Health, Safety, Social and Environmental (HSSE) Specialist

The UNOPS Hub in Amman implements projects on behalf of UN agencies and bilateral donors and in close coordination with the Government and national authorities. With an established presence across the region, the office runs operations including large-scale procurement, project development and technical management, and provides financial, human resources and infrastructure-related services. 

The functional objective of UNOPS Hub in Amman is to deliver its projects in an efficient and effective manner and in line with the principles, rules and regulations of UNOPS, to achieve the outcomes sought by the clients.

The incumbent is responsible to abide by security policies, administrative instructions, plans and procedures of the UN Security Management System and that of UNOPS. 

UNOPS is committed to achieving a fully diverse workforce.

The Health Safety, Social and Environmental (HSSE) Specialist will report directly to the Head of Programme and will ensure full coordination with the Regional Infrastructure Advisor, Programme team, Projects’ Managers and Projects’ teams members. 

Under the guidance and direct supervision of the Head of Programme, the main duties of the HSSE Specialist is to facilitate compliance with UNOPS Health, Safety, Social and Environmental (HSSE) systems and provide advice on preventive measures needed in order to minimize harm resulting from hazards in the different projects implemented under the UNOPS Hub in Amman.

The incumbent needs to establish a safe workplace according to UNOPS health and safety management systems, and foster a culture of attention to health and safety in all the phases of the implemented projects. Specifically, He/ She will be responsible for the following duties:

HSSE Planning, Coordination, and Implementation

• Provide advice and support on various health and safety related in the ongoing projects under the UNOPS Amman Hub (such as noise levels, use of protective equipment, and use of machinery etc.);

• Coordinate the development of health and safety systems, and procedures in line with corporate policies and guidelines;

• Advise the Hub Management all Project Managers (PMs) on all health and safety related matters during project planning and implementation;

• In line with the UNOPS HSSE policies and procedures, develop and/ or advise on risk mitigation actions required outlining potential threats, risks levels and recommended mitigation strategies during project implementation, taking into consideration relevant and existing assessments; 

• Review all new project proposals from a health and safety perspective and provide comments and feedback to ensure health and safety components are well addressed;  

• Provide advice and support for the PM to prepare health and safety work plans including budget for all aspects of the projects implementation in compliance with UNOPS HSSE policies, procedures and guidelines;

• Liaise and regularly coordinate with the PMs to ensure their respective contractors meets its statutory obligations in all areas pertaining to health, safety and welfare at work, including statutory training and reporting.

HSSE Monitoring and Reporting

• Propose and control projects’ budgets for health and safety and monitor related expenditures;

• Conduct regular field inspection and monitoring visits to the projects sites to identify possible areas/issues of non-conformity (e.g. unsafe work at heights and in excavations), prepare project’s health and safety related reports on occurrences, and provide statistical information to upper management;

• Provide technical advisory and oversight services to ensure that health and safety is a core component of all programmes at the different duty stations and that appropriate funding is

provided based on actual needs;

• Implement mechanisms for reporting all health and safety incidents that may have an impact on UNOPS projects or programmes, as well as ensure that all accidents are documented, reported internally and/ or externally as per the agreed reporting protocols, investigated while ensuring that any recommended improvements are implemented in a timely manner.

HSSE Compliance

•  Ensure that all Health & Safety policies, procedures, rules and regulations are adhered to and are regularly reviewed, updated and communicated;

• Perform health and safety projects’ assessments, both routine and exceptional, as required, to ensure optimal health and safety standards are in place;

• Revise and update the office Business Continuity Plan from a health and safety perspective to ensure a safe workplace environment without risk to the health of personnel;

  • Devise a plan and conduct periodic projects on-site HSSE Audits and work on the action plan, if there are any gaps.

  HSSE Capacity Building and Knowledge Management

  • Initiate, organize, and deliver Occupational Health and Safety (OHS) trainings and learning initiatives for UNOPS personnel, contractors and partners;

  • Oversee team’s contributions to health and safety knowledge networks and communities of practice including collaborative synthesis of lessons learnt and dissemination of best practices;

  • Provide an induction to all new project managers on HSSE requirements;

  • Support the PMs in capacity building planning and transfer of HSSE project-related knowledge among the relevant projects’ stakeholders, both internal and external.'s 

[Instructions: Please delete this paragraph and insert relevant information below:

1. Contract type: Individual Contractual Agreement 
2. Contract level:  Local ICA Support 10
3. Contract duration: Ongoing ICA – ‘Open-ended, subject to organizational requirements, availability of funds and satisfactory performance.’

• Please note that the closing date is midnight Copenhagen time
• Applications received after the closing date will not be considered.
• Only those candidates that are short-listed for interviews will be notified.
• Qualified female candidates are strongly encouraged to apply.
• Amman is a family duty station.
• This position is a local position and open to nationals only.
• UNOPS seeks to reasonably accommodate candidates with special needs, upon request.
• Work life harmonization - UNOPS values its people and recognizes the importance of balancing professional and personal demands. We have a progressive policy on work-life harmonization and offer several flexible working options. This policy applies to UNOPS personnel on all contract types
• For staff positions only, UNOPS reserves the right to appoint a candidate at a lower level than the advertised level of the post
• The incumbent is responsible to abide by security policies, administrative instructions, plans and procedures of the UN Security Management System and that of UNOPS.  

It is the policy of UNOPS to conduct background checks on all potential recruits/interns.
Recruitment/internship in UNOPS is contingent on the results of such checks.