Board of Directors
CHSG President
Robert Hackett
Health and Safety Practitioner
HSEQ Director at Ferrovial Construction
Robert is a Health and Safety Practitioner with over 23 years’ experience in managing safety, health, environment and quality in the construction industry, 11 as HSQE Director for Ferrovial Construction UK & Ireland.
He is a graduate member with IOSH, a member of the International Institute of Risk and Safety Management and IEMA.
Robert has been involved with a number of high-profile projects including Tideway Central Section, HS2 Early Works, Northern Line Extension, Crossrail Farringdon Station and Heathrow T2A Terminal.
In addition to the CHSG, Robert represents Ferrovial Construction UK & Ireland, on a number of Health and Safety Groups including the London Health & Safety Leads Group and the European Network of Construction Companies for Research and Development (ENCORD).
Co-Chairs
Andrea Smith
Chartered Member of IOSH and BSc (Hons) Degree in Occupational Hygiene
Health & Environmental Manager for the Construction South Region of Morgan Sindall Construction and Infrastructure Ltd.
Andrea holds a BSc (Hons) in Occupational Hygiene, is a Chartered Member of IOSH and has 34 years’ experience in managing health and safety in the Construction Industry.
As a key player in policy making and establishing and implementing procedures, Andrea has extensive experience in all aspects of training provision.
She was instrumental in developing the suite of Temporary Works courses offered by CHSG, and the Fire Diploma course which has since been recognised by the Institute of Fire Engineers (IFE) and the Institute of Fire Safety Managers (IFSM).
Andrea has been a Trustee of CHSG since 2010 and was Co-Chair 2014-2019 and again 2021- to current.
She also served on the London and South East Working Well Together Committee for 12 years and was Chair from 2008 to 2012.
John King
Head of Wellbeing, Health & Safety at BW: Workplace Experts
John has over 15 years’ experience within the Construction Industry, from a client support, contractor and main contractor perspective.
He is a Fellow with the International Institute of Risk & Safety Management and a Chartered member of IOSH.
John now works as Head of Wellbeing, Health & Safety for BW: Workplace Experts an interior fitout main contractor.
He is responsible for Health & Safety management and brings with him a wealth of managerial knowledge and experience across several sectors.
With experience across a range of organisations, John represents BW at several forums and is also a trustee of the London Health & Safety Group.
His interests include photography and he can be found wandering sites at weekends taking pictures.
Immediate Past Co-Chairs
Declan Davis
FIIRSM CMIOSH
Declan is a Chartered Member of IOSH with over 30 years experience in the construction industry.
With an operational background in civil engineering, he made a move into the functional role of Health, Safety, Quality & Environmental in 2011.
Declan is a Chartered Member of IOSH with over 30 years year experience in the construction industry, with an operational background in civil engineering, he made a move into functional role of Health, Safety, Quality & Environmental in 2011.
He is the Assistant HSQE Director for Ferrovial Construction UK & Ireland and is involved in some of the largest infrastructure projects in the UK such as T5 & T2 at Heathrow Airport, Crossrail, Thames Tideway Tunnel and on HS2.
Jeff Russell
IOSH Chartered Health and Safety Practitioner
Jeff is an IOSH Chartered Health & Safety practitioner with over 25 years’ experience in Safety, Health and Environment within the construction industry, the majority of which have been with Spadeoak.
He is a member of the IIRSM and holds certification form various industry bodies. Working with specialist surfacing, sports and civils contractor Spadeoak, Jeff has been involved in highly prestigious projects ranging from the London 2012 Olympics to Crown Estates together with numerous well-known main contractors.
Part of Jeff’s role on the CHSG board is to represent SME contractors; his interests include travelling and competitive swimming.
Vice-Chairman
Martin Lovegrove
CMIOSH MIFireE MIIRSM PIEMA
Head of Health, Safety & Build Quality Assurance
Martin has worked in health and safety for the last fifteen years for a number of organisations covering agriculture, civil engineering, engineering, telecommunications, utilities and construction. Prior to that, he was in Farming and Estate Management for twenty-six years.
He is a Chartered Member of IOSH, Member of IFE, Member of IIRSM and Practitioner Member of IEMA.
Since May 2013, he has worked for the Berkeley Group where he is currently Head of Health, Safety & Build Quality Assurance which includes involvement in setting the strategic direction for the group in health and safety, as well as an operational supporting role across the sites. Recently he has taken up leading a team in Build Quality Assurance.
Trustees
Gavin Bye
Gavin joined Costain in 2013 and has led both the Natural Resources and Infrastructure Divisions as Director of Safety, Health and Environment.
From January 2017 he became Costain Group SHE Director. He leads a team of over one hundred and fifty professionals working across Costain’s diverse operations.
Prior to joining Costain Gavin spent 24 years with HSE as an Inspector, Principal Inspector and Head of Operations.
His last role in HSE from 2009 was to lead HSE’s Construction Sector and Policy Unit leading the delivery of the evaluation, review and revision of CDM including leading negotiations with the European Commission.
Sean Elson
Partner with Pinsent Masons LLP an international law firm that has worldwide reputation for construction related law.
After qualifying as a solicitor in 1994 he now specialises in health and safety law and has been for the past 20 years. Sean is also the secretary for the Health and Safety Lawyers Association.
Meet the CHSG Staff
Meet the staff members who deal with the day-to-day running of the training centre.
