Data Center Health & Safety Lead - Development

Job Title: Health & Safety Lead, Development

Location: London

Job Summary

Join a team defining the future of safe, sustainable, high-performance data infrastructure projects. As our Development Health & Safety Lead, you will champion and be responsible for safety, compliance, and risk mitigation across the entire capital project lifecycle, from design, initial ground-breaking and civil works through to structural build, MEP installation, and testing & commissioning. Your primary mission is to embed a world class safety culture across our development sites, ensuring all projects are delivered entirely incident-free.

What we are looking for

A degree educated professional with a proven track record in the delivery of large scale commercial or industrial projects with international workforces. With a passion for continuous improvement in all aspects of EHS within and outside projects, who can demonstrate extensive hands on experience managing large scale build safety for critical infrastructure, or heavy industrial developments.

Policy / Project Planning and Risk Management

• Develop and implement construction EHS policies, project safety plans, and field procedures to ensure compliance with Verne and customer standards.
• Oversee project hazard analyses, risk assessments, and regular site inspections to proactively identify and mitigate safety concerns.
• Review, optimise and enforce strict risk mitigation strategies specific to high risk build activities, including heavy lifting operations, structural works, working at heights, excavation works, temporary works and commissioning works.

Regulatory Compliance

• Ensure strict adherence to all local construction regulations and relevant EU safety directives.
• Manage the tracking, and ongoing maintenance of all essential construction related H&S permits, environmental licenses, and project documentation.
• Serve as the primary point of contact for external regulatory bodies during construction site inspections, audits, and official inquiries.
• Demonstrate strong working knowledge of ISO 45001 and ISO 14001 management systems within a capital project delivery context.

Incident Management & Prevention

• Provide end to end construction incident management support, leading comprehensive investigations for all on site accidents, near misses, and safety observations alongside local teams and principal contractors.
• Conduct thorough Root Cause Analyses reports and partner with engineering and construction teams to implement and track robust Corrective and Preventative Actions (CAPA) to full closure.

Training & Safety Culture

• Working with project stakeholders, design, deliver, and continuously optimise construction site EHS inductions, specialised safety briefings, and toolbox talk frameworks.
• Foster a proactive, No Blame behavioural safety culture on site rooted in transparent reporting, empowering every contractor and worker with Stop Work Authority.
• Coordinate on site construction safety committees and align project leadership with field safety representatives.

Contractor & Vendor Safety

• Lead the safety pre qualification, review, and approval process for principal contractors, vendors, and specialised construction partners.
• Audit and approve contractor Construction Phase Plans, where applicable RAMS and site specific Permit to Work protocols.
• Enforce strict competency and training verification gates for all on site construction personnel and contractors before works commence.
• Conduct regular safety walks, behavioural safety audits, and formal evaluations of contractor activities to maintain an uncompromising standard of site safety.
• Operational handover
• Lead the safety component of the testing, commissioning, and final handover phases, ensuring a clean, thoroughly documented transition to the Operations team.

Required Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree in occupational health & safety or higher.
• Bolt on additional EHS qualifications.
• 10+ years of progressive EHS leadership experience within large-scale industrial construction, hyperscale data centre builds, high-tech manufacturing developments, or critical infrastructure projects.
• Deep understanding of construction safety laws, example CDM 2015 (UK) and wider EU/Nordic construction health and safety directives etc.