Are you passionate about Fire Safety and committed to keeping businesses compliant and the local community safe?

West Sussex Fire and Rescue Protection department supports businesses to comply with the Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order 2005 and other legislation, so that building owners or managers minimise the risk of fire, have suitable and sufficient fire safety management, facilities and equipment, training and planning so that everyone in the premises are kept safe and protected from the effects of fire and can safely leave the premises in the event of a fire starting.

The Opportunity

Salary: £31,586 to £37,938 per annum

Working Pattern: Full time, 37 hours per week

Contract type: Two-year Fixed term or Secondment opportunity

Location: Haywards Heath, Bognor and/or Worthing Hubs, with regular travel across the county

Interview date: w/c 01 September 2025

Your role is vital in keeping those who work, live and visit West Sussex safe through being responsible for carrying out Fire Safety audits and inspections to assess compliance with the Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order 2005 (RRFSO) and other relevant legislation.

As a Fire Safety Advisor, you will be working towards attaining the nationally recognised Level 4 Diploma in Fire Safety and you will be required to apply that knowledge to everyday situations as you carry out inspections at premises to which the RRFSO applies. You will be able to assess the uniqueness of the situation with which you are dealing and apply the most appropriate standard to the risk posed within that type of premises.

As a Fire Safety Inspector, you will have attained the nationally recognised Level 4 Diploma in Fire Safety and therefore the complexity of the situations that you will be inspecting will be more difficult. You will be undertaking fire safety audits in 'higher risk premises' and taking formal enforcement action up to and including issuing Enforcement Notices under Article 30 of the RRFSO.

For more information on the Key Skills as well as the Qualifications and/or experience required, please refer to the Job Descriptions attached.

Working closely with and liaising with other organisations and enforcing bodies in respect of Fire Safety provisions within premises, you will support businesses by providing Fire Safety advice and influence them to make the necessary safety changes to the buildings.

You will gather information and as necessary issue enforcement notices and support compiling legal action files for investigations to give evidence in court, acting as an expert witness.

What are we looking for?

• You will have an in-depth knowledge of technical fire safety legislation and an awareness of current national issues in relation to fire safety.
• To make a difference to the business community, you will need excellent interpersonal skills, emotional resilience, and compassion to provide timely, customer-focused fire safety advice and recommendations.
• You will require effective interpersonal skills with strong influencing and negotiating abilities to deliver your recommendations and achieve positive outcomes.
• You will have a keen eye for detail and an analytical mind to interpret benchmark standards, building plans, and fire risk assessments.
• You will be capable of making judgments on the level of risk within a premises by gathering evidence and analysing/processing observations to determine severity and necessary actions.
• You will be able to solve problems where rigid application of standard benchmarks is not suitable for the circumstances faced.
• You will be confident managing your own workload, including booking audits, conducting assessments, writing reports, and attending re-visits.

Working for us

As well as adding real value to our service users and our communities, as an employer we recognise our employees are central in being able to achieve this. To recognise this we want to help support your development and provide a great place to work ensuring you can fulfil your full potential, have access to a range of benefits including:

• an excellent local government pension scheme
• generous holiday entitlement of 27 days (plus opportunity to buy additional leave)
• a range of flexible working options, depending on your job role
• maternity, paternity, dependency and adoption leave
• volunteering opportunities
• training and development opportunities, including coaching and mentoring
• a range of discounts giving our staff access to hundreds of offers; groceries, travel, cinema tickets, days out, leisure activities, high street retailers and the opportunity to save over £1,000 a year through our West Sussex Choices benefits platform (see ourStaff discounts page if you are a business looking to offer a discount)
• health and wellbeing benefits including access to our Employee Assistance Programme, Mental Health First Aiders and Voluntary Health Cash Plans.

For a full list this can be found at our Rewards and Benefits page.

Further information

The reference number for this role is CPP01167.

For an informal conversation or for further information regarding the role, please contact Marc Lancaster (Station Manager) at . For issues or queries regarding your application please contact .

Internal candidates wishing to apply for this role will be considered for a secondment position. Please can you therefore discuss and agree this with your manager before applying for this position.

To apply, please follow the links below to upload your CV and Cover Letter. In your cover letter please outline your motivations for applying and explaining the skills and experience you can bring to the role (please refer to the key skills) ensuring that any gaps in employment are covered in your CV. Please ensure you have saved the job description attached to the main advert on our website as, once the job has closed, you may not have the opportunity to download again.

We are committed to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children, young people and vulnerable adults. This post is subject to an enhanced DBS check, 5 years referencing and a health check.

Equity, inclusion and accessibility is very important to West Sussex County Council. We welcome and encourage applications from everyone, as this helps us build a diverse and talented workforce, that reflects the communities we serve. We ensure our approach to recruitment is flexible and supportive to enable all applicants to be at their best and to ensure they have the best possible chance of success.

We operate a guaranteed interview scheme for applicants that have a disability, are a veteran or are a care leaver. More information can be found on our application help page.

CC