In appreciation of Sheila Pantry OBE

RoSPA was saddened to hear of the passing of Sheila Pantry earlier this month. Many superlatives have been used in tribute to this wonderful woman, who truly was the font of all OSH knowledge.

A member of RoSPA’s National Occupational Safety and Health Committee for decades, Sheila kept the importance of accurate evidence-based information on our agenda, constantly reinforcing the need to pause and reflect on the history of OSH, bringing lessons learned over hundreds of years into sharp focus.

As Head of Information Services at the Health and Safety Executive (HSE), she was instrumental in aligning Her Majesty’s Stationery Office (HMSO) (now The Stationery Office (TSO)), Silver Platter and HSE to publish all the then available HSE information on CD-ROM. This represented a step change in information-sharing and demonstrated her impact on the OSH community, with a ripple effect that still makes its way round the OSH world.

As curator of the History of OSH website, she established an information hub that detailed the evolution of health and safety legislation, regulatory frameworks and reflected on the impact of accidents in the UK’s workplaces - all with a view to improving performance and reducing the number of people harmed at work. She spoke of this resource with great pride and rightly so, often mentioning the oldest full text document, the 500-year-old De Re Metallica, and lamenting as to whether there was sufficient attention given to reflecting on history when undertaking OSH-related research!

Sheila was awarded the OBE by HM The Queen in 1993 for services to the health and safety information industry.

In 2000. the Royal Society for the Prevention of Accidents awarded Sheila the Distinguished Service Award, in recognition of her personal contributions in the field of occupational safety and health.

She was generous with her time supporting and encouraging countless numbers of people around the world to develop and advance within the OSH profession. She was also engaging and it’s no surprise to say, a great communicator.

She made an immeasurable impact and RoSPA was privileged to have her support.