Government look to recruit ‘Covid Safe Specialist’

Friday 30 April 2021

The Government is recruiting for a ‘Covid Safe Specialist’ to lead the enforcement of Covid laws.

With the Island’s “reconnection roadmap” at an advanced stage, the purpose of the eight-month £40,000+ role is to “provide a technical Environmental Health perspective in the assessment of the local risk of transmission of Covid-19, investigate complaints, breaches and areas of concern and lead the case management process.”

The successful applicant will be “accountable for devising and delivering Covid infectious disease control across all sectors of business and the community” which includes leading education programmes, visiting business premises, investigating complaints into breaches, analysing and reporting on Covid cases, including spikes and clusters, and providing “expert advice” to the rest of Government, including senior officials.

He or she must have at least five years’ residency. The published salary is between £31.38 and £34.49 an hour, which equates to £40,637 to £44,664 over the eight months of the contract. 

Applicants should have at least an MSc in Environmental Health and three years’ experience of working as an enforcement officer in an environment health department.

A Government spokesperson said that the role has been identified as “critical” last November had been filled by a contractor to Environmental Health since November.

She added that Caroline Maffia, seconded last year to be the ‘Covid-19 Strategic Lead for Contact Tracing, Monitoring and Enforcement’, was due to return soon to her day job of being Assistant Director of Environmental Health, which would leave the Covid team without the hygiene and epidemiological specialisms that a qualified Environmental Health Officer brings.