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Peter Baker retires from HSE

After a long and successful career, Peter Baker, has retired from the Health and Safety Executive and his role of Chief Inspector of Buildings.

Peter Baker

HSE’s current Director of Regulation and former Head of Construction Division, Philip White, will take over Peter’s responsibilities on an interim basis, pending recruitment of the next Chief Inspector of Buildings.

This paves the way for a smooth transition of senior leadership of HSE’s construction operations and building safety responsibilities as the Building Safety Regulator (BSR) programme continues to remain firmly on track.

Philip White

Philip White joined HSE as a trainee Inspector in 1985 and has experience of regulating a broad range of industries. As Director of Regulations in HSE, Philip has played a leading policy role in setting up the BSR over the last three years.

Philip said: “I am looking forward to the challenge of leading the regulatory programme for building safety, at a time when stability will be key to the delivery of our new operational services, until an open competition for the permanent position is held.”

 

Notes to Editors

About BSR: The Building Safety Regulator (BSR) is an independent body established by the Building Safety Act, 2022, and is part of the Health and Safety Executive (HSE). BSR will raise building safety and performance standards and oversee a new stringent regime for high-rise residential buildings, as well as overseeing the wider system for regulating safety and performance of all buildings and increasing the competence of relevant regulators and industry professionals.

About HSE: The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) is Britain’s national regulator for workplace health and safety. We prevent work-related death, injury and ill health through regulatory actions that range from influencing behaviours across whole industry sectors through to targeted interventions on individual businesses. These activities are supported by globally recognised scientific expertise.

About the Building Safety Act, 2022: The Building Safety Act gained Royal Assent on the 28 April 2022 and makes ground-breaking reforms to give residents and homeowners more rights, powers and protections. The Act overhauls existing regulations, creating lasting change and makes clear how residential buildings should be constructed, maintained, and made safe. Full implementation of the Act is in October 2023, which means each building owner should have their building safety regime in place by this time.

HSE news releases are available at http://press.hse.gov.uk