Trainee Highway Safety Inspector

Role Responsibility

Kent County Council maintains 8,700km (5,400 miles) of highway network and associated “assets”.

Our local highway network is the most valuable asset we own in Kent, with a replacement value of around £24 billion. It plays a vital part in delivering council objectives by enabling safe and reliable journeys around and through the county. In doing so, it supports social wellbeing and economic prosperity. It is also essential for emergency services to execute their work: policing, healthcare, fire, and emergency response provision all require an effective highway network. These services are a key part of a functioning society and cannot exist without well-maintained and well-managed highway assets.

We are looking for a self-motivated individual to join the team as one of Kent’s Highway Safety Inspectors at a trainee level. The safety inspection regime forms a key aspect of the authority’s approach to managing a safe highway network. As a trainee you will support a countywide team of Inspectors, learning how to identify defects likely to create danger or serious inconvenience to users of the network or the wider community and how to take the appropriate action, while implementing good asset management techniques. You will be taught how to apply a risk-based approach taking into account all highway users, in particular, the most vulnerable.

Kent’s Highway Inspectors are based at 6 depots within the county and work as a team, undertaking statutory walked and driven inspections of roads, footways and cycle tracks. On a typical day an Inspector can find that they will walk an average of 10-12km or drive up to 100 miles or more; sometimes a mixture of the two.

Recent developments within the team further offers the successful candidate the opportunity to consolidate their knowledge and learn additional skills in Pavement Condition Surveys, the outcome of which form an integral part of our planned Forward Works Programme.

As a forward-thinking highway authority, Kent County Council is continuously looking at innovative and better ways of working. Technology is becoming more and more integral to the way in which we deliver our service. The successful candidate must therefore possess excellent IT skills, demonstrating their proficiency with tablet devices, smart phones and MS Office.

The trainee position offers the opportunity to gain industry experience within the highway environment while supporting the wider team. The successful candidate will benefit from internal and external training to gain the necessary qualifications in their development to confidently conduct safety inspections and pavement condition surveys to the highest standard.

If you are able to prioritise and organise your own workload and be a team player, work to tight deadlines and be methodical in your approach then we look forward to hearing from you.

This is a gateway opportunity best suited to college leavers or graduates looking to embark in a career in the civil engineering industry. The successful post holder will also benefit from the prospect of onward progression into other fields within the sector.

The appropriate standards are set out in the Job Description/Person Specification.

Contact Details

For more information about the role, please contact Brian Snipp on 07815 483980

About the Company

KCC is committed to building a workforce which reflects the diversity of the county's working residents, encouraging applications from people of all ages, abilities, genders, sexual orientations, ethnic backgrounds and faiths, and aspires to create an inclusive workplace where everyone can be themselves at work.

Please note – if you are interested, please apply as soon as possible as the closing date for this advert may be earlier than stated should a number of suitably qualified candidates apply.