The Trustees are pleased to confer to Dr Luise Vassie the status of Distinguished Member of the Hazards Forum.  Luise has contributed extensively to the field of occupation health and safety throughout her long and distinguished career and has made a significant contribution to the Hazards Forum and its charitable mission for over nine years. She was Chair of the Board of Trustees from 2017 to 2020 and her term was marked by the modernisation of the charity’s governance, the development of its strategy, and an increase in the diversity of the Board.  The status of Distinguished Member is the highest honour the Hazards Forum can confer and denotes the exceptional and lasting impact of her work.  

Dr Vassie holds several advisory positions.  She is an external consultant on occupational, safety and health management competences at the International Labour Organisation (ILO), lecturing on master’s degree programmes at the ILO Turin training centre, and is an external lecturer on executive education programmes in risk management at Loughborough University UK.  Luise is a non-executive director at Accent Group Ltd, a housing association, where she sits on their health and safety committee and is a policy and strategy adviser to the Health and Safety Lawyers Association.

Luise spent almost 10 years in senior policy and research roles at the Institution of Occupational Safety and Health and was latterly the executive director of policy.  She led the public affairs, research and information services and communications functions, and was responsible for the strategic development and communication of policy, research findings and technical guidance to influence key stakeholders.  Prior to this, she held academic posts in Leicester, Loughborough and Swansea Universities working across science, engineering and management schools and on projects ranging from investigating the feasibility of laser-based techniques for monitoring the integrity of safety critical coatings used in space vehicles in near-earth orbit, to assessing the safety aspects of laser-technology.  Luise also produced the first MSc in Health and Safety Management to position health and safety in the context of corporate governance.

Dr Vassie is a Chartered Fellow of the Institution of Occupational Safety and Health, and holds a PhD in laser physics, a Postgraduate Certificate in further education and a Diploma in Company Direction.  She also uses her professional experience to support a range of charitable causes as Chair of the Board of Trustees of New Dawn New Day Ltd, a Leicester based women’s charity providing trauma informed support, as a Measuring the Good volunteer for the Coalition for Efficiency to help leaders of social and environmental organisations measure and manage the impact of their organisation’s work, and as a volunteer representative of the Alzheimer’s Society.