Chapter 3.3 - Departmental specialist safety roles

Each Head of Department shall appoint a Departmental Safety Officer to assist in the creation, development, monitoring and review of the department's arrangements for safe working.

In addition, the Head of Department shall appoint persons to specialist roles to provide assistance in areas of work involving ionising radiations (Departmental Radiation Protection Supervisor), genetically modified organisms (Departmental Genetic Modification Safety Officer) and lasers (Departmental Laser Safety Officer) and any other areas of activity in respect of which the provision of specialist advice may be warranted. The nominated persons shall be recorded in the departmental Responsible Persons Register (RPR) in riskNET.

> Departmental specialist safety roles 

The Departmental Safety Officer must have access to the Head of Department in order to report events, hazards and other circumstances that must be brought to the attention of the Head. They should have sufficient experience and personal qualities to be able to act on behalf of the Head in matters relating both to untoward events and to the business of routine safety monitoring and reporting. They are not expected to be safety professionals and should seek advice on safety law and practice, both national and organisational, where necessary, from Safety Services.