Public Protection and Safety Officer (Environmental Health)​

Public Protection and Safety Officer (Environmental Health)​

Salary Range: £41,466 - £44,373 per annum (plus a shift allowance of up to 20%) 

Work Location: Clockworks, 45 Beavor Lane, London W6 9AR

Hours per week: 36

Contract type: Permanent 

Politically Restricted post: No 

Closing date: 23 October 2020

Contact details for an informal discussion: Ash Shah, Interim Head of Regulatory Services, on 020 8753 6693.

At Hammersmith & Fulham, we are ambitious in reforming the council to ensure this is a place for everybody. Within the Environment Department, we offer a wide range of services to help make the borough an attractive place, one that is safe, clean and green and one in which our residents take pride.

Do you want a job that is both interesting and challenging?

Are you highly motivated, focused, with good attention to detail?

Are you flexible with plenty of initiative and ideas for service improvements?

Do you have the right attitude and people values to be a part of a friendly/helpful and successful team?

Do you want to develop and enhance your skills as an Environmental Health Practitioner?

If the answer is “Yes”, Hammersmith & Fulham’s Noise and Nuisance Team is looking for you! 

A fantastic opportunity has arisen for a hardworking and focused individual to join our Noise and Nuisance team. 

Hammersmith & Fulham is a vibrant place to live and work with a diverse community and rich cultural heritage. As a small inner-London borough situated to the west of the capital, we have excellent transport links to our three town centres and vast array of businesses and services for visitors and residents to enjoy. 

We currently have large construction projects, in the borough; such as Thames Tideway and HS2, three football clubs, large public events and in the region of 1000 licensed premises, around and amongst residential properties. To meet all of the challenges that this role presents we need to recruit three outstanding officers. 

We are looking for someone who has the ability to carry out a wide range of tasks. In this role you will act as a statutory consultee and advisor to other council teams such as Planning, Building Control, Housing, Licensing and Highways & Engineering on noise and vibration and / or environmental issues, and liaising with external partners and attend meetings on environmental protection issues, as appropriate. 

It is essential that you have a degree in Environmental Health, previous experience of Environmental Health enforcement (Noise), service of statutory notices, preparation of legal proceedings and appearing in court as a witness. For this role it is also necessary that you have up to date knowledge of current work practices and recent developments within Environmental Health Legislation, specifically noise related to Planning.

You will also need to demonstrate how you would deliver the Hammersmith and Fulham priority “Doing things with residents, not to them” in this role.

We need a person who is keen to get involved in all aspects of our work and who will be able to make a valuable contribution to the team. Previous experience is essential for the post. 

We have a high commitment to Customer Care, so it is important that you have excellent communication skills and the ability to organise and manage your own workload. You should also be able to work as part of a team and possess good IT skills.

Our mission is to be the best council. To do this we need the best people to help build our vision. If you’re looking to develop your career in a fast-paced, professional environment whilst making a difference, then we look forward to hearing from you. Click here to view the role profile. 
 

Role Responsibilities:

Together with the other Area Senior Officer (ASO) to oversee and manage the response and investigation / resolution, within published service standards / performance targets, of complaints / service requests relating primarily to noise and nuisance, but also complaints relating to other areas within The Environment Department remit as necessary.  This will include the coordination of the Service’s shift rota to ensure adequate officer cover is provided to maintain the service to its advertised provision.

This will also include the monitoring / management of follow up admin and revisit actions where informal and formal action has been taken, checking works in progress, ensuring that the necessary works etc. have been properly executed in accordance with good practice. To identify those cases where notices have not been complied with and delegate / take appropriate enforcement action. 

Delegate / prepare and serve legal notices under the Environmental Protection Act 1990, Control of Pollution Act 1974 and any other legislation that is appropriate to secure the main purpose of the post, including any enforcement action in respect of these when necessary. 

For more information about the role, please see the full Job Description. 

People Values:

How we act defines who we are.  At the heart of our organisation is a common approach to defining ‘who we are’.  We are looking for people who can build this into everything they do.

We are fair

We treat everyone with compassion, dignity and fairness. We value the views and opinion of others, and promote benefits and opportunities for all.

We are caring

We care about our borough and doing things well. We focus on standards and continuous improvement; learning from our mistakes and celebrating success.

We are collaborators

We work together for a better society. We work with our residents, businesses, schools, third sector and others for better outcomes for everyone.

We are driven

We will only settle for the very best. We seek to continually improve and put our residents, customers and businesses at the heart of everything we do.

Recruiting for Attitude:

Your skills and ability are important however, we recruit as much for attitude as we do experience.  We are looking for people who have the following attributes:

Complex problem-solving

The ability to work within a complex system and find simple solutions and outcomes that deliver real change. 

Critical thinking

The ability to challenge the norms through evidence-based approaches using both numerical and critical reasoning and thinking.  You can rationalise decision-making and form views quickly and soundly from a range of sources.  

Creativity

You take approaches that demonstrate how doing things differently and creatively changes the dynamic in situations.  You can apply creative solutions that deliver hard outcomes.  

People management

You can get the best out of people.  You have a coaching-style and drive through a commitment to personal and professional development.  You are clear in your expectations and have exception feedback from your team about their working environment. You recognise and support people as individuals.  

Coordinating with others

You have the knack of working well with others.  You have an appreciation of your own presence and approach and can demonstrate how you have developed and continue to develop how you work with others.  You will also can recognise how others work, think, and feel to get the most out of collaboration.  

Emotional intelligence

You have a high degree of self-awareness and self-regulation in a wide range of situations from one-to-one conversations to team and group dynamics.  You can recognise motiving factors and demonstrate empathy appropriately applying a wide range of adaptive social skills. 

Judgement and decision making

You can take rational and evidence-based decisions and take responsibility for your decisions and actions.  Where there is ambiguity or a lack of evidence you can demonstrate the ability to understand the environment and show flexibility in applying your judgement.  

Negotiation

You can demonstrate an understanding of the range of skills and techniques required to successfully negotiate with a range of other partners.  This includes understanding how to structure and undertake successful negotiation on an organisational-wide level.  

Service orientation

You must be unequivocal in your commitment and drive for outstanding service delivery.  Both in terms of the quality of products and work delivered as well as the achievement of objectives.  You and your team can demonstrate how your overall contribution to the organisation and service delivers to our organisational aims and objectives.  

Cognitive flexibility

The ability to recognise the environment in which you work and adapt and shift to this environment to maximise your own personal achievement and lead others in the same approach.  Applying cognitive flexibility to situation of significant change and transformation. 

Hammersmith & Fulham Council is committed to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children, young people and adults. We expect all employees, workers and volunteers to share this commitment. We will ensure that all our recruitment and selection practices reflect this commitment.
 
Corporate Equalities Employment Policy: In order to combat discrimination, no unnecessary conditions or requirements will be applied which could have a disproportionately adverse effect on any one group. All sections of the population will have equal access to jobs. No applicant or employee will receive less favourable treatment because of age, disability, gender reassignment, race, religion or belief, sex, sexual orientation, marriage or civil partnership and pregnancy or maternity, unless a Genuine Occupational Qualification (GOQ) applies.
 
We are a Disability Confident Employer – committed to ensuring that our recruitment and selection process is inclusive and accessible.