Posts in category: People

London Fire Brigade has responded to the appointment of Peter Baker as the new Chief Inspector of Buildings, who will establish and lead the new Building Safety Regulator.

The appointment has been made by the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) following recommendations in Dame Judith Hackitt’s Building a Safer Future report, which was commissioned following the Grenfell Tower fire.

The Brigade’s Deputy Commissioner Richard Mills said: “We are looking forward to working closely with the Chief Inspector of Buildings to improve building safety and help Londoners feel safer in their homes.

“This role will be hugely important in beginning to tackle some of the significant safety issues within the built environment, the nature of which in London means there is a far higher number of high-risk buildings than anywhere else.

“Our priority has always been the safety of Londoners and anything which speeds up the remediation of fire safety issues in the built environment is positive.”

Mr Baker is HSE’s current Director of Building Safety and Construction and will take up the post with immediate effect.

Jensen Hughes, a global leader in safety, security and risk-based engineering and consulting, announced a successful end to its search for a new Chief People Officer with the recruitment of Heather Sanchez, a seasoned Human Resources leader.

Sanchez has an exceptional track record of ensuring that powerful, fulfilling employee experiences – from culture, diversity and inclusion to engagement and career development – drive sustained growth and other positive long-term business outcomes.

Sanchez brings extensive experience in the global architectural, engineering and construction (A/E/C) market, building high-performance teams and leading business transformation initiatives from concept to execution. She excels at developing high-morale work environments, as well as teams rich in diversity, experience and talent that help propel businesses to leadership in their markets.

“We are fortunate to have to found Heather,” said Jensen Hughes CEO Raj Arora. She brings the experience, skillset and values critical to our strategic focus on our people, purpose and culture. She’s an all-star executive, who will help us continue transforming our approach to People and Talent. Those are the most important drivers of our commitment to client service, industry leadership and long-term profitable growth – and Heather has moved the needle significantly in every one of these areas many times during her career.”

Sanchez served as an executive for enterprises such as Western Digital, Jacobs, The Alpert Group and Technicolor. As a leader in these organizations, she was responsible for initiatives in areas such as HR strategy, cultural transformation, leadership development, M&A, change management, organizational design, talent acquisition, employee and labor relations and total rewards programs.

“I’m excited about joining this industry-leading team, and learning about Jensen Hughes and the heartbeat of its people and culture,” says Sanchez. “This company has momentum. It’s setting challenging targets and exceeding them. It’s reshaping its industry. I’m eager to build a powerful talent agenda that helps drive this growth, not just here in the U.S., but across the new markets that the company is targeting around the world.”

Over the last few years, Jensen Hughes has significantly expanded its global footprint through organic growth and M&A, including acquiring more than 25 companies, aligning these teams behind a unified purpose, creating a dynamic new culture, and reorganizing worldwide to improve client service and internal efficiencies.

In 2021 and the years ahead, the company expects to continue expanding beyond its fire protection and life safety services, especially in high-growth areas such as security risk management, emergency preparedness, wildland fire consulting, industrial process safety, risk-informed maintenance, and software and technology-enabled services.

Pelican Products have appointed Jeffrey Goldberg to its global operations team as Vice President of Worldwide Supply Chain.

In this new role, Jeffrey is responsible for supply chain policies, strategies and practices involved in achieving Pelican Products worldwide manufacturing goals. His role includes an emphasis on oversight / management of supplier quality and supply management.

“Jeffrey is a results-oriented management professional with substantial experience in operations, procurement and supply chain management,” stated Chief Operating Officer, Kevin Miniard. “We look forward to the end-to-end supply chain solutions he will implement across the business to best meet Pelican’s customer expectations and impact future growth.”

Prior to joining Pelican, Goldberg held senior operations positions in the automotive, electronics, consumer goods and medical device industries with Remington Outdoor, Smith & Nephew and Linvatec. He holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Industrial Engineering Technology from Trenton State College.

The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) has announced the appointment of a Chief Inspector of Buildings to establish and lead the new Building Safety Regulator (BSR).

Peter Baker, HSE’s current Director of Building Safety and Construction, will take up the post with immediate effect.

The government asked HSE to establish a new building safety regulator in the wake of the Grenfell Tower disaster and following recommendations in the ‘Building a Safer Future’ report by Dame Judith Hackitt.

In his role as the Chief Inspector of Buildings, Peter Baker will head up the Building Safety Regulator to deliver the new regime for high risk buildings, oversee work to increase competence of all professionals working on buildings and ensure effective oversight of the entire building safety environment.  Peter will also be the first head of the building control profession, and lead the work to provide independent, expert advice to industry, government, landlords and residents on building safety.

Peter said:“I am honoured to be appointed as the first Chief Inspector of Buildings and for the opportunity to play a lead role in bringing about the biggest change in building safety for a generation. I look forward to working with government, industry, partner regulators and residents to shape and deliver a world-class risk-based regulatory system for the safety and standards of buildings that residents can have confidence in and that we can all be proud of.”

Peter has over 30 years’ experience with HSE as an Inspector and in a number of senior operational posts dealing with a wide range of industry sectors, including the role of HSE’s Chief Inspector of Construction. Since 2017 Peter has led HSE’s involvement in the Government’s Building Safety Programme.

Sarah Newton, HSE’s Chair said: “I would like to congratulate Peter on his appointment as the new Chief Inspector of Buildings. Peter has a long track record of working in partnership with industry and other regulators to bring about behavioural and culture change that improves people’s safety.  His deep understanding of assessing and managing hazards and risk makes him ideally suited to shape and lead the implementation of the new building safety regime” 

Dame Judith Hackitt, Independent adviser to Government on Building Safety and Chair of the Transition Board said: “I am delighted to hear of Peter Baker’s appointment as the new Chief inspector of Buildings. With his impressive background experience in regulating both Major hazards Industries and Construction he brings a wealth of experience to this important new role. I very much look forward to working with Peter as the new Building Safety Regulator is established as we move to establish a new regime where people can be confident that their homes are safe and fit for purpose”

Minister for Building Safety, Lord Greenhalgh said:“I  welcome the appointment of Peter Baker as the first national Chief  Inspector of Buildings. Peter will use his and HSE’s wealth of experience to implement a tougher regulatory regime.  I look forward to working with Peter and his team to ramp up engagement with residents and the sector as part of the biggest changes to building safety in a generation, backed by our £5 billion investment to fully fund the cost of replacing unsafe cladding for all leaseholders in residential buildings 18 metres (6 storeys) and over in England. We have a comprehensive plan to remove unsafe cladding, support leaseholders, restore confidence to this part of the housing market and ensure this situation never arises again.”

Hyfire have appointed Tom Crane as Business Unit Director. In his new role, Tom will be responsible for overseeing future growth of the business and managing its nationwide sales team in the UK and Ireland.

Tom brings a wealth of experience after spending almost seven years at Apollo Fire Detectors. He joins the business at a challenging time for the sector, with stringent new regulations and the pandemic crisis presenting both challenges and opportunities to the Hyfire team.  

“Even before the events of 2020, wireless fire systems were already becoming mainstream and now we are seeing a significant acceleration of this process, especially in residential buildings,” said Tom, 28. “Wireless devices have always been simpler to programme and install, which means we can minimise time on site and contact with residents. This was always an advantage and a key selling point. Now it’s also a potential lifesaver.”

Hyfire offers the widest range of commercial standard wireless fire devices on the market, ranging from optical, multi-criteria and heat detectors to notification, arlarm, interface and control units, all fully certified to EN54. All products offer the highest performance and quality in the industry, and are also fully compliant with BS5839 Part 1. The company has also recently introduced EvacWireless, a rapid and scalable solution to meeting the BS8629 evacuation alert standards in residential buildings over 18 metres.

Tom added: “Wireless isn’t the afterthought or add-on anymore and demonstrating to our installer partners how they can use wireless within their projects is a key growth area for us. As a business, we need to build on the foundations of almost two decades of wireless innovation and ensure our partners and end users are supported from the very start of the design all the way through the install, commissioning and lifetime maintenance of the system.”

“The year ahead will be really important time for Hyfire. We are preparing to unveil a brand new range of devices that will represent a game-changing advance for the wireless fire sector, both in terms of flexibility and performance. We must follow that up with operational excellence across everything we do to ensure our customers are supported, so we can build a true partnership moving forwards, leading us to be the partner of choice within the wireless fire sector.” 

Tom, who studied Marketing at the University of Portsmouth before joining Apollo as a graduate trainee, is married with two young daughters aged two and four months. Outside the office, he is a keen football fan and an aspiring golfer, although the pandemic and the recent arrival of his second daughter mean he won’t be improving his handicap anytime soon.  

Hyfire was launched as Sterling Safety Systems in 2002, bringing to market some of the first commercial wireless detection and alarm devices fully certified to EN54. Since then, the Hyfire brand has become synonymous with quality, reliability and innovation in the commercial fire sector.

The Fire Brigades Union (FBU) have appointed Ben Selby, FBU executive council member for the East Midlands as Vice President.

The decision to appoint a new Vice President came after Andy Noble, who has announced his decision to retire in June, chose not to stand in the election.

On being appointed, Ben Selby said: “It’s a great honour to be elected as the next Vice president of our great union. Branches across every one of our 12 regions nominated me, something I won’t forget. Thank you so much.

“It appears that our national employers have given up the defence of the National Joint Council. Attacks on our terms and conditions are coming very soon, pushed by a number of Chief Officers and by central government. The FBU has a proud history of fighting to protect and improve our conditions. We will need to do that again.

“I’m privileged to have been elected as the next Vice President but I’m clear that our job now is unite and build a campaign to ensure the fire service and our conditions are protected and improved upon, and to ensure there is a professional fire service for future generations.”

Ben brings a wealth of experience to his new role at the FBU, having served as a firefighter for 18 years. He has also held several positions within the FBU, including brigade chair, brigade secretary, regional vice chair and regional secretary.

Firefighters from Hampshire Fire and Rescue Service have joined doctors and nurses at University Hospital Southampton’s (UHS) intensive care unit (ICU).

They have been working long and demanding shifts in the hospital’s busiest department, helping to prone patients suffering from Covid-19. Proning is a vital technique used in the treatment of Covid-19 and involves turning patients onto their front to relieve pressure on their vital organs and assist their breathing.

The firefighters volunteered to lend their specialist skills to help local healthcare colleagues who have come under intense pressure during recent weeks.

Five firefighters from HFRS’s Urban Search and Rescue team (USAR) were the first in – and their work has now paved the way for more volunteers to assist in ICU.

Medical Response and Health Lead, Station Manager, Alex Rhodes said: “We understand the importance of the life-saving work being undertaken in the ICU departments up and down the country and all felt that we would like to support the doctors and nurses carrying out this vital role. 

“We are used to working under sustained pressure for long periods of time, in some of the most challenging environments, and that is why I knew our teams would be able to adapt quickly to life in the ICU.

“Our search and rescue and firefighting roles mean we have all been exposed to traumatic situations before and that’s really important from a wellbeing perspective. Our teams are supported by team leaders and managers who place that wellbeing uppermost in the deployment plans.”

Eastleigh Station Manager, Simon Forster, is part of the USAR team and added: “We spend long periods in full ICU PPE, working arm in arm with the regular ICU staff and the whole experience has been really positive.

“Our driving force was to help and put our training to good use. It is a very demanding role but incredibly rewarding.”

David French, interim chief executive officer at UHS, said: “We are immensely grateful for the offer of support from Hampshire Fire and Rescue Service at this crucial time.

“It coincides with our Trust being asked to step-up our intensive care (ICU) capacity across the region and so extra staff on the ground who are able to assist in looking after our most vulnerable Covid patients will help ease the pressure on our already stretched ICU teams.

“We have always worked closely with our emergency service partners who are highly skilled, used to working under pressure in challenging situations and whose skills are easily transferable to the complex working of an ICU department.’

He added: “The pandemic has brought many challenges to our hospital, however it has also brought us together as a community and with our partner services such as HFRS. 

“The team will become part of the UHS family. We welcome and thank them as they join our dedicated clinicians working on the frontline.”

Since the start of the pandemic, personnel from across Hampshire and Isle of Wight Fire and Rescue Services have been helping in a variety of ways. This has included driving ambulances, training to become vaccinators, responding to life-threatening medical emergencies as co-responders and performing other tasks to help the community, including grocery shopping and collecting prescriptions. 

Area Manager Dan Tasker, said: “We are immensely proud of the way personnel from across Hampshire and Isle of Wight Fire and Rescue Services have responded since the very beginning of the pandemic. 

“Our teams are well-placed to cope with the demands of working in the hospital’s ICU department and we know that they have a valuable role to play.”

Following the retirement of Derek Harrington, the Fire Industry Association (FIA) have announced that Donald McFarlane has taken up the position of Company Secretary.

Having taken the post in 2007, Derek Harrington has overseen great change in the industry, and his efforts have earnt him a lifetime achievement award, which was presented to him during the last AGM.

His successor Donald McFarlane, FIA Director and Commercial Director (UK and Ireland) for Honeywell Security & Fire brings more than 35 years of experience in the fire industry, and has spent the last 20 with Honeywell. His appointment will effective from the 6^th April 2021.

The leading representative body for the UK oil and gas industry has today announced the appointment of a new co-chair to its board, as the sector focuses on the industry’s recovery whilst meeting net-zero targets for 2021.

Arne Gürtner, Senior Vice President UK & Ireland Offshore at Equinor has now assumed this role bringing with him a wealth of industry experience. In this capacity, Arne will work with Contractor Co-chair, Phil Simons, VP North Sea & Canada, Subsea 7.

Across the UK, Equinor has a broad energy portfolio of oil, gas, offshore wind and low carbon projects. Based in Equinor’s UK operations headquarters in Aberdeen, Arne leads the organisation supporting Equinor’s UK and Ireland upstream activities, which includes the Mariner development and Rosebank, one of the largest undeveloped resources on the UKCS.

Gürtner has held a broad variety of leadership roles across Equinor, including his previous position of Vice President for Technical Excellence in a global business function, and brings experience from project development, integrity management and process safety in operations from the UK and Norwegian Continental Shelves, as well as global research and technology development. Gürtner also currently holds the position of OGA Asset Stewardship Task Force Co-Chair.

Arne Gürtner takes over from Phil Kirk, who is stepping down from the role.
Deirdre Michie, OGUK’s chief executive, commented:

“We’re delighted to have Arne step into the role as co-chair of the OGUK board. The industry experience he has will be vital as we seek to manage our way successfully through the challenges brought by the pandemic while seeking to deliver our net-zero ambitions.

“I’d also like to take the opportunity to thank Phil Kirk for all of his support. His insight, steer and guidance has been invaluable, and we are delighted that he will remain on the board.

“We value the different perspectives from across the industry, in our work to deliver Roadmap 2035. This diversity in thought is key to finding solutions for low carbon oil and gas production, whilst doing everything we can to support our world-class but fragile supply chain and protect the skills of our people for the future.”

Siemens AG has successfully completed the succession process for its top management. As long planned, Roland Busch (56) has succeeded long-serving President and CEO Joe Kaeser (63) as head of the Munich-based technology company.

At the company’s virtual Annual Shareholders’ Meeting today, shareholders also confirmed, by a large majority, Supervisory Board Chairman Jim Hagemann Snabe (55) for another four-year term of office. In addition, shareholders elected Grazia Vittadini (51), Chief Technology Officer of Airbus and member of the Airbus Executive Committee, and Kasper Rørsted (58), CEO of adidas AG, first-time Supervisory Board members, likewise by large majorities.

Their terms of office will run for four years. The total number of people following the virtual meeting, at which a total of around 350 questions were asked, peaked at 7,100.

“Grazia Vittadini and Kasper Rørsted are recognised experts in the sustainable transformation and successful digitalisation of industries and companies. They’ll both help further diversify the range of expertise represented on the Supervisory Board, which has an outstanding setup for the next chapter of the company’s development,” said Jim Hagemann Snabe. Snabe himself was reelected Chairman of the Supervisory Board of Siemens AG at its constituent meeting immediately following the Annual Shareholders’ Meeting.

The elections were necessary because the appointments of Dr. Nicola Leibinger Kammüller (61), Werner Wenning (74) and Jim Hagemann Snabe had officially expired.

The conclusion of the Annual Shareholders’ Meeting also marked the successful completion of Siemens AG’s long-planned leadership succession process. Roland Busch assumed the position of President and CEO at the same time. Joe Kaeser will stand for reelection to Siemens Energy AG’s Supervisory Board at its Annual Shareholders’ Meeting on February 10, 2021, and for re-election as the Supervisory Board’s Chairman at the Board’s constituent meeting immediately afterwards.

“The smooth transition from Joe Kaeser to Roland Busch as the new President and CEO is the result of farsighted planning combined with close, trust-based collaboration on the part of all involved,” added Snabe. “It has enabled us to successfully lay the basis for immediately continuing – and even accelerating – Siemens’ transformation.”

“On behalf of the Supervisory Board and all Siemens employees, I’d like to thank Joe Kaeser for his dedication to the company, for his more than 40 years of tireless commitment, for his life’s work!” continued Snabe. “At the same time, Roland Busch is the ideal choice to further drive the transformation of Siemens AG. In this effort, the merging of the virtual and real worlds will play a key role. The aim now is to renew the technological backbone of the economy and society.”

Shareholders approved the distribution of a dividend of €3.50 per share for fiscal 2020 as proposed by the Managing and Supervisory Boards. Adjusted by ten percent to account for the market value of the spin-off of Siemens Energy, this amount represents a dividend at the same level as the €3.90 distributed for fiscal 2019.

Shareholders decided by a large majority to ratify the acts of the members of the Managing and Supervisory Boards for fiscal 2020.