RoSPA Press Office : Press Release

August 15, 2007
RoSPA HONOURS SIR BILL CALLAGHAN

The Royal Society for the Prevention of Accidents has given its top honour for an individual’s contribution to health and safety at work to Sir Bill Callaghan, Chair of the Health and Safety Commission.

Tom Mullarkey, RoSPA Chief Executive, presented Sir Bill with the Distinguished Service Award at the HSC in London today.

Sir Bill has been chair of the HSC since 1999 and received a knighthood in this year’s Queen’s Birthday Honours List for his services to health and safety.

The RoSPA award also recognises his outstanding contribution to health and safety in the workplace and the part he played in refocusing the efforts of the Health and Safety Executive and its partners to reduce work-related injuries and ill health.

He was instrumental in driving forward the ‘Revitalising Health and Safety’ initiative, key dimensions of which included director leadership of health and safety, workforce involvement, performance improvement targets and the creation of HSE priority topics. Other important contributions have included his work to strengthen the HSE’s partnership with local authorities and a reinvigoration of its occupational health agenda, integrating this with the Government’s plans to improve health, work and well being.

Tom Mullarkey said: “Sir Bill has also risen to the challenge posed by excessive risk aversion, not only defending the HSE against unjust criticism in parts of the media, but promoting the case for ‘sensible safety’ and the need for regulators and duty holders to make a proportionate response to risk.”

Previously Chief Economist at the TUC, Sir Bill has worked tirelessly with many different groups in industry and public life and has sat on the boards of Business in the Community and the Basic Skills Agency.

A Visiting Fellow of Nuffield College, Oxford, he served on the Low Pay Commission from 1997-2000 and was a member of the Economic and Social Research Council's Research Priorities Board.

He steps down as HSC Chair on September 30.