Head of Health and Safety

Head of Health and Safety - Distribution – Home Based with Travel – £70,000 - £85,000 + Benefits Package

Principal People are excited to be working exclusively with a leading distribution organisation to recruit a Head of Health and Safety.

This is an outstanding opportunity for an experienced Health and Safety leader to join a well-established national organisation and take ownership of the Health, Safety, Environment and Facilities strategy across a large multi-site division.

The successful candidate will provide strategic leadership across multiple business units, working closely with senior stakeholders to drive a positive safety culture, ensure legal compliance and lead the continual improvement of Health, Safety, Environmental and Facilities performance.

This is a highly influential leadership role with the opportunity to shape divisional strategy, develop high-performing teams and make a lasting impact across the business.

The key duties include:

• Developing and delivering the divisional Health, Safety, Environment and Facilities strategy, ensuring compliance with legislation and company standards.
• Leading the Health, Safety, Environment and Facilities Management Systems, including ISO 45001, ISO 14001 and ISO 9001, while driving governance, audit and continuous improvement programmes.
• Partnering with senior operational leaders to embed a positive safety culture, manage strategic risks and improve health, safety and environmental performance across the division.
• Leading incident investigations, risk management and performance reporting, ensuring effective corrective actions and continual improvement initiatives are implemented.
• Driving environmental sustainability programmes, business resilience and facilities compliance to support operational excellence across multiple sites.
• Leading, coaching and developing the HSEF team while building capability through training, stakeholder engagement and best practice sharing across the business.

Why should you apply for the role?

• An opportunity to join a nationally recognised organisation with an excellent reputation.
• A highly strategic leadership position with significant influence across a large multi-site division.
• The chance to shape Health, Safety, Environment and Facilities strategy across a complex national operation.
• Join a business that is committed to continuous improvement, operational excellence and sustainability.
• Work closely with an engaged senior leadership team where Health and Safety is recognised as a key business priority.
• Lead and develop an experienced HSEF team while driving meaningful cultural change across the division.
• Excellent opportunity for long-term career progression within a large national organisation.

We would love to see CVs from people who have:

• A Level 6 Health and Safety qualification such as the NEBOSH Diploma or equivalent.
• Significant experience leading Health and Safety within a multi-site operational environment such as retail, logistics, distribution or a similar sector.
• Strong working knowledge of ISO 45001, ISO 14001 and ISO 9001 management systems.
• Proven leadership experience including developing and managing high-performing teams.
• Strong commercial awareness with the ability to influence senior stakeholders and drive strategic improvements.
• Excellent communication, leadership and relationship-building skills.