Home Safety Assistant

Devon and Somerset Fire and Rescue Service are looking for Home Safety Assistants to enhance our team based at our Service Headquarters in Exeter. There are multiple positions available as detailed below:

• 1 x vacancy on a Permanent Contract working 37 hours per week.
• 2 x vacancies on a 6 month fixed term contract working 37 hours per week
• 1 x vacancy on a fixed term contact until 31 March 2025 working 14.8 hours per week.

In return, you will receive a competitive salary of £27334 – £29777 (pro-rata for part time) per annum.

Devon and Somerset Fire and Rescue Service is the largest non-metropolitan Fire and Rescue Service in England. We provide prevention, protection, and response services across the counties of Devon and Somerset.

Our vision is that together, we will work to end preventable fire and rescue emergencies, creating a safer world for you and your family. Keeping people safe is what we do, and we owe our fantastic reputation to our highly skilled and motivated workforce.

About the Home Safety Assistant role: 

As a Home Safety Assistant, you will act as the first point of contact for members of the public, partner agencies and internal staff, providing relevant and necessary home safety advice to prevent fires in the home.

You will manage and prioritise the diaries for over 30 Home Safety Technicians for home safety visits, replacement alarms and arson letterbox requests, and liaise with other Departments and external agencies where required.

Devon and Somerset Fire and Rescue Service is an Emergency Service, and this is a very busy role which involves conversations with very vulnerable members of the community, some of which can be very distressing, in order to prioritise risks and book Home Safety Visits accordingly. We need people who are experienced and confident with this type of role.

Find out more:

Key responsibilities of a Home Safety Assistant:

• Act as the first point of contact for members of the public and partner agencies to process and action any requests for Home Safety Visits for the most vulnerable members of the community.
• Act as the first point of contact for Home Safety Technicians regarding changes to their workloads / schedules, to provide information on points of contact and any additional information required.
• Manage phone calls to and from extremely vulnerable members of the community, some of which are distressing, in a calm, re-assuring and professional manner.
• Control and monitor the Fire Kills email inbox and ensure each request is actioned appropriately and in line with required deadlines.
• Use agreed criteria and processes to determine eligibility of highly vulnerable occupants for a home safety visit with an appropriately trained Technician, while also having the authority to use professional judgement to override these criteria and processes when risks are apparent from the initial contact, whether this is over the phone or via written correspondence and arrange a home safety visit. Provide appropriate safety advice, signposting and information to members of the public who are not eligible for a visit.
• Manage and update the Home Safety systems and other essential Community Safety IT based systems quickly and accurately, and in accordance with GDPR requirements.
• To ensure occupants safety by using agreed criteria, processes, and professional judgement, with sensitive and confidential personal information which is received to escalate issues to the Safeguarding Team or Business Safety and to update ORIS information as necessary.

What we are looking for in our Home Safety Assistant:

• Good academic background
• Knowledge of basis office systems and procedures
• Willingness to undergo Vetting/Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS) checks as required by the Service.
• Ability to work effectively and efficiently on own initiative as well as a member of a busy team, taking responsibility for personal performance and responding to feedback.
• Good listening and questioning skills
• Flexible and facilitative approach
• A commitment to continuous improvement
• Ability to work under conditions where you are interrupted on a regular basis.

Closing date: 2359hrs Tuesday 30th January 2024

Potential interview dates: 8 & 9 February 2024.

If you feel you have the skills and experience to become our Home Safety Assistant please click ‘apply’ today, we would love to hear from you.

You must be eligible to work in the UK.

How to apply:

You will be required to complete an application form and submit a supporting statement. As part of your supporting statement please ensure you provide evidence of how you meet the essential and desirable criteria for the role detailed in the Job Description and Person Specification. The evidence provided will be used to shortlist applications received.

Please also detail on your supporting statement which of the vacancies detailed above you would like to be considered for.

Our values

As a Service and as individuals: 

• We are proud to help
• We are honest
• We are respectful
• We are working together

Devon and Somerset Fire and Rescue Service recognise and celebrate the vast diversity of the local communities that we serve, and we aspire for this to be reflected in our workforce. We encourage candidates from diverse backgrounds, experience and beliefs, who share our values to consider working for us.