HSSE (Occupational Health and Safety) Senior Assistant

UNOPS is an operational arm of the United Nations, supporting the successful implementation of its partners’ peacebuilding, humanitarian and development projects around the world. Our mission is to help people build better lives and countries achieve sustainable development.

UNOPS areas of expertise cover infrastructure, procurement, project management, financial management and human resources.

Working with us

UNOPS offers short- and long-term work opportunities in diverse and challenging environments across the globe. We are looking for creative, results-focused professionals with skills in a range of disciplines.

Diversity

With over 5,000 UNOPS personnel and approximately 7,400 personnel recruited on behalf of UNOPS partners spread across 80 countries, our workforce represents a wide range of nationalities and cultures. We promote a balanced, diverse workforce — a strength that helps us better understand and address our partners’ needs, and continually strive to improve our gender balance through initiatives and policies that encourage recruitment of qualified female candidates.

Work life harmonization

UNOPS values its people and recognizes the importance of balancing professional and personal demands. 

• Support the HS Specialist in monitoring progress and implementing  work packages for the HS programme and plan including the preparation of actions to be taken on key objectives and targets from the HS plan and tracking progress against the set deadlines.
  
  
• Assist during preparation of HS reviews and inspections by organising meetings, gathering necessary documents, maintaining review records and compiling review trails.
  
  
• Support in continuous improvement of  incident management by improving hazard identification, incident reporting/investigation, and sharing lessons learned . The support involves updating incident library databases, creating campaign materials and posters and  collaborating with relevant units to ensure quality, and preparing campaign reports.

• Contribute to corporate HS initiatives and knowledge networks by assisting with the collection  of data on trends, risks, and opportunities. Share learned lessons and best practices through collaborative analysis.
  
  
• Use electronic HS systems and tools to initiate work, share information with colleagues, and help ensure proper implementation of the HS digital system for projects and facilities. Assist country teams in using key functionalities of the HS digitised  system and maintain accurate records.
  
  
• Coordinate the development and maintenance of the internal HS training files and the external HS training program including assisting the external service provider with course additions, participant enrollment, and training record analysis 
  
  
• Assist the HS Specialist with the review and monitoring of HS performance through  tracking of HS issues through the HS digital and manual systems 

• Assist the HSSE team in collecting feedback, suggestions, and internal knowledge  on occupational health and safety protocols and best practices so that this information can be utilised to create and improve  internal guidelines for health and safety processes.
  
  
• Maintenance of systems and procedures to improve communication flow within the team to meet team demands and requirements 
  
  
• Establish and maintain constant communication with the HSSE network and provide support with updating of the HSSE intranet and screening of in-coming communication to the HSSE mailbox
  
  
• Support the team with the creation of progress reports, dashboards, etc.; and perform any other ad hoc tasks in support of the team activities as requested

• Provide effective administration and support on HS projects and/or  activities, as may be required in the team.
  
  
• Take minutes during meetings and finalise overall meeting reports  with input from other team members 
  
  
• Support HSSE administration tasks including procurement exercises, supporting HSSE retainers assignments and payments, and logistics and coordination prior to HSSE events, campaigns and missions

• Minimum secondary school diploma or high school diploma.

• A university degree in Occupational Health & Safety, Civil Engineering, Environmental Management, Social Development, Sustainability or other relevant discipline is strongly preferred and can compensate for some of the required years of experience.

• At least 5 years of relevant experience in HSSE is required  with a high school diploma, while a minimum of 1 year of relevant experience is required with a first-level University degree preferably in Occupational Health and Safety, Environmental Science, Engineering, Political Studies, International Relations, Development Studies, or a related field.

• Strong computer literacy as well experience using Google Workspace, preferably Google sheet, Google doc, Google slides and Google drive, is required. 

• Professional experience in an international context or development is highly desirable.

• Fluency in English is required

• Knowledge of French and/or Spanish would be considered an asset

Contract type: ICA
Contract level: LICA5
Contract duration: Ongoing ICA – ‘Open-ended, subject to organizational requirements, availability of funds and satisfactory performance.’

• Please note that UNOPS does not accept unsolicited resumes.

• Applications received after the closing date will not be considered.

• Please note that only shortlisted candidates will be contacted and advance to the next stage of the selection process, which involves various assessments.

• UNOPS embraces diversity and is committed to equal employment opportunity. Our workforce consists of many diverse nationalities, cultures,  languages, races, gender identities, sexual orientations, and abilities. UNOPS seeks to sustain and strengthen this diversity to ensure equal opportunities as well as an inclusive working environment for its entire workforce. 

• Qualified women and candidates from groups which are underrepresented in the UNOPS workforce are encouraged to apply. These include in particular candidates from racialized and/or indigenous groups, members of minority gender identities and sexual orientations, and people with disabilities.

• We would like to ensure all candidates perform at their best during the assessment process.  If you are shortlisted and require additional assistance to complete any assessment, including reasonable accommodation, please inform our human resources team when you receive an invitation.

Terms and Conditions 

• For staff positions only, UNOPS reserves the right to appoint a candidate at a lower level than the advertised level of the post. 

• For retainer contracts, you must complete a few Mandatory Courses (they take around 4 hours to complete) in your own time, before providing services to UNOPS. For more information on a retainer contract here.

• All UNOPS personnel are responsible for performing their duties in accordance with the UN Charter and UNOPS Policies and Instructions, as well as other relevant accountability frameworks. In addition, all personnel must demonstrate an understanding of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) in a manner consistent with UN core values and the UN Common Agenda.

• It is the policy of UNOPS to conduct background checks on all potential personnel. Recruitment in UNOPS is contingent on the results of such checks.