are committed to undertaking more safety audits than ever before, and we are looking for the right people to represent us in the community, providing the right advice and responses to fire safety challenges.
What You Will Be Working On
Managing a Protection Team at one of our Service Delivery Points.
Undertaking fire safety audits and providing fire safety advice and enforcement activity in accordance with ECFRS Risk Based Inspection Programme.
Assist in the management and delivery of our protection and building review activity that is essential and an area of high priority for the Service.
Assess the design of new or extended buildings against the Building Regulations through statutory consultations with external stake holders.
Take a lead role in the development and mentoring of new staff in the department including the quality assurance of their work as well as that of competent Fire Safety Inspectors.
You may be required to deliver fire safety training to our operational firefighter teams.
What Are We Looking For?
This role will be perfect for you if you are passionate about fire safety and are motivated by what you can bring to ECFRS and the people of Essex.
You will have experience of managing your own workloads as well as managing and being part of a team. You must have excellent time management and prioritising skills as you will be required to meet statutory deadlines.
We would love to find someone that has strong interpersonal skills and experience of working with people from all walks of life with an aim of achieving a common goal.
You will be required to attend formal courses both in person and remotely. It is a requirement that you will sign a pre-learning agreement prior to undertaking any formal training.
Eligibility
Substantive Watch Manager B (substantive status applies to Grey Book only)
Level 4 Diploma in Fire Safety and deemed fully competent thereby having a comprehensive understanding of fire safety regulation, risk reduction and relevant guidance and can competently apply this to the premises which fall within their remit.
Experience of liaising with the public, partners and internal stakeholders, and providing professional advice.
Internal candidates, no current live disciplinary or performance warnings, nor are you subject to any informal management for reasons of conduct or performance.
Have a valid and current FiTech of 42 VO2 max, or be actively engaged in a programme of fitness agreed under the Fitness policy (Grey Book only).
A valid Incident Command Verification Level 1 (Grey Book only).
Please note – Grey Book roles are only available to personnel on a wholetime contract. On-Call are welcome to apply, but if successful it would be on green book terms and conditions.
The Application Process
Internal candidates:
If you meet the essential eligibility criteria listed above, you should express an interest for the role by clicking Apply in Civica self-service.
All candidates:
You are required to submit a supporting statement of no more than 750 words detailing how you meet the essential criteria of the Fire Safety Manager person specification. Please ensure you have uploaded the supporting statement before clicking Apply. It is important that you provide as much evidence as possible as to how you meet the essential criteria of the person specification as this statement will be used to shortlist your application.
You may attach separate documents (such as qualifications, or a CV) should you wish, though your additional document will only be referred to in shortlisting to confirm eligibility (e.g., your current role and any existing qualifications).
Assessment and selection
Stage 1
Application & shortlisting (assessment will be made against the essential criteria of the person specification)
Stage 2
Presentation on the Fire Safety (England) Regulations 2022 to include an overview of the regulations, what training implications does this present? how would you integrate this into a budget constrained training programme? This element to be no longer than ten minutes, followed by:
Stage 3
Role specific interview comprising technical questions relative to the role and questions assessed against the NFCC Leadership Framework (Leading Others), You can see the NFCC Leadership Framework here: NFCC_Leadership_Framework_Final.pdf (nationalfirechiefs.org.uk) This element is expected to last no longer than forty minutes.
Closing Date – 23:59, Wednesday 18th October
Interview Date – TBC
Should you wish to have an informal discussion with regards to the role, please contact SM Paul Nash on 07785 974175 or paul.nash@essex-fire.gov.uk
If you have any queries about the process, please contact recruitment@essex-fire.gov.uk
We are an equal opportunities, Disability Confident, employer who welcomes applications from everyone and values diversity in our workplace. A commitment to promoting diversity and developing a work environment where all staff are treated with dignity and respect is central to our recruitment process and all applications will be considered solely on merit.
As part of our offer to support all our candidates to perform to the best of their abilities during our recruitment and selection processes and we would like to let you know about a couple of support options you can access, should you wish to, including our employee forums, who are keen and willing to support all of our potential colleagues.
Our employee forums and partners include:
Asian Fire Services Association (AFSA), BEING (our LGBTQ+ employee support network), Christian Fellowship, Ethnic Minority Forum, Men’s Forum, and our Women’s Forum. In addition, we also have a female firefighters operational group.
Further to the above, the Service has a Digital Accessibility Inclusion Group (DAIG) that supports all colleagues to improve their digital skills and provides additional support and guidance to colleagues with neurodivergent strengths and struggles as a result of dyslexia, ADHD, Autism, dyspraxia etc. We want everyone to thrive at work, and so we encourage and enable people to access digital tools to help them perform at your best. The DAIG is a group of colleagues from across the Service that unite to support others as a result of their lived experience and desire to make a difference. They support people with a range of visible and invisible disabilities to identify and access digital workplace adjustments and solutions and may be able to assist with your application too.
Should you wish to discuss support, or access further information, from one of these groups, please contact Equality.Diversity@essex-fire.gov.uk
You are also able to raise any queries or requests for support, including any adjustments you may require, at any stage of the process by email to recruitment@essex-fire.gov.uk
You can find out more about Essex County Fire & Rescue Service via www.essex-fire.gov.uk and about our vacancies, application processes and benefits via https://join.essex-fire.gov.uk
Our Culture and Benefits
Here at Essex County Fire and Rescue Service we are committed to prioritising and promoting the wellbeing of our employees.
You can find out more about our benefits at https://join.essex-fire.gov.uk/jobs/benefits/
Safeguarding
Essex Police, Fire and Crime Commissioner Fire and Rescue Authority is committed to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children and vulnerable adults and expects all employees and volunteers to share this commitment.
It is our policy to require all applicants for employment to disclose if you are currently being investigated by any regulatory body or have any decisions or sanctions pending or in progress in respect of your suitability to work for the Service.
You agree to inform the Service within 24 hours if you are subsequently investigated by any agency or organisation in relation to concerns about your behaviour towards children, young people or vulnerable adults.
The information you provide will be treated as strictly confidential and will be considered only in relation to the appointment for which you are applying.
This role maybe subject to a standard/enhanced Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS) check.