Senior Workplace Safety Officer

Senior Workplace Safety Officer Job #: req34415 Organization: World Bank Sector: Health & Safety Grade: GG Term Duration: 4 years 0 months Recruitment Type: International Recruitment Location: Washington, DC,United States Required Language(s): English Preferred Language(s): French, Spanish Closing Date: 10/15/2025 (MM/DD/YYYY) at 11:59pm UTC

Description

The World Bank Group (WBG) Health and Safety Directorate (HSDDR) serves staff and dependents the WBG and staff of the International Monetary Fund (IMF)  in more than 180 offices around the world.
The mission of HSDDR is to protect and promote the health and safety of staff wherever they may be, taking account of their individual health status, working environment and job demands. This is achieved by managing health and safety risks, offering evidence-based, quality controlled occupational health and safety services, and nurturing trust in clients through professionalism and confidentiality. HSDDR consists of a number of functional Units, with the Occupational Health and Safety Unit delivering specialized health and safety services to WBG/IMF staff globally.

The Senior Workplace Safety Officer (GG) provides supervisory leadership and technical expertise to strengthen the World Bank Group’s Occupational Health and Safety (OHS) program. The role leads a small team of workplace safety professionals, positioned across time zones and serves as a subject matter expert in the implementation, maintenance, and continual improvement of the OHS Management System (OHSMS), aligned with international standards and WBG policies. The incumbent partners with stakeholders across corporate real estate, HR, security, business continuity, facilities, country offices, and operational teams to promote a proactive safety culture and reduce risk to staff, visitors, and contractors.

As the most senior Workplace Safety Officer, this individual leverages advanced technical expertise alongside strong managerial and leadership capabilities. They play an integral role in the development and continuous implementation of WBG’s Occupational Health and Safety management system, providing guidance to advance and embed best practices that enhance workplace safety for all WBG staff, while offering technical leadership to support ongoing system improvements.

This role requires robust experience in the design and implementation of Occupational Health and Safety Management Systems, deep expertise in workplace safety, significant team management experience and a desire for impact. The role is supervised by the Manager, Occupational Health and Safety Unit, Health and Safety Directorate.

Scope and Complexity

The Senior Workplace Safety Officer (GG) role is distinguished by its broad scope and high degree of complexity, spanning strategic leadership and hands-on technical delivery in occupational health and safety. The incumbent supervises a team of workplace safety professionals, drives the implementation and continual improvement of the OHS Management System, and ensures alignment with international standards and diverse regulatory environments. This requires deep subject-matter expertise and the ability to navigate multifaceted risks across a global footprint—covering offices, construction/fit-outs, contractors, and higher-risk activities—while maintaining a forward-looking stance on emerging threats and industry best practices.

Collaboration is central to the role’s effectiveness and impact. The specialist partners closely with corporate real estate, HR, security/BCP, facilities, country offices, health teams, and senior leadership to foster a proactive safety culture and embed OHS priorities in broader health, wellbeing, and operational initiatives. As an active member of the HSD management team and a leader/secretariat to the OHS Committee and working groups, the incumbent aligns safety objectives with institutional strategy, translates committee decisions into actionable plans, and ensures inclusive, cross-functional participation. This collaborative approach links local interventions to enterprise outcomes, accelerates learning across regions, and strengthens organizational resilience.

At the same time, the role demands a high degree of autonomy and personal accountability. The Senior Workplace Safety Officer must exercise sound judgment in managing competing priorities, making independent risk decisions, and delivering timely results, whether implementing programs, leading incident investigations and root-cause analyses, or implementing corrective actions in complex or rapidly evolving contexts.

By consistently tying autonomous actions to the bigger picture—staff wellbeing, operational continuity, and prudent risk management—the incumbent ensures that day-to-day decisions advance HSD’s strategy and the World Bank Group’s broader mission.

This position will require regular international travel to meet with individual team members and institutional partners and advance institutional health and safety.

Duties and Accountabilities

1. Team leadership and supervision
• Supervise, mentor, and develop a team of workplace practitioners; set priorities, allocate workload, and manage performance.
• Build technical capability through coaching, training, and knowledge sharing; cultivate an inclusive, high-performing team culture.
2. Risk management and assurance
• Oversee enterprise OHS risk assessments, job hazard analyses, and safe systems of work; advise on hierarchy-of-controls solutions.
• Direct incident investigation and root-cause analysis; ensure quality of reports, timely corrective actions, and organizational learning.
• Conduct or provide input into inspections of offices, construction/fit-outs, and high-risk activities.
3. Programs, training, and communications
• Design and deliver OHS training programs (induction, role-based, and refresher) and awareness campaigns.
• Develop guidance and toolkits for country offices, including low-resource settings and fragile/conflict-affected environments.
4. Occupational Health and Safety Management System (OHSMS) implementation and enhancement
• Lead the planning, rollout, and continual improvement of the OHSMS, including enhancing policy, standards, procedures, and controls.
• Review and monitor safety objectives, KPIs, and leading/lagging indicators; drive management reviews and corrective/preventive actions.
• Coordinate internal audits and readiness for external audits/certifications, track findings to closure.
5. OHS Committee and Working Group leadership/support
• Serve as technical advisor and secretariat to the Occupational Health and Safety Committee and its working groups; coordinate the agenda and meeting cadence.
• Develop and table proposals on policy, standards, and programs; present OHS performance dashboards, incident trends, and risk assessments to inform committee decisions.
• Translate committee/working group decisions into actionable plans. 
• Coordinate consultations with staff association, facilities, security/BCP, HR, and country offices; ensure two-way communication and change management 
• Monitor effectiveness of committee-driven initiatives using KPIs and lessons-learned reviews; report progress to relevant governance bodies.
6. Compliance and reporting
• Ensure compliance with internal WBG policies and standards.
• Prepare management reports and dashboards on OHS performance; brief senior leadership and governance bodies as needed.
• OHS data systems and analytics, promote data quality, trend analysis, and evidence-based decision making.
7. Stakeholder engagement and advisory
• Serve as a trusted advisor to operational and corporate units on OHS risk in projects, events, construction, maintenance, travel, and workplace design.
• Partner with HR, international real estate, security and the health and safety directorate to integrate emergency preparedness, wellbeing, ergonomics, and psychosocial risk management into the overall occupational health and safety management system.
• Represent OHS in cross-functional initiatives, vendor/contractor engagements, and policy consultations.
8. HSD management team participation
• Serve as an active member of the Health and Safety Directorate (HSD) management team, contributing to strategy, annual work planning, budget/prioritization, and performance reviews.
• Integrate OHS risk and controls into broader HSD programs (health promotion, medical services, mental health/psychosocial risk, ergonomics) partnering with subject matter experts to deliver a coherent health, safety, and wellbeing agenda.
• Represent OHS in cross-functional governance forums and with senior stakeholders; prepare briefings, decision memos, and management updates.

Selection Criteria

1. Competencies:

• Demonstrated managerial experience of at least 7 years, with a proven track record of managing teams of at least 7-10 staff, in settings where work is complex, cross-functional, and requires handling sensitive issues, coaching, and performance management.
• Deep technical expertise in the implementation of workplace safety and OHS management systems for a global office-based traveling workforce.
• Project and task management - Able to undertake diverse and complex assignments with minimal supervision and resolve competing demands. Demonstrates good organizational skills, can plan and prioritize own work, teams work and work of internal clients. 
• Institutional policies, processes, and procedures - Demonstrates relevant functional knowledge and understanding of institutional priorities, policies, operational and administrative procedures, and people. Able to practically apply and guide others in policy application.
• Client Orientation - Able to interact with clients with discretion and diplomacy. Demonstrates ability to resolve complex client related issues. Displays understanding of relevant internal and external factors and their impact to the client.
• Drive for Results - Takes personal ownership and accountability to meet deadlines and achieve agreed-upon results and has the personal organization to do so. 
• Technology and systems knowledge - Exhibits excellent knowledge of Microsoft Office applications and proficiency of technology or/and systems relevant to functional area. Able to coach less experienced staff on relevant technology and systems.
• Teamwork (Collaboration) and Inclusion - Collaborates with other team members and contributes productively to the team's work and output, demonstrating respect for different points of view.
• Knowledge, Learning and Communication - Able to communicate in a constructive and professional manner. Can assist in the preparation of written materials in accordance with WB administrative guidelines and best practices. 
• Business Judgment and Analytical Decision Making –– Understand the business needs and   effectively and independently provide general research support. Demonstrates ability to assess the situation and make sound judgment on actions needed.

2. Selection Criteria:

• An advanced University level degree (Masters) or equivalent in the disciplines of occupational health and safety/ environment / industrial safety / engineering / industrial hygiene from an accredited school, university, institute or college.
• Valid professional occupational health and safety affiliation, membership or registration and/or a license to practice
• Ten or more years’ relevant work experience including global Occupational Health and Safety  Management System implementation experience.
• More than 5 years of strong, demonstrated management experience in leading a team of technical experts, demonstrated ability to lead team effectively, efficiently and strategically
• Team player, providing strong support to their manager and to the HSD management team, able to see the bigger picture and drive strategy accordingly. 
• Significant international corporate experience and cultural understanding, as well as previous work with international populations to understand global variations in health, safety and environment approaches
• Experience in public health that includes food services and HACCP systems, water quality, pest control and environmental monitoring would be an advantage.
• Knowledge and ability to counsel staff on OH&S issues in a culturally sensitive manner.
• Discretion and tact in dealing with highly confidential and sensitive information.
• Thorough knowledge and use of computer office technology such as Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Access and other major OHS/EHS Software management systems
• Highly effective and proven skills in organizing, prioritizing, scheduling, planning and coordinating work
• Demonstrated excellent oral, written communication skills (ability to convey ideas simply and in an engaging style) in English. 
• Demonstrated ability to build strong relationships with team members and partners 
• Ability to undertake mission-related international travel.

Note: If the selected candidate is a current Bank Group staff member with a Regular or Open-Ended appointment, he/she will retain his/her Regular or Open-Ended appointment.  All others will be offered a ‘4’ year renewable term appointment.

WBG Culture Attributes:

1. Sense of urgency: Anticipate and quickly respond to the needs of internal and external stakeholders.
2. Thoughtful risk-taking: Challenge the status quo and push boundaries to achieve greater impact.
3. Empowerment and accountability: Empower yourself and others to act and hold each other accountable for results.

World Bank Group Core Competencies

The World Bank Group offers comprehensive benefits, including a retirement plan; medical, life and disability insurance; and paid leave, including parental leave, as well as reasonable accommodations for individuals with disabilities.

We are proud to be an equal opportunity and inclusive employer with a dedicated and committed workforce, and do not discriminate based on gender, gender identity, religion, race, ethnicity, sexual orientation, or disability.

Learn more about working at the World Bank and IFC, including our values and inspiring stories.