Managing Workplace Health Conference: Speaker bios

The Workplace Health Leadership Group NI

Conference November 20th & 21st

Check out the programme

Speaker bios

Prof. David Fishwick, Chief Medical Adviser to HSE GB and HSENI

Professor Fishwick is already the Chief Medical Adviser to the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) in Great Britain, and this new appointment cements the regulators’ joint commitment to provide better understanding and prevention of ill health in the workplace.

The role of Chief Medical Adviser is fundamental to ensuring that information relating to medical issues is correctly interpreted and communicated. This is achieved with the support of multidisciplinary teams of doctors, nurses and scientists. Their expertise informs the medical research undertaken by HSE in Great Britain, and enables the understanding of health from both the employer’s and the worker’s perspective, and provides the evidence upon which health policy, regulatory guidance and enforcement activities are based.

As HSE’s newly-appointed Chief Medical Adviser for Great Britain and Northern Ireland, Professor Fishwick and his specialist teams will work closely with other government, industry sectors and the wider health and safety community to help achieve HSE’s and HSENI’s shared goal of achieving  world-class performance in workplace health and safety.

Dr. Steve Forman, Consultant Occupational Health Physician & Medical Advisor, HSE

Dr Steve Forman is an Accredited Specialist and Consultant in Occupational Medicine and is Principal Medical Adviser in HSE.

Steve provides medical expertise to HSE’s investigations. He also advises stakeholders, both internal to HSE and externally, on occupational health issues.

He provides the clinical oversight for the Approved and Appointed doctor systems for statutory medical surveillance and fitness to work assessments. This includes lead, ionising radiation, diving and work in compressed air.

Steve is regularly involved in training delivery at HSE and is also an Honorary Lecturer at Manchester University.

Dr. Paul McKegney, Consultant Respiratory Physician, Belfast City Hospital

Dr McKeagney is a Consultant Respiratory physician in the Regional Respiratory Centre at Belfast City hospital where he is lead for COPD and Pulmonary Rehabilitation. He also has an interest in occupational lung disease, is a member of the UK Group of Occupational Respiratory Disease Specialists (UK GORDS) and a tutor at Cardiff University on the MSc in Occupational health course

Jade Sumner, Scientist, HSL

Jade Sumner is an Occupational Health Researcher in the Centre for Workplace Health, HSE. She has significant experience in the development and management of clinical research. Her current research focus is on the investigation of long latency respiratory diseases and occupational lung disease. Her primary interest is lung function testing and improving the quality of spirometry.

Alison Codling, OH  Nurse, HSE

Alison Codling is an Occupational Health Nurse working in Occupational Health and Mental Health Policy on activity linked to HSE’s health and work programme.

 She has extensive practical occupational health experience working in a variety of industry sectors and has been involved in research projects on long latency respiratory diseases and health surveillance.

Scott Atess Blakelock, Welding Application Engineer, 3M

Scott is Welding Application Engineer and has been with 3M for over 12 years. His practical hands on experience has involved him in product development through product field trials to the validation of welder’s needs.

Scott has a BEng Honours Degree and is also a STEM Ambassador.

John Dobbie, Group Industrial Hygiene Director, BP/President, BOHS

John Dobbie is a Chartered Occupational Hygienist (BOHS CMFOH)

and has been involved in Occupational Hygiene since 1980, has worked for various companies including Monsanto and BASF. He is currently Group Industrial Hygiene Director for BP,

He has held roles within many UK & European Occupational Hygiene external bodies. He is also a member of the ACTS COSHH Essentials Working group and in the past provided support to the Occupational Hygiene Training Association (OHTA), as a Director, with their work on developing International Occupational Hygiene Training Modules.

He is also a long-standing member of the British Occupational Hygiene Society (BOHS) and is currently their President.

John has worked in a very diverse range of industries and workplaces and has extensive experience in delivering a wide variety of occupational hygiene training courses around the World.

Ken Logan MBE, Principal Inspector, HSENI

Ken is a Chartered Civil Engineer and worked for the Department of Environment for Northern Ireland Water Service for ten years.  During his time with the Water Service he has worked in the Central Design Unit, Operation and Maintenance and the Direct Labour Organisation.

He joined the Health and Safety Executive for Northern Ireland in 1985 and was appointed Principal Inspector in 1993 with responsibility for quarrying; concrete products industry; exploration drilling; mining; Local Authorities enforcement liaison etc. From 1999 until April 2012 Ken was the Principal Inspector heading up the Construction & Asbestos Group.  He now Heads up the Extractive Industry & Waste Group which has been extended to include waste recycling premises as well as mines and quarries etc.  At the end of 2016 in the New Year’s Honours list Ken was awarded an MBE for services to Health and Safety and the community.   

Chris Quarrie, Ergonomist, HSE

A Specialist Inspector in Human Factors and Ergonomics at the Health and Safety Executive, Chris has specialised in topic of MSDs for over 13 years. Chris has assisted in the development of risk assessment tools, undertaken site inspections and provided regulatory support in relation to MSDs as well as providing expert advice on control measures for the prevention of workplace MSDs.

Matt Birkles, Principal Ergonomist, HSE

Matt is a Principle Ergonomist working in HSE's Science Division and has been involved in countless research projects focussed on managing MSD risks.  Matt has led the development and delivery of the MSD and ergonomics training course for the HM inspectors and general public for over 15 years, and was a member of the ART tool development team. 

During 2016 Matt also supported the development of the Risk Assessment for Pushing and Pulling (RAPP) tool.  He has over 20 years of experience in the field of ergonomics and design, during which time has worked internationally in Hong Kong, Australia and Israel.  Matt has particular interest in the prevention of musculoskeletal injury, and currently leads the HSE's ergonomics consultancy services.

Prof. Karen Walker-Bone, Director, Arthritis Research UK

Karen trained as an academic rheumatologist with a special interest in occupation and musculoskeletal pain in Southampton, funded by an Arthritis Research UK Clinical Research Fellowship.

Karen is based at the MRC Lifecourse Epidemiology Unit in Southampton where she is Professor and Honorary Consultant in Occupational Rheumatology and Director of the Arthritis Research UK/MRC Centre for Musculoskeletal Health and Work. She leads the multidisciplinary Centre and coordinates a programme of work to find cost effective ways to reduce the burden of disability for work caused by musculoskeletal disorders.

She was awarded an Honorary Fellowship of the Faculty of Occupational Medicine in 2013. She also chairs the multi-disciplinary BSR/BHPR Special Interest Group in work and health.

Lynda Bryans, Lecturer, Belfast Metropolitan College, Lynda and advocate for metal health.

Lynda Bryans spent three decades working in radio and television journalism before taking up a teaching post at Belfast Metropolitan College.  Her credits cover local, national and international TV and Radio for both the BBC and ITV networks in a career that has taken her across the world, notably to New York in the aftermath of the 9/11 tragedy and to various exotic locations for the BBC’s Holiday programme.    She anchored the local UTV Live News for 14 years and hosted the lunchtime radio show on u105.

Lynda is a Course Co-Ordinator on the Higher National Diploma in Creative Media Production Television Journalism course at the Belfast Film and Television School at the e3 campus and is a mental health advocate, speaking publicly about her own experience of depression.

She represents third sector organisations at board level, including AWARE, which supports people with depression, and she is Chairman of Youth Lyric, one of the largest youth arts groups on the island of Ireland.  Lynda is also Patron of Girls Brigade Northern Ireland.  

She is married to Michael Nesbitt, the Ulster Unionist MLA for Strangford and former Party Leader. The couple have two sons – Peter who graduated from Queen’s University with an LLB and is currently living in Australia, and Christopher, a highly talented professional guitarist who is carving out a career in commercial music having graduated earlier this year from Bath Spa University with a Bachelor of Arts in the subject.  

Gerry Kelly, Chief Executive, NICSSA Sport & Leisure

Gerry Kelly is the CEO of a Limited Company with 45 multi-disciplined staff, a turnover of over £2 million and extensive practical experience in the areas of leading and managing teams, strategic management, business development and stakeholder relationship management.

He is an International Trainer of Neuro Linguistic Programming (NLP), and has an Msc in Business Improvement which majored on the European Foundation for Quality Management (EFQM). He is also a member of the Chartered Institute of Public Sector Accountants (CIPFA)

Having developed extensive knowledge of the challenges facing organisations within a corporate environment and a passion for developing people, Gerry has formulated and facilitated training programmes for numerous organisations in the private, public and voluntary sectors around the areas of communication, resilience, personal development and leadership and management.

He also has experience in one to one mentoring, particularly in the areas of developing personal resilience, competency based interviewing and executive coaching. He has been responsible for mentoring several CEOs and Directors in the area of strategic planning, leadership and developing personal and team resilience.

Clare Kelly, Mental Wellbeing at Work Advisor, HSENI

Claire Kelly joined the Health and Safety Executive for Northern Ireland (HSENI) in 2009 as a Business Advisor mentoring small businesses in the implementation of Health and Safety Management systems.

With a keen interest in improving mental health and wellbeing in the workplace she took up the role of Mental Wellbeing at Work Advisor in 2017. Since then Claire has received accreditations in the areas of Health and Wellbeing and Delivery of Stress Management Training.

Using the HSE Management Standards Approach Claire has assisted public, private and third sector organisations to control the risks associated with work related stress.

Nicola Hodgkinson, Director Business Services, Seddon Construction Ltd

Nicola Hodkinson is Business Services Director at Seddon Construction, where her role is all about ‘people’ – people Seddon employ and people Seddon work for. Her board responsibilities include leading the business’ training and development through Seddon’s ‘Grow Our Own’ programme.

A key component in her role as head of ‘people’ is making sure that Seddon do business in a responsible way and this has been at the forefront of her most recent campaign on addressing mental health in the workplace. “There is no point in having an employee assistance programme to support people if the problem lies within the business – it’s like having a sticking plaster”.

She is also responsible for delivering the company’s corporate social responsibility Promises and Respect Campaign; leading customer service delivery through a Customer First Approach, and managing IT infrastructure, business systems and processes.

Nicola is the first female to be appointed to the Seddon board and helps to steer the family business alongside her brothers Jonathan and Jamie Seddon.

She believes her greatest achievement in her present role is providing the necessary ways to work to support and grow a family business “The Seddon Way”, developing from a small local business to a regional business whilst retaining a family ethos.

As a custodian of the Seddon family business and as fourth generation Nicola wants to ensure she is looking after and developing the business for the future, assuring longevity and a sustainable future for the next generation of the Seddon family and the families it employs.

Dr Michael Patterson, CEO, Trauma Management and Recovery

Dr Michael Paterson is a Clinical Psychologist with particular expertise in assessing and treating traumatic stress in people from a range of backgrounds, including police and military. 

A former police officer, Michael was medically retired from the RUC after being severely injured in a rocket attack on his police vehicle in 1981. 

He later studied Psychology, and went on to achieve two doctoral degrees, one of which was in Clinical Psychology.  During 2008 he was awarded an OBE for Services to Healthcare.

Janet Calvert, Health and Social Wellbeing Improvement Manager at Public Health Agency NI

Janet is employed by the Public Health Agency (PHA) as a Health and Social Well-being Improvement Manager and is the designated Strategic Lead for Workplace Health within PHA. This role primarily involves promoting and supporting evidence based approach to Workplace Health and Well-being. A key part of this work has included commissioning a Regional Workplace Health and Well-being service which offers support from providers directly to businesses tailored to meet their needs.

Janet is also a member of the Health and Social Care (HSC) Healthier Workplaces Network, which aims to improve the Health and Wellbeing of staff working across HSC.

Biddy O Neill, National Project Lead,  Health and Wellbeing Programme, DoH

Biddy is  National Project Lead in the Health and Wellbeing Programme Department of Health. She is leading on the development of the National Healthy Workplace Framework in partnership with the Department of Jobs Enterprise and Innovation under the auspices of Healthy Ireland.

Biddy has worked in Health Promotion for over twenty years at both strategic and operational levels within the Health Service and the Department of Health.

 She was appointed as  Assistant National Director in the Health and Wellbeing Division Health Service Executive in 2013 and seconded to the Department of Health in 2015.

Andrew Cooke, Group SHE Director, GRAHAM

Andrew is the Safety, Health and Environment Director for GRAHAM, and oversees the SHE function for the Group. He has over 28 years’ experience in the construction industry firstly as a Site Engineer, Site Agent and Project Manager, and then as a dedicated SHE Advisor, Manager, and Director.

He heads up the GRAHAM Behavioural & Cultural Change Safety programme, and also oversees the Company’s compliance to the Modern Slavery Act.

Andrew is also a participant on other industry-related H&S panels.

Check out the Conference Programme.