Location - Mumbai India
Purpose of the role
The purpose of the role is to guide the British Safety Council in delivering its mission to protect and improve lives in the workplace. For this India-based Trustee position, the focus is on supporting the strategic growth of our India entity by contributing local knowledge and insight to strengthen our impact for workers across India.
As part of the Trustee Board, members are responsible for holding British Safety Council in trust for current and future beneficiaries by:
- Setting and maintaining British Safety Council s vision, mission, values and strategic direction
- Being responsible for the performance of British Safety Council and for its corporate conduct
- Ensuring that British Safety Council complies with all legal and regulatory requirements
- Acting as guardians of British Safety Council s assets, both tangible and intangible, taking all due care over their security, deployment and proper application
- Identifying risks to British Safety Council, its reputation, operations and activities, and ensuring that there are suitable risk controls and mitigations in place
- Ensuring that British Safety Council s governance is of the highest possible standard.
Duties and key responsibilities
1. To make certain that British Safety Council maintains a clear vision, mission and strategic direction by ensuring that:
- British Safety Council maintains its vision, mission and strategic plan as agreed by the Board, and that there is a common understanding of these amongst trustees and staff
- British Safety Council operations support the vision, mission and strategic priorities
- The chief executive s annual and longer-term objectives and targets support the vision, mission and strategic priorities
- Board policies support the vision, mission and strategic priorities
- The views of current and future beneficiaries are heard and understood
- The external environment for changes that may affect the charity are reviewed
- The need for and the impact of the charity and its services are assessed
- The strategic plan is reviewed regularly
- For this India-specific trustee role, local knowledge and insight will help inform the Board s understanding of the external environment and the impact of our work in India.
2. To be responsible for the performance of British Safety Council and for its corporate conduct in addition to the above by:
- Agreeing the method for objectively measuring the progress of British Safety Council in relation to its vision, mission, strategic objectives/priorities, business plans and annual targets, and reviewing regular reports on the performance of the organisation
- Ensuring that the fundamental values and guiding principles of British Safety Council are articulated and reflected throughout the organisation and that staff understand and reflect them in their work
- Appointing the chief executive, to set his/her terms and conditions and to ensure that British Safety Council invest in their on-going professional development
- Holding the chief executive to account for the management and administration of British Safety Council and provide constructive feedback on his/her performance
- Ensuring that the chief executive develops a learning organisation and that all staff, both paid and unpaid, review their own performance and regularly receive feedback
- Agreeing values and board policies as well as communicating them throughout the company
- Ensuring that there are policies in place for persons to communicate untoward activity within the organisation that may be a threat and to receive such reports and deal with them effectively.
3. To ensure that British Safety Council complies with all legal and regulatory requirements by;
- Being aware of applicable legal, regulatory and statutory requirements, and monitoring compliance
- Maintaining familiarity with the rules and constitution that govern British Safety Council, to ensure that the company complies with its governing instruments and to review them regularly
- Ensuring that the responsibilities delegated to the chief executive are clearly expressed and understood and that such responsibilities have been unanimously decided by the board
- Agreeing the levels of delegated authority and to ensure that they are recorded in writing.
4. Being guardians of all British Safety Council assets, both tangible and intangible, taking all due care over their security, deployment and proper application by:
- Ensuring that major risks to which the charity is exposed are reviewed annually and that systems have been established to mitigate such risks
- Ensuring that British Safety Council has, monitors and maintains satisfactory control systems and procedures for holding all money, property and other assets in trust for the beneficiaries
- Ensuring that monies are invested to the maximum benefit of British Safety Council, within the constraints of the law, ethical obligation and other policies as determined by the Board
- Ensuring that the income and property of British Safety Council is used for the purposes outlined in the governing document and for no other purpose, and with complete fairness between persons who are properly qualified to benefit
- Being accountable for the solvency and continuing effectiveness of British Safety Council and the preservation of its endowments
- Exercising effective overall control of the British Safety Council s financial affairs and to ensure that the way in which British Safety Council is administered is not open to abuse by unscrupulous associates, employees or volunteers
- Ensuring that intangible assets such as organisational knowledge and expertise, intellectual property, British Safety Council s good name and reputation etc. are properly valued, utilised and safeguarded
5. To ensure that British Safety Council s governance is of the highest possible standard by;
- Ensuring that British Safety Council has an appropriate governance structure
- Reflecting annually on the Board s performance and your own performance as a Trustee
- Ensuring that the Trustee Board has the collective skillset required to govern the charity adequately, and has access to external professional advice and expertise
- Ensuring that there is a systematic, open and fair procedure for the recruitment of Trustees
- Ensuring that there are succession plans for the Chair and the chief executive participating in individual and collective development and training of Trustees
- Ensuring that major decisions and Board policies are made collectively by the Trustee Board, and that it acts reasonably, prudently and collectively in all matters relating to, and always in the interests of British Safety Council
Time commitment
Trustees are expected to attend an induction session at British Safety Council prior to their first Board meeting. Board meetings are held four times a year during normal office hours in London. A trustee based in India may attend these meetings remotely via Microsoft Teams. One meeting each year is allotted to strategic planning and is a residential event starting one afternoon and lasting the following day. India-based trustees may be required to attend this meeting in person.
Relevant paperwork will be distributed one week in advance of all meetings, and all Trustees are expected to acquaint themselves with the contents. Trustees may also be invited to undertake additional roles, such as participating in committees, interviews, or attending awards presentations.
Remuneration
Becoming a Trustee of the British Safety Council is not accompanied by financial remuneration. However, out-of-pocket expenses incurred in travelling to meetings or events can be claimed.
Person specification
- A commitment to the vision of British Safety Council and its objectives
- A willingness to volunteer the necessary time and effort to their duties as a trustee
- An understanding and acceptance of the legal duties, responsibilities and liabilities of trusteeship
- Good interpersonal skills with an ability to lead and represent British Safety Council
- The ability to work effectively as a member of a team
- Personal Integrity
- An ability to contribute insight into the Indian cultural, social and/or business context and to support British Safety Council s India entity
- Cross-cultural awareness and ability to collaborate with colleagues internationally.
Skills and experience
The Board of Trustees collectively needs a range of skills and experience. At this exciting time, we are particularly looking for a Trustee based in India who can bring local knowledge and business insight to add value to our India entity. We welcome applications from individuals who can demonstrate:
- Senior-level experience of operating within an organisational or strategic leadership role in India
- Understanding of organisational leadership, governance or management
- Experience of working internationally, particularly with the UK, would be an advantage
- The ability to bring an independent perspective and support effective decision-making as part of a diverse Trustee Board.
