Health and Safety Manager

Location: Gravesend, Essex

Salary: Circa £70,000

Industry: Large Food Manufacturing

Team: Managing a small H&S team

Focus: Behavioural Safety & Continuous Improvement

A well-established food manufacturing business in Gravesend that operates a large-scale site with around 600 employees across a 24/7 production operation.
The workforce is highly multi-national, with team members from across Europe and Asia, including Poland, Romania and India. Because of this, the business is looking for a strong, people-focused Health & Safety Manager who has experience working with diverse teams and is confident driving positive safety culture and behavioural safety initiatives across a busy production environment.

The Health & Safety Manager is responsible for assuring that the business is fully compliant with all Health and Safety standards. To ensure that we meet our legal responsibilities regarding H&S and to drive a positive Health and Safety Culture and to always ensure the business is audit ready.

Health and Safety Manager - The Role

As our Health & Safety Manager, you will take full responsibility for developing and delivering our site health & safety initiatives, with a strong focus on behavioural safety and employee engagement. You will lead and support a small, dedicated H&S team, ensuring high standards of compliance, risk management, and continual improvement within a fast-paced production environment.

Health and Safety Manager - Key Responsibilities

* Lead, mentor, and develop a small on-site H&S team.

* Champion behavioural safety and embed safe working habits across all departments.

* Ensure full compliance with relevant UK health & safety legislation and industry standards.

* Conduct and oversee risk assessments, audits, incident investigations, and root-cause analysis.

* Drive safety training, toolbox talks, and awareness programmes.

* Collaborate closely with operations, engineering, and quality teams to support a “safety-first” culture.

* Report on safety metrics, trends, and improvement initiatives to the senior leadership team.

Health and Safety Manager - About You

* NEBOSH General Certificate required

* NEBOSH Diploma or equivalent preferred.

* Strong experience in food manufacturing, FMCG, or a similar fast-paced production environment.

* Proven background in behavioural safety programmes and cultural change.

* Confident leader with the ability to influence, engage, and communicate at all levels.

* Hands-on, proactive, and passionate about driving continuous improvement