Professor Andrew Hale

Professor Andrew Hale has made an outstanding contribution in promoting the cause of health and safety at work at an international level, helping to develop the subject as an academic discipline and harmonising safety professional training. Having graduated in 1966 from Cambridge University, Andrew started his career working at the National Institute of Industrial Psychology (NIIP) before moving on to Aston University, where he helped found the Department of Safety and Hygiene. During 12 years at Aston he was instrumental in the establishment of Health and Safety Technology and Management Ltd (HASTAM). His doctorate (1978) was on the role and training needs of factory inspectors (see below).

From 1984 to early 2007, Andrew was professor of safety science at the Delft University of Technology in the Netherlands, where he developed and led a multidisciplinary group whose work included developing the first university Masters courses for safety in the Netherlands. In recognition of his work to develop health and safety as an academic discipline and his services to safety in the Netherlands he was awarded a knighthood in the Dutch birthday honours in 2006.

Andrew has chaired or been a member of several advisory, certification and executive committees both at national level in the Netherlands and also at European level.

He has conducted research and advisory work into human factors, behavioural safety, safety management and safety regulation, covering fields such as safety training, risk perception, situational awareness, safety rules and procedures, the role and training of safety and health professionals, risk assessment and design analysis, safety management and safety culture, regulatory oversight and inspection methods. He is co-author of 6 books and has over another 350 publications to his name, 125 in refereed journals. He was, for 20 years, editor of the refereed journal ‘Safety Science’.

In his time in the Netherlands he was chairman of a number of committees: Dutch Standards Institute Committee on Machinery Safeguarding, Scientific Advisory Board, Dutch Traffic Safety Institute, Committee on Safety Management of the Dutch Labour Council, Dutch Expert Committee for the Certification of Safety Engineers, and Certification Committee of the European Network of Safety & Health Practitioner Organisations. He was also a member of the following: Board of Directors of the Dutch Council for Certification, Safety Advisory Committee, Schiphol Airport, Executive Board of the Dutch Association of Safety Science. He has worked as Safety Assessor for high speed rail and tram lines, as a part-time safety adviser for a motor components manufacturer and training developer for a North African oil and gas complex. He has an extensive network of European and international contacts in safety and health through European Union projects and his work on advisory and evaluation committees for safety institutes in Norway, France, the Netherlands and UK.

He has received Distinguished Service Awards from the Institution of Occupational Safety & Health, the Royal Society for the Prevention of Accidents and from the Dutch Association for Safety Science. He was created a knight (ridder) in the Order of the Netherlands Lion for his services to safety in the Netherlands and internationally in 2006. He received the Presidents Medal of the Ergonomics Society for research in ergonomics in 2000.

Publications

The Role of HM Inspectors of Factories with Particular Reference to their Training (covers 1833–1978) (Thesis)

University of Aston in Birmingham, 1978, 403 pages

Full text available: https://research.aston.ac.uk/en/studentTheses/the-role-of-hm-inspectors-of-factories-with-particular-reference- (54 MB)

Also available from the British Library: www.bl.uk (System number: 014723329)