Job Title: Road & Water Safety Lead
Contract: Permanent
Working Hours: 37
Salary: £39393 – £40478
Location: ECFRS HQ, Kelvedon Park, Rivenhall, Essex, CM8 3HB
There is no preference as to whether the successful candidate is operational (is a serving employee in the fire service eligible to attend fire incidents). The offer will be made to the best candidate.
*As an operational employee, you will be expected 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.
Are you passionate about prevention?
Do you want to use this passion and your experiences to make a difference in reducing death and serious injuries in Essex?
We’re looking for a Team Lead / Watch Manager to support the management, design and delivery of our Road and Water Safety pillars of our Prevention Strategy.
The Role
As Road and Water Safety Lead, you will assist in the management, development, and delivery of our road and water safety activities and products, contributing to a reduction of incidents in the County, for all communities, but particularly high-risk groups.
What You Will Be Working On
The Road & Water Safety Manager role is interesting and varied.  For Road Safety, it involves planning, developing, and delivering road safety products and activity in line with our Vision Zero / Safe System aspirations. This includes overseeing and developing our offers within the service for at risk road users, as well as internally supporting Post Collision Response.  It requires a commitment to the Vision Zero aspiration, where you will regularly represent our service achievements at partnership events and meetings.
For Water Safety, you will design and implement a number of lifesaving plans and innovations under the water safety pillar, to ensure delivery of targeted interventions to specific ‘at risk’ groups.  This includes the RNLI partnership for the Waterside Responder Scheme, delivered by operational colleagues, the development of a network of fixed throwline boards in the county, as well as lead regular water safety meetings and represent water safety for the service on various partnership boards and events.
For both subjects you will use your knowledge, skills and front-line experience to influence communities, raise awareness, make safer choices, and change behaviours. The role involves working across directorates and departments in all areas of the service, as well as extensive partnership working with external organisations and agencies, particularly those within the Safer Essex Roads Partnership (SERP), and water safety arenas.
The role also involves day to day management and support of the Road and Water Safety Officer, secondary contracts team, as well as the wider Road and Water Safety team.  You may also be called to deputise for the Road and Water Safety Manager on occasion.
What Are We Looking For?
What we need from you
You must have demonstrable understanding and experience of the risks associated with open water safety and road traffic collisions.
Experience of liaising with the public, partners and internal stakeholders, and providing professional advice related to the activities associated with the remit of the role
Eligibility and how to apply
Candidates who are non-operational (external)
Please apply by submitting a supporting statement of no more than 700 words demonstrating how you meet the essential criteria of the person specification for the role. It is important to ensure you have attached the supporting statement before selecting Apply as this statement will be used for shortlisting purposes.
Candidates who are non-operational (internal)
There are two routes to application. If you are engaged in the Leadership resourcing and succession programme, please liaise with the Leadership Succession team as to how to progress your application. Alternatively, you can apply via Civica self-services route by submitting a supporting statement of no more than 700 words demonstrating how you meet the essential criteria of the person specification for the role. It is important to ensure you have attached the supporting statement before selecting Apply as this statement will be used for shortlisting purposes.
Operational candidates (external)
If you are employed on wholetime duty system [Grey Book] (including day crewed) and are applying for the role on Watch Manager B terms and conditions you must be either:
A substantive Watch Manager (wholetime, day-crewed, day duty)
A substantive Crew Manager (wholetime, day-crewed, day duty)
Please apply by submitting a supporting statement of no more than 700 words demonstrating how you meet the essential criteria of the person specification for the role. It is important to ensure you have attached the supporting statement before selecting Apply as this statement will be used for shortlisting purposes.
Operational candidates (internal)
If you are employed on wholetime duty system [Grey Book] (including day crewed) and are applying for the role on Watch Manager B terms and conditions you must be either:
A substantive Watch Manager (wholetime, day-crewed, day duty)
A substantive Crew Manager (wholetime, day-crewed, day duty)
There are two routes to application. If you are engaged in the Leadership resourcing and succession programme, please liaise with the Leadership Succession team as to how to progress your application. Alternatively, you can apply via Civica self-services route by submitting a supporting statement of no more than 700 words demonstrating how you meet the essential criteria of the person specification for the role. It is important to ensure you have attached the supporting statement before selecting Apply as this statement will be used for shortlisting purposes.
Closing Date – 12 pm, Tuesday 7th March 2023
Shortlisting –Â Â will be undertaken during the week commencing 7th March and candidates informed of their progress to interview by Monday 13th March
Assessment – Presentation (topic to be confirmed) and interview
Interviews – (Provisional date) 22nd March 2023
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 equalitydiversity@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. Some of our benefits include:
Flexible working hours
Remote working opportunities
Wellbeing and counselling services
Physiotherapy services
Affiliation with the Blue Light Card scheme
Generous annual leave
Competitive pension scheme
Career development opportunities
You can find out more about our benefits via www.essex-fire.gov.uk
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.
Please note that due to the nature of this role it is a requirement of employment that an enhanced Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS) check is obtained for this post.