Mr Podger led the HSE between 2005 and 2013 and left to set up its equivalent in New Zealand, WorkSafe.
During a long career, he has operated at the highest levels of government and has also held the chief executive roles at both the Food Standards Agency and the European Food Safety Agency.
Mr Podger is also currently a senior visiting research fellow at the Centre for Risk Management Kings College, chair of the board of the Government Actuary’s Department and senior independent director at the Independent Office for Police Conduct.
He said it is a “real pleasure” to be joining the Shield Safety Group, which is one of the leading providers of food safety, fire safety and health and safety services in the country.
“Perhaps surprisingly for an ex- regulator I have always believed that the key players in preserving food safety and health and safety are the people who run the individual businesses and the commercial firms which provide vital help to them in doing this,” he added.
“Regulators can really only operate at the margins of day to day safety activities and indeed their relationship with well-motivated commercial companies is key to running practical and successful safety systems. From everything I’ve seen, Shield Safety Group is a highly responsible enterprise and I look forward to a dialogue with them, and through them, with their clients.”
The group’s founder and chief executive, Mark Flanagan, added: “It is tremendous to have such a noteworthy individual from our industry join Shield Safety Group. The extensive work he has done with regulatory bodies, in addition to his influential posts he currently holds, meant he was an obvious fit to join us.”
Geoffrey Podger will be speaking at Safety & Health Expo on 21st June at ExCel, London. For your free ticket to the event, register here.
