Director Health and Safety

Director – Health & Safety

Location: UAE

Function: Health, Safety & Environment

Level: Director

Role Purpose

The Director – Health & Safety will lead the organisation’s health and safety strategy, governance, and performance across all operations and facilities.

The role is responsible for establishing a strong safety culture, ensuring compliance with applicable UAE legislation and regulatory requirements, and providing leadership on the identification and management of occupational health and safety risks.

Working closely with executive leadership and operational teams, the Director will ensure that health and safety is embedded into business decisions, operational practices, major projects, and day-to-day activities.

Key Responsibilities

Health & Safety Strategy & Leadership

• Develop and lead the organisation-wide Health & Safety strategy, framework, policies, standards, and annual objectives.
• Provide strategic advice to executive leadership on health and safety risks, regulatory requirements, performance, and emerging issues.
• Establish clear H&S governance, accountability, and reporting mechanisms across the organisation.
• Drive a proactive safety culture with strong leadership ownership and employee engagement.
• Ensure health and safety considerations are embedded within operational planning, projects, procurement, contractor management, and business decision-making.
• Lead continuous improvement initiatives to strengthen overall H&S maturity and performance.

Governance, Compliance & Risk

• Ensure organisational compliance with applicable UAE occupational health and safety laws, regulations, codes of practice, and relevant industry standards.
• Maintain oversight of H&S policies, procedures, risk assessments, safe systems of work, and operational controls.
• Establish and maintain an effective H&S management system aligned with recognised standards such as ISO 45001 .
• Lead enterprise-level health and safety risk assessments and ensure appropriate mitigation plans are implemented.
• Monitor changes in legislation and regulatory requirements and ensure organisational policies and practices remain compliant.
• Oversee internal and external H&S audits, inspections, regulatory reviews, and certification activities.
• Ensure corrective and preventive actions arising from audits, inspections, and incidents are appropriately tracked and closed.

Operational Health & Safety

• Partner with operational leaders to identify and manage workplace hazards and high-risk activities.
• Establish minimum safety standards across sites, facilities, projects, and operational environments.
• Oversee contractor and third-party H&S requirements, including prequalification, onboarding, performance monitoring, and compliance.
• Ensure effective controls are in place for high-risk activities and operational environments.
• Conduct regular reviews of site-level safety performance and intervene where significant risks or compliance gaps are identified.
• Ensure appropriate occupational health and workplace wellbeing controls are implemented.

Incident Management & Emergency Preparedness

• Establish organisation-wide standards for incident reporting, investigation, escalation, and corrective action management.
• Provide leadership and oversight for investigations involving serious incidents, injuries, near misses, and significant safety events.
• Ensure robust root cause analysis is undertaken and lessons learned are implemented across relevant areas of the organisation.
• Monitor incident trends and identify systemic risks requiring organisational intervention.
• Oversee emergency preparedness and response frameworks, including emergency plans, drills, crisis response procedures, and business coordination.
• Ensure serious incidents are appropriately escalated and reported to relevant authorities where required.

H&S Performance & Reporting

• Establish meaningful H&S KPIs, leading and lagging indicators, and performance targets.
• Develop executive and Board-level reporting on safety performance, key risks, incidents, trends, and improvement initiatives.
• Analyse H&S data to identify trends, recurring risks, and opportunities for preventive intervention.
• Benchmark organisational performance against relevant industry standards and leading practices.
• Hold business and operational leaders accountable for agreed H&S actions and performance expectations.

Safety Culture, Training & Engagement

• Champion a strong culture of personal accountability, hazard awareness, and proactive risk management.
• Develop organisation-wide H&S awareness and engagement programmes.
• Establish H&S competency and training requirements for employees, managers, contractors, and high-risk roles.
• Ensure appropriate induction, mandatory safety training, and refresher programmes are implemented.
• Work closely with People/HR and operational leadership to embed safety responsibilities within leadership expectations and employee practices.

Team Leadership

• Lead, develop, and mentor the Health & Safety team, ensuring clear responsibilities and strong technical capability.
• Define the appropriate H&S operating model and resource requirements across the organisation.
• Build effective relationships with operational leaders, regulators, auditors, contractors, and other key stakeholders.
• Develop succession and capability within the H&S function.

Qualifications & Experience

• Bachelor’s degree in Occupational Health & Safety, Engineering, Environmental Science, or a related discipline .
• Professional H&S qualification such as NEBOSH Diploma, IOSH, CSP or equivalent is strongly preferred.
• ISO 45001 Lead Auditor or equivalent certification would be advantageous.
• Typically 12–15+ years of progressive Health & Safety experience , including significant experience in a senior leadership capacity.
• Strong experience within a large, complex or high-risk organisation , ideally within manufacturing, industrial, engineering, construction, infrastructure, utilities, energy, oil & gas, or a comparable operational environment.
• Demonstrated experience developing and implementing organisation-wide H&S strategies and management systems.
• Strong knowledge of UAE H&S legislation and regulatory requirements.
• Proven experience managing serious incident investigations, audits, regulatory engagement, and operational risk.
• Experience managing H&S across multiple sites or business units is highly desirable.
• Previous experience leading and developing H&S teams.

Key Competencies

• Strategic Health & Safety Leadership
• H&S Governance & Regulatory Compliance
• Operational Risk Management
• Safety Management Systems
• Incident Investigation & Root Cause Analysis
• Emergency & Crisis Preparedness
• Safety Culture Transformation
• Executive & Board-Level Communication
• Data Analysis & Performance Management
• Stakeholder & Regulatory Management
• Leadership & Team Development

Success Measures

Success in this role will be demonstrated through improved H&S performance, reduction in serious incidents and high-risk exposures, strong regulatory compliance, timely closure of audit and investigation actions, increased leadership accountability for safety, and measurable improvement in the organisation’s overall safety culture and maturity.Director – Health & Safety