Guest Speakers

JOANNA CARRINGTON

Director of Health and Safety and Head of Profession at the City of London Corporation.

Joanna Carrington is an experienced leader in health and safety with a demonstrated history of working in the higher education industry and local government. Skilled in occupational wellbeing, workplace safety, implementation of health and safety management systems, training delivery and strategic development. Engagement of top managers and culture change expertise. Strong strategic and operations professional with a Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) focused on workplace carcinogen exposure.

JONATHAN CAPPER

IRATA International Chairman

Jonathan Capper has been involved with the work at height industry for 40 years and is currently the IRATA Chairman. Jonathan has been involved with IRATA from the very first meeting back in 1987. In addition, he has spent 30 years working on British, European and International standards for Personal Protective Equipment against falls from a height. Jonathan is Managing Director of Lyon Equipment Limited a leading supplier of personal fall protection equipment including a work at height training school. He regularly advises clients and regulatory authorities in post-accident investigations.

DR SHEILA KONDAVEETI

Chief Executive Officer – IRATA International

Sheila has operated in senior management of IRATA, the leading authority in rope access, for almost a decade. Before her appointment as CEO, Sheila managed IRATA’s International Quality Department, overseeing the development and further implementation of the governance and procedures that set the global safety standards in the rope access industry, and in particular the IRATA membership standards. She has been key in structuring and improving the third party audit service that is provided to all IRATA members, to assure that our members remain at the very pinnacle of safety in the rope access industry.

Sheila has led IRATA through all stages of their UKAS audit to successfully secure accreditation to ISO/IEC 17024, and thus fortifying the existing international recognition of IRATA Technicians as the highest quality in the industry. Sheila is committed to raising the organisation's standards through developing and implementing superior digital processes, offering additional benefits to members and the wider industry.

JONATHAN COOPER BSc (HONS) MRICS MCIOB

City of London Corporation

Jonathan is a Chartered Building Surveyor and Construction professional having spent 17 years working in the construction and property industry. His career has been split between private consultancy – working with a multitude of Clients from Education to Housing. More recently he has been working Client-side in the Public Sector, having previously led an Asset Management function for Westminster City Council’s Housing portfolio.

Jonathan now works for the City of London Corporation, delivering planned investment and refurbishment works across the majority of the City’s Corporate and Investment portfolio. This covers an extensive range of assets, from Tower Bridge, to Independent Schools, Churches, Commercial office space and even Open Spaces such as Epping Forest.

ADAM SMITH

Baily Garner (Health & Safety) Ltd

Adam has over 12 years’ experience working as a Health & Safety Consultant specializing in Construction, CDM Advisor and Principal Designer Advisor. Currently working for Baily Garner (Health & Safety) Ltd, part of PIB Risk Management, Adam is involved across a broad range of sectors UK wide, including commercial, housing, health, education and private sectors. This includes working alongside the City of London on multiple projects and has involved a number of specialist access improvements works on Tower Bridge.

Adam has extensive experience providing and assisting with the Principal Designer and CDM Advisor roles for numerous and varying Clients within London and the Southeast providing guidance, support and advise to ensure that the Client was complying with all aspects and requirements of their duties under CDM2015.

PETER BENNETT OBE

Access Industry Forum

Peter Bennett OBE has dedicated his career to making work at height safer. Today, he plays a leading role in six not-for-profit height safety organisations – PASMA, Ladder Association, ATLAS, No Falls Foundation, Test & Research Centre and Access Industry Forum –placing him at the forefront of ambitious and innovative change happening within the sector. Peter is an expert in height safety and a real champion for progress, so everything he does is motivated by one overriding goal: preventing falls from height.

STEPHEN GREEN

Health & Safety Executive (HSE)

Stephen joined HSE as an Inspector in 2009, starting in the Field Operations Division, before moving to the Construction Division in 2015, spending 12 years in frontline operations, inspecting workplaces and investigating serious incidents and fatalities. He then moved to a policy role in the Product Safety and Market Surveillance Unit, which includes policy lead for work at height. Prohibition Notices for unsafe work at height were possibly the most common notices he issued, particularly in construction, and he has taken numerous work at height prosecutions too. Prior to joining HSE, he worked for a large home improvement company, with responsibility for planning work at height, so has the practical experience too.

JAMIE RUXTON

City of London Corporation

As the Senior Technical Officer at Tower Bridge, Jamie looks after the operational hydraulics that open the bridge and is one of only three people in the world qualified to do so. He has been at Tower Bridge for almost 4 years and has a wealth of experience attained prior to his service at the City of London.

Operationally, he has introduced digital inspection systems into day-to-day life at the bridge, which has brought the inspection and monitoring regimes into the 21st century. He led the project to upgrade the hydraulics replacement, which replaced the bridge's HPUs from the dated versions from the 70s to modern-day units to maximize efficiency.

He is responsible for work at projects and the related elements of health and safety for the bridge. Although he is new to the work at height industry, he has quickly gained a passion for work at height and safety management and has completed NEBOSH and IRATA LVL 1 qualifications.

SIMON RICHMOND

Arboricultural Association

Simon Richmond is Senior Technical Officer at the Arboricultural Association, the professional body for arboriculture. He started his career in tree work in 1974, working as a contractor before moving into training, assessment standards and compliance, and has been involved in the development of technical industry standards for ground based and aerial tree work for over 30 years. Since joining the Arboricultural Association in 2007 he has been responsible for setting standards and responding to the UK’s evolving health and safety legislation.