Top honours for occupational health and safety experts
June 1st 2007

The Royal Society for the Prevention of Accidents has awarded prestigious honours, one posthumously, to two men for their dedication to making workplaces healthier and safer.

A RoSPA Distinguished Service Award was presented to Professor Sayeed Khan, of Bristol, at a ceremony at the Hilton Birmingham Metropole Hotel, NEC, on Thursday, May 24.

Allan St John Holt, of Botley, near Southampton, was honoured with RoSPA’s first posthumous Distinguished Service Award, which was presented to his partner Liz Barnes Downing at a ceremony at the NEC on Tuesday, May 22.

Professor Sayeed Khan began his working life as a machinist at a small engineering works in South Wales, before going on to qualify and practise as a GP. He then underwent a further four years of training to specialise in occupational medicine and later completed a doctoral thesis in the subject at the University of Nottingham.

After 10 years working in occupational health at Rolls-Royce, Prof Khan moved to his current position at EEF, the manufacturers' organisation, in 2002, when he was appointed as its first Chief Medical Adviser. His role involves the delivery of EEF's occupational health strategy, which includes initiatives on stress management, absence and return-to-work management, and rehabilitation. He also advises regional associations on access to occupational health support services.

Prof Khan is a Fellow of the Faculty of Occupational Medicine of the Royal College of Physicians and a Fellow of the Royal College of GPs. He was appointed to the Health and Safety Commission in 2005 as a Commissioner with responsibility for representing the views of the major occupational health, safety and hygiene organisations in the UK, and also sits on a number of other health committees.

Allan St John Holt, who died in May, aged 63, pursued a career in occupational safety and health from the early 1960s. In 1970, he qualified to become a member of the Institution of Industrial Safety Officers, which became the Institution of Occupational Safety and Health (IOSH), on whose Council of Management he served for nearly 30 years. Twice holding the role of IOSH President, he played a major role in the organisation’s global development and he was also one of the driving forces behind the formation of NEBOSH – the National Examination Board in Occupational Safety and Health.

He was recognised internationally, particularly in the USA, for his work in construction health and safety, and in 1991, published “Principles of health and safety at work”, which became an obligatory practical text for students worldwide. Mr Holt worked for many of the UK’s leading businesses and at the time of his death was Group Head of Health and Safety at Royal Mail Group.

For his lifelong service to health and safety, he was awarded the OBE in the 2007 New Year’s Honours List, which he was due to collect at the end of May.

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