Dame Judith Elizabeth Hackitt, ,
FIChemE,
FCGI (born 1 December 1954) is a British engineer and
civil servant
The civil service is a collective term for a sector of government composed mainly of career civil servants hired on professional merit rather than appointed or elected, whose institutional tenure typically survives transitions of political leaders ...
. A former Chair of the UK
Health and Safety Executive
The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) is a UK government agency responsible for the encouragement, regulation and enforcement of workplace health, safety and welfare, and for research into occupational risks in Great Britain. It is a non-depar ...
, she is currently Chair of manufacturing trade body
EEF.
Early life
Hackitt was born on 1 December 1954 in
Dordon
Dordon is a village and civil parish in the North Warwickshire district of the county of Warwickshire in England and close to the border with Staffordshire. The village is located on the A5 national route and is contiguous with the larger villa ...
,
Warwickshire
Warwickshire (; abbreviated Warks) is a county in the West Midlands region of England. The county town is Warwick, and the largest town is Nuneaton. The county is famous for being the birthplace of William Shakespeare at Stratford-upon-Avon an ...
, England.
[Debrett's People of Today]
Ms Judith Hackitt, CBE Authorised Biography She graduated in
chemical engineering
Chemical engineering is an engineering field which deals with the study of operation and design of chemical plants as well as methods of improving production. Chemical engineers develop economical commercial processes to convert raw materials int ...
from
Imperial College, London
Imperial College London (legally Imperial College of Science, Technology and Medicine) is a public research university in London, United Kingdom. Its history began with Prince Albert, consort of Queen Victoria, who developed his vision for a cu ...
in 1975.
Career
After graduating from Imperial College, University of London, with a degree in Chemical Engineering, Hackitt joined
Exxon Chemicals as a process engineer at the
Fawley Refinery
Fawley Refinery is an oil refinery located at Fawley, Hampshire, England. The refinery is owned by Esso Petroleum Company Limited, a subsidiary of Exxon Mobil Corporation, which acquired the site in 1925. Situated on Southampton Water, it was ...
, rising through technical management to become operational manager of the butyl polymer business.
She then joined
Harcros Chemicals for six years as operational director of the pigments business before moving up to being the group risk manager for the parent H&C.
[ She joined the ]Chemical Industries Association
The Chemical Industries Association (CIA) is the leading national trade association representing and advising chemical and pharmaceutical companies located across the United Kingdom.
Chemicals manufacturing in the UK is largely concentrated i ...
in 1998 as director of Business and Responsible Care, becoming its Director General from 2002[ to 2005.][ She then worked in Brussels for the European Chemical Industries Council (]Cefic
The European Chemical Industry Council or Cefic (from its former French name ''Conseil Européen des Fédérations de l'Industrie Chimique'') is the main European trade association for the chemical industry. It was founded in 1972. Its headquart ...
) before being appointed Chair of the Health and Safety Commission
The Health and Safety Commission (HSC) was a United Kingdom non-departmental public body. The HSC was created by the Health and Safety at Work etc. Act 1974 (HSWA). It was formally established on 31 July 1974. The Commission consisted of a chairm ...
in 2007. She became Chair of the Health and Safety Executive
The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) is a UK government agency responsible for the encouragement, regulation and enforcement of workplace health, safety and welfare, and for research into occupational risks in Great Britain. It is a non-depar ...
on 1 April 2009 when the two organizations merged.[HSE Website]
Judith E Hackitt CBE
She was President of the Institution of Chemical Engineers
The Institution of Chemical Engineers (IChemE) is a global professional engineering institution with over 33,000 members worldwide. It was founded in 1922 and awarded a Royal Charter in 1957.
It has offices in Rugby, London, Melbourne, Wellingto ...
from 2013 to 2014.[IChemE Annual Review 2013]
/ref> She was a senior non-executive director and trustee of the Energy Saving Trust
Energy Saving Trust (EST) is a British organization devoted to promoting energy efficiency, energy conservation, and the sustainable use of energy, thereby reducing carbon dioxide emissions and helping to prevent man-made climate change. It was f ...
, a non-executive director of the High Value Manufacturing Catapult
The High Value Manufacturing Catapult (HVM Catapult) is a group of manufacturing research centres in the United Kingdom, which forms part of the Catapult centres initiative.
History
Catapult centres were set up by Swindon's Innovate UK (formerly ...
, and a trustee of the City & Guilds Group.
In 2016, she took over as Chair of manufacturing trade body EEF from Martin Temple, who himself then became Chair of the Health and Safety Executive
The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) is a UK government agency responsible for the encouragement, regulation and enforcement of workplace health, safety and welfare, and for research into occupational risks in Great Britain. It is a non-depar ...
.
Building safety
Hackitt was the Chair of the Independent Review of Building Regulations and Fire Safety which was commissioned by the Government following the Grenfell Tower fire
On 14 June 2017, a high-rise fire broke out in the 24-storey Grenfell Tower block of flats in North Kensington, West London, at 00:54 BST and burned for 60 hours. 72 people died, two later in hospital, with more than 70 injured and 223 escapin ...
. The Review's Interim Report was published in December 2017, and its final report, ''Building a Safer Future'', was issued on 17 May 2018. In a personal note in the report, she states that events following the publication of the interim report She now chairs the Industry Safety Steering Group (ISSG), which meets every three months to review progress on improvements to building safety culture.[Building safety: The Industry Safety Steering Group’s third report for the Secretary of State and the Minister for Building Safety]
published 10 January 2022, accessed 15 January 2022 In her third annual report as chair of the ISSG, ''Building safety: The Industry Safety Steering Group’s third report for the Secretary of State and the Minister for Building Safety'', issued in January 2022, she has accused construction firms of hiding behind their trade associations, and waiting for legal changes to take effect before adopting safer working practices.
Hackitt was criticised for having admitted that she was "not an expert" on the Grenfell tragedy and had "not looked at the details" of the fire when undertaking her post-Grenfell review of building safety regulations, an omission that Labour MP David Lammy
David Lindon Lammy (born 19 July 1972) is an English politician serving as Shadow Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs since 2021. A member of the Labour Party, he has been Member of Parliament (MP) for Tottenh ...
claimed was an “insult” to victims of the blaze and that put questions marks around whether her work in this area was even credible.
Among others, the Grenfell survivors campaign group Grenfell United
Grenfell United is a pressure group made up of the families of victims and survivors of the 2017 Grenfell Tower fire.
The first formal meeting of Grenfell United took place on Saturday 24 June 2017. The minutes read: “Residents are not present a ...
censured Hackitt for having stopped short of calling for a ban on combustible cladding and an end to controversial desktop studies in her final report. The then shadow housing secretary John Healey said that the decision by Hackitt not to recommend to government a straightforward ban on combustibles on blocks of flats “beggars belief”, while one fire safety expert objected to Hackitt's perceived sidestepping of what he described as "the simple solution that doesn’t risk more mistakes". Due to the political fallout from Hackitt's failure to urge a ban on all combustibles on multi-occupancy buildings, government was forced to announce a consultation on the same day of the publication of her final report. This consultation did, ultimately, yield a change of policy and lead to a ban that had been called for by campaigners and fire and building safety experts, but which had not originally been endorsed by Hackitt.
Honours
She was elected a Fellow of the Royal Academy of Engineering
Fellowship of the Royal Academy of Engineering (FREng) is an award and fellowship for engineers who are recognised by the Royal Academy of Engineering as being the best and brightest engineers, inventors and technologists in the UK and from aroun ...
in 2010, and currently chairs the External Affairs Committee. She is also a Fellow of the Institution of Chemical Engineers
The Institution of Chemical Engineers (IChemE) is a global professional engineering institution with over 33,000 members worldwide. It was founded in 1922 and awarded a Royal Charter in 1957.
It has offices in Rugby, London, Melbourne, Wellingto ...
and a member of its council.
Hackitt was appointed Commander of the Order of the British Empire
The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is a British order of chivalry, rewarding contributions to the arts and sciences, work with charitable and welfare organisations,
and public service outside the civil service. It was established o ...
(CBE) in 2006 for services to health and safety[ and ]Dame Commander of the Order of the British Empire
The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is a British order of chivalry, rewarding contributions to the arts and sciences, work with charitable and welfare organisations,
and public service outside the civil service. It was established o ...
(DBE) in the 2016 New Year Honours
The New Year Honours 2016 were appointments by some of the 16 Commonwealth realms to various orders and honours to recognise and reward good works by citizens of those countries. The New Year Honours are awarded as part of the New Year celebrati ...
for services to engineering and health and safety. She was listed in the Top 50 Women in UK Engineering by the Telegraph in 2016.
References
External links
Judith Hackitt speaks
video interview
{{DEFAULTSORT:Hackitt, Judith
Living people
1954 births
British chemical engineers
Fellows of the Royal Academy of Engineering
Female Fellows of the Royal Academy of Engineering
Dames Commander of the Order of the British Empire
Alumni of Imperial College London
21st-century women engineers