Judith E Hackitt CBE

Judith was appointed Chair of the Health and Safety Commission with effect from 1 October 2007 for a term of 5 years and became Chair of the Health and Safety Executive when the two organisations merged on 1 April 2008. Judith previously served as a Commissioner between 2002 and 2005. She was awarded her CBE for services to health and safety.

Judith returned in 2007 from an assignment as Director of the Chemistry for Europe project with the European Chemical Industry based in Brussels. She was Director of Business and Responsible Care (1998 – 2002) and Director General (2002 – 2006) at the Chemical Industries Association (CIA).

Judith worked for Exxon Chemicals for 15 years in various process management roles at Fawley. She was subsequently European Operations Director of a speciality pigments business before becoming Group Risk Manager at Elementis PLC with world-wide responsibility for health and safety insurance and litigation. She also served for three years as a non-executive Director of Oxfordshire Health Authority.

Judith trained as a Chemical Engineer at Imperial College, London and is a Fellow of the Institution of Chemical Engineers, an Ordinary Member of Council of the Institution of Chemical Engineers, a Fellow of the City and Guilds Institute and an Honorary Vice President of the Institution of Occupational Safety and Health.

Judith was appointed as a non-Executive Director of the Energy Saving Trust in January 2009. She became a Trustee of the National Coal Mining Museum for England in June 2009.

She is not engaged in any political activity.

• Archive of key speeches given by HSE Chair, Judith Hackitt CBE and the previous HSE Chair, Sir Bill Callaghan