Two new appointments to the HSE Board
Martyn Thomas and Sarah Pinch have been appointed to the Health and Safety Executive Board as non-executive directors.
Martyn Thomas and Sarah Pinch have been appointed to the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) Board as non-executive directors. Martyn Thomas’ appointment will commence on 1 October 2014 and run until 30 September 2019 and Sarah Pinch’s from 1 February 2015 to 31 March 2020.
Martyn Thomas is a software and systems engineer specialising in safety-critical systems and cybersecurity and was awarded a CBE for services to software engineering in 2007. Sarah Pinch is an experienced corporate communications and marketing expert and inaugural winner of the Chartered Institute of Public Relations PR Director of the Year award.
The HSE is the national regulator for workplace health and safety. It aims to prevent death, injury and ill health in Great Britain’s workplaces.
Mark Harper MP, Minster of State for Disabled People said:
I am pleased to appoint Martyn Thomas and Sarah Pinch to the HSE Board and am sure they will make a significant contribution. HSE is going through an exciting period of change, as it seeks to increase its commercial income while maintaining its essential role as a highly respected and independent regulator. The Board plays a major role in overseeing this change and continuing to advise ministers on policy implementation relevant to health and safety at work, including the implementation of European Union Directives.
Judith Hackitt, Chair of the Health and Safety Executive said:
I am pleased to welcome Sarah Pinch and Martyn Thomas to the HSE Board. The HSE Board is currently driving the agenda to commercialise more of HSE’s services and activities, and so on this occasion we sought candidates who could strengthen the Board’s commercial and communication skills. Martyn Thomas brings his wealth of experience of commercial activities, including internationally, and most recently of commercialisation from the Health and Safety Laboratory (HSL) Board to the HSE Board. Sarah Pinch has a lot to offer HSE, having overseen successful communications in private, charitable and NHS organisations as they grew in new markets or experienced other significant change.
Sarah Pinch said:
It is a real privilege to be appointed to the board of the HSE. I have, in my professional life, seen the central, enabling role health and safety can play in the workplace. I am looking forward to working with the board and contributing to the continued success of the HSE, through further engagement with stakeholders and staff to deliver demonstrable results.
Martyn Thomas said:
As a non-executive director of the Health and Safety Laboratory, I have seen the excellent science that underpins HSE’s policies, inspections and regulations, and the many ways in which HSE is able to add value to industry and wellbeing. I look forward to helping HSE benefit more companies and achieve its mission of preventing death, injury and ill health to those at work and those affected by work activities.
More information
The appointments have been made in accordance with the Office of the Commissioner for Public Appointments (OCPA) Code of Practice. All appointments are made on merit and political activity plays no part in the selection process. However, in accordance with the original Nolan recommendations, there is a requirement for appointees’ political activity (if any declared) to be made public. In the case of the 2 new appointees:
- Sarah Pinch has not declared any political activities
- Martyn Thomas has not declared any political activities
The HSE Board has 9 non-executive director members. Board members receive an annual remuneration of £15,100 for up to 30 days work a year.
Biographies
Martyn Thomas CBE FREng
Martyn Thomas is a software and systems engineer specialising in safety-critical systems and cybersecurity. In a long career in the private sector, he founded and ran a software engineering company Praxis plc, became a partner in Deloitte Consulting, and advised the directors of large and small organisations internationally.
He is a member of the Defence Scientific Advisory Council (DSAC), a non-executive director of the Office of the Independent Adjudicator (OIA) and of HSE’s Health and Safety Laboratory (until 30 September), and a Fellow of the Royal Academy of Engineering. In 2007 he was awarded a CBE for services to software engineering.
Sarah Pinch FCIPR, MIoD
Sarah is an experienced corporate communications and marketing expert. She started her career as a journalist for the BBC, leaving in 2000 after 11 years to work in PR and corporate communications. She has experience in the private, public and not for profit sectors. In 2011 she won the inaugural Institute of Directors and Chartered Institute of Public Relations (CIPR) PR Director of the Year award.
In 2013 she founded Pinch Point Communications.
Sarah is CIPR President Elect for 2015 and a trustee of Send a Cow, an international development agency working in rural Africa.
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