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10 QUESTIONS


10 QUESTIONS WITH... ALAN MURRAY


Each issue we ask an industry professional the Tomorrow’s Health & Safety 10 Questions. This month we spoke to Alan Murray, CEO of the British Safety Industry Federation (BSIF).


Q1


WHAT WAS YOUR FIRST JOB? My first proper job was with


Kimberly Clark (KC) Professional in sales. Prior to that I worked as a security guard – with a nice brown uniform and Alsatian guard dog!


Q2


HOW DID YOU GET INTO THE HEALTH AND SAFETY


INDUSTRY? In the later days of my career with KC, I worked in business development and marketing and was part of the launch of the Kleenguard Workwear range. This was my first foray into the Protection Safety & Health environment. My involvement continued as I joined Marigold Industrial.


Q3


WHO, IN ANY OTHER INDUSTRY, DO YOU MOST


ADMIRE? I would say that the individual I am most in awe of would be Bill Gates – without any doubt in my mind the conduit of the 3rd industrial revolution. He may not have been the father of the revolution but he enabled the technology for everyone through Microsoft. I also admire the work of the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation in the developing world.


Q4 54


HOW WOULD YOU IMPROVE THE HEALTH AND


SAFETY INDUSTRY? As CEO of the BSIF, I will continue to work closely with members,


stakeholders and legislators to champion the critical importance of health and safety in saving lives and the role it fulfils in the prosperity of the UK economy. Collectively we must lobby government for health and safety legislation that is both effective and efficient. It is our mission to continue to improve occupational safety, and to build on the quality of products and capabilities of businesses in the industry.


Q5


WHAT IS THE BEST WAY TO COMBAT NEGATIVE


ATTITUDES TOWARDS HEALTH AND SAFETY? We will continue to promote the positives of the health and safety industry proving that it makes a huge difference to workers’ lives and businesses’ bottom lines. We have somehow allowed health and safety to become an easy target for the media. So in answer to the question get the national press onside.


Q6 Q7


WHAT IS THE BEST ADVICE YOU COULD GIVE TO


SOMEONE NEW COMING INTO THE SAFETY PROFESSION? Be passionate about your job, passion is infectious. Understand that you are making a difference to the health and wellbeing of everyone that you support. Join forces to make this industry strong and proud of its contribution to society.


WHAT DO YOU THINK THE FUTURE HOLDS FOR THE


HEALTH AND SAFETY INDUSTRY? It really depends on where you are and what you do. In the so- called developing world, safety and health is not as well established as it needs to be. So in this area progress towards higher standards needs to continue and accelerate. In the so-called, developed world,


industry is becoming less dangerous and we will see more and more focus on behavioural management. In the UK, we will and are already seeing recognition of the costs of occupational ill health to the health services so I would not be surprised if in the years ahead there is a different approach to health costs where the employer pays a contribution.


Q8 Q9


IF YOU COULD HAVE A DINNER PARTY WITH ANY


THREE PEOPLE, DEAD OR ALIVE, WHO WOULD THEY BE AND WHY? Keith Richards – a man of our time. Albert Einstein, who could chalk the specials board and finally Abraham Lincoln, for the 13th amendment to the US Constitution.


WHAT WOULD YOU LIKE TO SEE IN A FUTURE ISSUE OF


TOMORROW’S HEALTH & SAFETY? I would like to see a regular feature whereby every month a different journalist from a different daily newspaper is interviewed on Safety and Health. Done the right way this would help to get the groundswell of opinion in the national press to flow in the right direction.


Q10


DO YOU THINK HEALTH IS TREATED AS SERIOUSLY


AS SAFETY? It is certainly starting to take centre stage. Workers’ health is increasingly becoming the agenda topic and the NHS is starting to recognise the cost of occupational illness. With approximately 13,000 workers dying every year from occupational illnesses the issue can no longer be ignored.


www.bsif.co.uk


www.tomorrowshs.com


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