Manager, Health & Safety

Role overview

This position is accountable for steering the health and safety agenda across a Singapore commercial property portfolio. It ensures the portfolio’s safety approach stays aligned with group standards, local legislation, regulatory obligations, and recognized industry practices. The role serves as the named H&S lead for the portfolio, identifying, managing, and escalating significant safety risks in the market.

In addition to Singapore responsibilities, the role supports H&S reporting for commercial and residential projects across Southeast Asia outside Singapore, helping management maintain clear visibility of safety performance, incident patterns, compliance gaps, and major risks across the region.

The position also provides governance over site-level safety execution in Singapore through coaching, training, process consistency, audits, compliance reviews, and corrective action follow-up. It is responsible for portfolio licensing and statutory compliance, working closely with authorities and serving as the escalation point for non-compliance, enforcement matters, and critical issues.

Another core focus is incident and crisis management, including preparedness, investigation, response, and continuous improvement through lessons learned. The role also helps build a strong safety culture by driving engagement and accountability at all levels of the organization.

Key responsibilities

• Set the portfolio-wide health and safety strategy, policies, and standards in line with group frameworks and current industry practice.
• Build and deliver the annual H&S and budget plan for the portfolio, ensuring it supports group objectives and operational priorities.
• Define and communicate portfolio performance targets, covering both proactive and reactive measures such as near-miss reporting, safety observations, and incidents.
• Act as the subject matter expert on regulatory and standards implications, including ISO 45001, WELL, WSHA, ACOP, and local statutory requirements.
• Ensure the group H&S management system is implemented consistently across all assets.
• Provide and oversee training support aligned with the group training framework to strengthen safety capability across the portfolio.
• Review and approve site safety plans and high-risk activities where necessary, including construction, upgrading, and AEI works.
• Make sure site safety processes are effective, compliant, and applied consistently.
• Require corrective action whenever unsafe behavior or non-compliance is found.
• Lead the portfolio’s participation in group audits and external third-party reviews.
• Carry out audit pre-checks and trial assessments to confirm readiness.
• Track corrective action plans after audits and ensure findings are closed within agreed timelines.
• Escalate significant findings or repeated issues to the group.
• Maintain oversight of compliance with all applicable local H&S laws and regulatory requirements.
• Support inspections, investigations, and enforcement actions by authorities, including response and remediation.
• Manage portfolio licensing and statutory renewals so that all records are tracked, completed on time, and fully compliant.
• Serve as the main contact for local authorities on licensing matters.
• Escalate breaches, non-compliance, or regulatory risk to the group.
• Keep a complete, auditable register of all statutory licenses and safety-critical permits in the portfolio.
• Lead the handling of major incidents, high-potential events, and incidents that must be reported to regulators.
• Ensure notifications to the relevant authorities are made promptly and in line with legal requirements.
• Maintain strong emergency response and crisis management processes and test them regularly.
• Set, enforce, and monitor corrective and preventive actions within delegated authority, and ensure root-cause investigations and lessons learned are implemented across the portfolio.
• Escalate severe incidents, including fatalities and major regulatory breaches, to group leadership following governance protocols.
• Implement contractor and supplier H&S management processes across all assets.
• Oversee contractor prequalification, onboarding, and ongoing performance monitoring.
• Ensure high-risk work such as construction, maintenance, confined space tasks, and work at height is properly controlled and supervised.
• Hold asset teams responsible for contractor safety performance and compliance.
• Coordinate H&S reporting for commercial and residential projects in Southeast Asia outside Singapore, working with local teams to gather timely and accurate inputs.
• Prepare regional H&S updates for management, including significant incidents, compliance issues, overdue actions, trends, and matters requiring attention.
• Share lessons learned, better practices, and improvement actions between Singapore and Southeast Asia teams to strengthen safety performance and risk awareness.
• Promote a strong safety culture throughout the portfolio.
• Strengthen organizational capability through training, awareness initiatives, and visible leadership engagement.
• Act as the main H&S adviser to the Portfolio CE and the leadership team.
• Provide regular reporting on material risks, incidents, and compliance status to portfolio leadership and group functions.
• Ensure H&S responsibilities are clearly delegated across assets with defined accountability.
• Conduct management safety site walks and provide monthly updates and reporting.

Additional information

This role covers both portfolio-level governance and on-the-ground safety oversight, with responsibility extending across Singapore and selected Southeast Asia reporting activities. It requires strong coordination with internal teams, external authorities, contractors, and leadership stakeholders.

The position involves responsibility for compliance, audits, investigations, licensing, crisis preparedness, and capability building, while also supporting continuous improvement and a proactive safety culture.

Legal and compliance focus

The role places high importance on statutory compliance, regulatory engagement, enforcement response, and maintaining accurate records for licenses and permits. It also requires timely escalation of critical incidents and breaches according to governance procedures.