Errol Taylor

Chief Executive, RoSPA

In July 2017, Errol was promoted to become the Chief Executive of the Royal Society for the Prevention of Accidents (RoSPA) – the UK’s leading safety charity. RoSPA is celebrating its centenary and taking the opportunity to reflect on past successes such as the Tufty Club, Cycling Proficiency and seat belt legislation whilst also addressing today’s safety challenges.

RoSPA’s OSH training, Management of Occupational Road Risk (MORR), Awards and Qualifications are all playing their part in helping to maintain the progress we have made in the areas of road and workplace safety. However, given that home and leisure accidents are on the rise and now account for the majority of accidental injuries treated by hospital A&E departments, Errol believes we must now harness the resources of organisations large and small to address the lost productivity caused by a growing number of ‘off the job’ accidents.

Errol’s evidence-based approach aims to reduce the burden of injury by empowering individuals and organisations to be ‘as safe as necessary, not as safe as possible’. In 2013, he, along with RoSPA colleagues, created a new epidemiological measure, the Preventable Year of Life Lost (PrYLL). Errol was the lead author of RoSPA’s influential suite of Big Book(s) of Accident Prevention. In 2016, he launched RoSPA’s Ofqual-recognised Awarding Organisation, “RoSPA Qualifications” which develops practical vocational qualifications in the areas of road, workplace, leisure and home safety.

A keen proponent of partnership working, Errol is the non-executive Chairman of EuroSafe and an adviser to both the Chief Fire Officer’s Association and the National Water Safety Forum. He played a leading role in £ multi-million projects ‘Safe At Home’ and the ‘Child Safety Education Coalition’.

Errol joined RoSPA in 2004, initially heading up its commercial activities. Prior to RoSPA, he enjoyed senior customer-facing roles within the services, engineering and retail sectors. A Fellow of both the Institute of Directors (IoD) and the Royal Society for Public Health (RSPH), he is qualified as a Chartered Director with an MBA, an engineering degree and he is a gold grade RoSPA advanced driver. Married with three grown-up children, Errol is an advanced scuba diver who also enjoys cycling.