Jane Binyon worked in various capacities for the Heath and Safety Executive for 24 years, interrupted by a secondment to the CBI, where she reported on ‘safety cultures’. She retired in 1998.
No specific background was required when I joined the Factory Inspectorate in the mid-1960s, before it became part of the Health and Safety Executive: a philosophy graduate could be as successful as a chartered engineer. Indeed, diversity was one of its main strengths: the combination of a small group of specialists and a larger group with a wide variety of backgrounds gave it the ability to see a problem from many different perspectives and allowed it to challenge assumptions and ask stupid questions – often the most necessary.
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