08.06.15
HS2 appoints health and safety director
HS2 has appointed Emma Head as corporate health and safety director.
Head, who will report directly to chief executive Simon Kirby, will join from Network Rail where she serves as director of safety strategy. At NR she led the strategic safety agenda focusing on technology, working practices, culture change, risk management and system safety both internally and across the industry.
Commenting on the appointment Kirby said: “Emma represents a hugely important addition to the HS2 team. Her experience of driving through effective and lasting change on the existing rail network and her unfailing commitment to delivering the highest levels of safety for employees, passengers and local communities will be vital as we move closer to the start of construction in two years’ time.
“Building from scratch, HS2 has the opportunity to ensure safety is always our key priority. Freed from the constraints of working with an essentially Victorian rail network, HS2 will be able to provide a step change in the way we approach risk management and system safety as well as working culture and practices.”
Head, who will take up her role in August, said she is looking forward to getting started and helping to build the safest railway the UK has ever seen.
“HS2 is an exciting, ambitious and challenging project. It will be a catalyst for positive change both locally and nationally. But it will also provide a unique opportunity to build on our experience and learnings from the existing rail network, as well as relevant foreign experience, making health and safety the first consideration in everything we do.”
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