CEO’s Column

SIMON FESTING CHIEF EXECUTIVE OFFICER

I’d like to remind all readers of Exposure magazine that the involvement of active members is the lifeblood of the Society. Staff can run the machinery of the Society, but ultimately it’s the expertise of the members which progresses the work. Please do look out for opportunities for getting involved. Volunteer opportunities are regularly posted on our website.

These years have seen some consolidation at Head Office, as we have sought to modernise the systems of the Society. The next stage of this should be a much-improved website, due midsummer. Hopefully this will allow a considerably more streamlined and appealing service to members, with richer and better content.

This internal modernisation of the Society has been achieved with substantial financial investment. The Board of Trustees have deliberated carefully over the short and medium-term spending

This is my last editorial as CEO of the Society – a role which I have very much enjoyed over the last couple of years. I’m confident that the Society continues to be in good shape, and should be able to react to the challenges ahead.

plans of the Society. We are pleased to see that even with the additional expenditure, and an expansion of staff numbers, during 2019 we still managed to break even in terms of our income and expenditure. Investment returns have been positive as well, allowing the Society to maintain a good level of reserves for continued investment.

A number of areas of the Society have demonstrated sustained growth in recent years, and in particular our qualifications are achieving robust results. And our journal (Annals of Work Exposures and Health) continues to be financially strong, as the second largest contributor to our net revenues. Following a retender exercise in the second half of the year, Oxford University Press was successfully reappointed as publisher of the journal for an additional five years from 2020. All of this means I will be able to hand over the reins of the Society while it is in good financial health!

There is, of course, still plenty of outwardfacing activity going on. We have just launched a new round of Breathe Freely in Manufacturing Roadshows. We are looking for new ways to evolve this highly successful campaign, and continue to engage with partners and collaborators in a myriad of ways. Meanwhile, we are gearing up for what we hope will be a highly successful OH2020 conference in Bristol towards the end of April, which I very much hope you will be able to attend. We have new initiatives coming through in membership, such as the launch of a mentoring platform, which should help to address the needs of early-career occupational hygienist.

All of the activities of the Society are held together by the strategic plan, which is compiled by the CEO in consultation with key stakeholders, and then adopted and owned by the Board. We are in the process of developing a new strategic plan to start in 2021, which will supersede the existing plan, now in its final year. The new strategic plan is already at the late draft stage, but will be kept open for some months into 2020 to allow an incoming CEO to review. The Board will give a progress update at the annual conference, and then approve the plan later in the year.

May I wish the Trustees and the members of the Society all the best in continuing to improve worker health protection in the years ahead.