HSE announces new director for South West, Wales & Midlands

Samantha Peace has been appointed as the new Divisional Director for the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) in the, South West, Wales and Midlands.

She has taken over the top job after almost four years as Head of Operations for the East Midlands, replacing Rosi Edwards who retired last month.

Mrs Peace first joined HSE in 1995 having previously worked in the Fire Service and Probation Service. She has worked in a variety of areas within the organisation including the national Paper and Printing and Agricultural and Food sectors. She has also been a Principal Inspector in the Construction Division.

In her new role Mrs Peace will oversee the work of HSE's staff dealing with a wide range of activities including manufacturing, agriculture, waste and recycling, fairgrounds and services.

Mrs Peace said: "Health and safety is all about taking reasonable steps to prevent serious injury and ill health – not to bog people down in ever more stringent rules and regulations, seeking to remove every minor hazard.

“HSE is working hard to make health and safety simpler and clearer to understand so the focus is on managing real risks effectively. There are still too many firms that needlessly put people at risk by failing to take reasonable precautions and it is these people we need to target.

“With my new team, I want to make sure we continue to target the activities which present the greatest risks to workers and the public, and work closely with Local Authorities and others to ensure proportionate and sensible management of risk.”

In 2011/12 in the South West and Wales, there were 34 deaths and 3,255 reported major injuries to employees, plus a further 11.957 injuries keeping employees away from work for more than three days.