Our Team

I have held the role of Scottish Hazards Chair since XXXX.

A member of IOSH since 2002 and Unison Scotland Chair of Health and Safety since 2007, I am trained in suicide prevention and have considerable casework experience in stress and mental health, sickness absence and capability including ill-health.

My trade union role complements my role as Scottish Hazards Chair I campaign on work such as mental health in the workplace and have responded to council health and safety policies such as manual handling and incident investigation. In addition I’m involved in organising health and safety seminars such as occupational health; absence management in the workplace; stress and workplace bullying.

I regularly attend Scottish Health and Safety Committee meetings helping to deal with problems in various sub branches as and when they arise.

I became involved with Scottish Hazards in 1993, soon after its creation.

I had been a union member, rep and branch officer for many years and had always been deeply interested in health.  In 1992, I took on the post of workplace health officer in the Lothian NHS Health Promotion Department. She also became a trade union health and safety rep.  She first taught on and then co-ordinated the distance learning MSc course ‘Workplace Health’ (offered at Edinburgh, Heriot Watt and Strathclyde Universities).

As part of Scottish Hazards, I have become the Scottish representative on the European Work Hazards Network steering group and been involved in organising a number of EWHN international conferences.  

I took over as Secretary of Scottish Hazards in 2002 and continue in that role today. 

I joined the Scottish Hazards board in 2015, having worked with Louise and Kathy on various projects.

I work in maintenance and health and safety for a large care charity and have worked in the voluntary sector for 14 years.

I first became passionate about health and safety when I was personally involved with a workplace incident caused by cost-saving and restructuring.

I joined Scottish Hazards around 2007 at the time I led in Health & Safety for the FBU in Scotland, when I was looking for some assistance and information. There had been 3 individual members that had died in the previous two years, either while operational or in one case as a result of contracting mesothelioma.

In the next two years a further 2 firefighters were killed on duty and I set up the investigation into the cause from the trade union side.

After retiring from the fire service, I moved on to work for a politician and I’m now able to bring my past experience and knowledge to assist Scottish Hazards in my trustee role.

I first became involved with Scottish Hazards in 2006, a year after her brother died in an electrocution at work. I went on to leave my long-held job as an employment lawyer to take on the role of project worker and convert Scottish Hazards to charitable status. I switched into a trustee role in March 2018.

My “day job” involves travelling the country telling my brother Michael’s story and I am able to raise the profile of the work of Scottish Hazards to organisations all over the UK.

In 2018 I was named’ most influential person in health and safety, UK by SHP magazine.

Having been involved with Scottish Hazards since 2001, I was appointed as an advice worker in 2017. Prior to this appointment, I worked for 16 years for the Scottish Trades Union Congress taking forward their health and safety policy with Scottish and United Kingdom Governments as well as engagement with external stakeholders.

During my time at the STUC, along with Thompsons Solicitors, I supported families of those who lost loved ones in the ICL Stockline tragedy in their campaign to secure a public inquiry into the circumstances of their loved ones’ deaths.

Prior to joining the STUC I spent four years representing Banking Insurance and Finance Union members in the Clydesdale Bank where I developed my interest in occupational health and safety.

Laura joined Scottish Hazards in 2018 after having worked with them previously through her day job as a Partner in Thompsons Solicitors. For the last fifteen years, Laura has specialised in pursing claims for the victims of asbestos exposure and other industrial diseases which has given her an insight into the tragic consequences of poor health and safety management in workplaces.

Thompsons as a Firm is at the forefront of political campaigning and law-change and Laura hopes to bring that expertise to support Scottish Hazards in its continuing drive to make workplaces safer.