Safety Case

What is Safety Case?

Safety Cases form the backbone of nuclear safety at Sellafield, helping us develop safe solutions for our projects and maintain safe conditions on our facilities.  The Safety Case is not only a fundamental requirement of our licence to operate, but essential in our understanding of hazards and safety controls. 

Safety Case professionals work on projects and facilities site-wide and through the full lifecycle from design, through operations, to decommissioning and demolition. 

The Safety Case team are responsible for not only understanding and analysing the hazards and risks that could occur but also identifying how nuclear safety can be managed and ensuring robust controls are implemented in practice. 

The profession offers two established career pathways; one for Safety Case Advisor and one for Safety Assessor, both can lead into senior roles ranging from Band 4C to Band 3A. 

What is a Safety Case Degree Apprenticeship?

As a Safety Case Degree Apprentice, you will be part of a training programme designed to develop the skills required to successfully develop and manage Sellafield Safety Cases. You will follow a training scheme, developing core skills in the areas of science and engineering whilst undertaking wider practical elements of training on our exciting new build, commissioning / decommissioning projects.  The Safety Case degree apprenticeship programme consists of 2 phases;

• Level 5 ST0380 Nuclear Technician Apprenticeship
• Level 5 Foundation Degree/ Higher National Diploma (HND) in Engineering or Science aligned to your chosen pathway

For candidates with the potential to progress further:

• Level 6 ST0289 Nuclear Scientist and Nuclear Engineer Apprenticeship
• Level 6 Bachelor’s Degree in Engineering (BEng) or Science (BSc) aligned to your chosen pathway, over a further 2-year period.

*Specific qualifications are subject to change and replaced with an equivalent.

As part of your apprenticeship, you will get experience in different roles across our Safety Case Teams via multiple placements, including into the roles of Safety Case Advisor and Safety Assessor.

All roles in Safety Case offer you the opportunity to operate as part of a multi-disciplined team, solving problems within a challenging context.

Things I should consider?

To succeed you should have a passion for a STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering or Maths) based subject and a desire to pursue a career within the field. Following successful completion of your Level 5 Apprenticeship you will have the opportunity to complete a Level 6 apprenticeship with an integrated Degree tailored to your chosen pathway.  You will get to work on exciting projects and deliver complex pieces of work whilst becoming an integral part of the Safety Case profession.  As an integral part of your apprenticeship your progress will be monitored and assessed against government standard requirements. You will compile an evidence folder, demonstrating your areas of learning with accredited certificates of completion for elements of your training. Within the last six months of your apprenticeship, you will undertake an assessment by an independently appointed organisation, where you will be expected to clearly demonstrate your capability to perform in your chosen career. 

Where will my training be delivered?

Cumbria based:

You will undertake a 3-month induction programme based at our local off-site training facility.

Work placements will be based on either the Sellafield site or one of our various satellite offices. Academic Learning will take place 1 day a week at our training providers off-site training facility. In addition, some pathways will undertake a Practical Engineering Operations at our local off-site training facility.

Warrington based:

Year 1 – All Apprentices will commence full time academic and engineering studies at one of our local training providers.

Years 2-5 – All Apprentices will be office based but will continue academic studies at one of our local training providers. Work placements will be based at Hinton House, Warrington.

What are the entry requirements?

The entry requirements for our degree apprenticeship schemes are:

• Minimum of 5 GCSEs at Grades 9 to 4 (Grades A* to C) including Mathematics, English Language and one Science or Engineering subject.
• Minimum of 96 UCAS points at A-Level / T-Level, STEM subjects preferred (e.g., Mathematics, Chemistry, Biology, Physics or Science) but not mandatory.
• Other Level 3 STEM qualifications may be considered.
• Vocational equivalents at level 3 or higher will also be considered as equivalent to UCAS points.
• If you do not have Mathematics at A Level, then you must achieve a minimum of Grade 6 (Grade B) at GCSE.
• Functional Skills Level 2 will also be considered as equivalent to GCSE Grade 4 (Grade C). Other equivalent qualifications may be considered

Additional Requirements

Candidates will be required to achieve appropriate security and medical clearances; these will be instigated on receiving a conditional offer of employment.