Toa Payoh - Health & Safety Lead, Asia
About Cognita Asia
Cognita Asia currently operates 11 schools in 5 countries, with more than 16,000 students. While our schools are part of a Group, they are unique in many ways. In Cognita Asia, we have a robust regional team that supports our schools. The team is based in Singapore and provides centralized support across various functions.We are looking for dynamic individuals who thrive in a collaborative and inclusive environment.
Our Regional team now has an exciting opportunity for a Health & Safety Lead, Asia to join our fantastic team.
About Cognita
Cognita is a global leader in independent education. Founded in 2004, we are a growing community of 100+ schools in 16 countries - in Europe, North America, Latin America, Asia and the Middle East - serving more than 85,000 students. Each of our schools are proudly unique, however our collective purpose is to create an environment where everyone can, ‘Thrive in a rapidly evolving world’.
Position Objective
As Health & Safety Lead, Asia, you will provide strategic and influential leadership for Health & Safety across the Schools in Asia. You will develop, implement, embed industry best practice, ensuring compliance in both country-specific legislation and Cognita Group standards.You will partner with Heads of Schools, Managing Directors and senior leaders to drive a culture of continuous improvement in the management of Health and Safety. You will create and sustain safe environments for students, staff, parents and visitors across Asia schools.
Responsibilities
Leadership & Strategy- Lead the development, implementation, and continual review of regional H&S policies to achieve recognised accreditations for H&S where practicable
- Monitor and evaluate new and existing H&S legislations, ensuring systems are in place for Schools to achieve full legal compliance
- Continually assess the status of H&S, identifying areas for improvement and develop new policies and processes to address these including the health & welfare of employees
- Identify and set regional H&S priorities, objectives and performance metrics, ensuring both proactive and reactive measurement measures are in place
- Oversee robust risk assessment and incident management systems including infectious diseases, pandemics, and child protection crisis management
- Support the Education Director and Asia Executive Team with regular reporting on performance, risks, and opportunities
- Assess and address H&S training needs across schools, develop controls to ensure training is up-to-date.
- Promote staff confidence in responding to emergencies through continual education and table top scenario simulations
- Deliver or source training in areas such as:
- First Aid, CPR, Anaphylaxis, Epipen training
- Emergency evacuation
- Specialised training for nursing staff and sports teachers
- Staff attending remote camps
- Bus service training
- Cleaning staff training
- Lead and develop the regional nursing team, managing performance, KPis, and budget
- Coach and mentor staff to deliver a professional, customer focused service
- Build team capability through targeted development plans and performance management.
- Provide expert H&S advice across schools, drawing on in-house skills or external specialists as required.
- Partner with the Heads of School and the school leadership and facilities teams to ensure consistent implementation of H&S standards
- Oversee risk assessment and approval for educational trips, aligned with safeguarding requirements or individual embassies
- Advise on healthy canteens guidelines and oversee allergy information provided to canteen suppliers
- Advice the facilities team on the standardisation of chemicals and cleaning procedures, ensuring a registry of MSDS (Material Safety Data Sheets) is maintained across schools.
If in the course of carrying out the duties of the role, the job holder identifies any instance that a child is suffering or likely to suffer significant harm either at school or at home, s/he must report any concerns to the School’s Child Protection Officer/Designated Safeguarding Lead or to the Head or indeed to the Regional CEO so that a referral can be made accordingly to the relevant third party services.
Position Requirements- Proven track record of developing and managing the H&S agenda across multiple sites and countries; driving change and performance improvement over a sustained period
- Must possess high level project management, planning and organisational skills
- Possess outstanding employee management, interpersonal and customer service skills, combined with strong technical knowledge across the H&S environment
- Strong knowledge of H&S in an educational environment with a proven focus on workplace safety
- Proven ability to work under pressure to meet deadlines; being proactive with multi-tasking skills to keep multiple projects and tasks moving
- Professionalism and integrity of a high order
- Outstanding communication skills in English, both written and verbal
- Outstanding influencing skills and ability to operate in a matrix organisation. Strong stakeholder management skills
- Ability to interact with people from various backgrounds and cultures with an impartial and broad minded approach
- Capable of leading, motivating and coaching a diverse team across the region, with the ability to engage a broad range of stakeholders
- Appropriate degree level education
- 7+ years of relevant experience, ideally in a multi-national organisation with significant leadership and management experience
- School management including Heads of School; Group and Regional executives
- Teachers, students and parents
- External parties and major service contractors
- Intermediate frequency travel (30%) within Asia Pacific
- Remuneration package includes performance related pay in addition to allowances, medical insurance and subsidised school fees for eligible children
For interested applicants, please submit your applications via: https://cognitapeople.csod.com/ux/ats/careersite/1/home/requisition/1684?c=cognitapeople&sq=req1684&source=MyCareersFuture