New president-elect Steve Granger says it is time for health and safety professionals to demonstrate the value of the advice they give.
Steve, who is director of his own health and safety consultancy, The Granger Partnership, joined the IOSH presidential team after the AGM in November, and says he’s looking forward to playing his part.
“It’s obviously a massive honour to be president-elect of a body like IOSH, and I hope that I’ll be able to play my part in helping to keep people free from harm in workplaces, not just in the UK, but worldwide.
Steve added: “Health and safety is something many organisations get wrong because they fail to get the expert advice they need. They assume it’s all “common sense”, or something they don’t really have to bother about. It’s only when something goes wrong that they realise how important health and safety actually is. It prevents lives being destroyed.”
During his three-year stint on the IOSH presidential team, Steve said his intentions are to “help demonstrate the value of health and safety professionals and the advice they give”.
He added: “I want to show that the newspaper headlines about health and safety
professionals being killjoys are not true. Professional health and safety advice is critical to a well-run, profitable business that people actually want to work for.”
Steve began his career in the Royal Navy as an engineer, before moving in 1991 to Water Training International to embark on his health and safety career. He has since worked for Highbury College in Portsmouth and Chichester District Council, before becoming a consultant with Office-Shadow and then setting up his own consultancy.
He was the founding chairman of the IOSH South Downs Branch, is a Council of Management member, and has served on IOSH’s Nominations Committee. Steve is a curriculum manager for health and safety training at the Chartered Institute of Environmental Health (CIEH) and is a moderator and examinations marker for NEBOSH.
Away from the workplace, Steve is married to Carol and has an active interest in wildlife — he is a member of a Badger Protection Group, regularly undertaking conservation work. With his wife, he owns and runs an organic shop. He also enjoys skiing, windsurfing and motorcycling.
