News article • 3 mins read
UKAS is delighted to announce the appointment of Caroline Hamilton, Chief Executive of SAFed, as the new Chair of our Policy Advisory Forum and Policy Advisory Council. Caroline’s extensive experience as a chartered mechanical engineer in the nuclear and manufacturing industries coupled with her leadership of SAFed ideally qualify her for this position. As the trade association for the UK independent engineering inspection and certification industry, SAFed plays a key role in maintaining high standards of safety within the workplace and is an important UKAS stakeholder.
UKAS is the National Accreditation Body and its role is to give confidence to the market, to government, regulators and the public that Conformity Assessment Bodies are carrying out their tasks competently and with integrity. Our close engagement with our stakeholders across all relevant sectors helps to provide trust in the products and services we all rely upon.
The Policy Advisory Forum and Council are an important part of UKAS’s governance. Comprised of a broad range of UKAS’s stakeholders, the Policy Advisory Forum meets annually to advise on UKAS’s strategic priorities and raise any general policy issues. The Policy Advisory Council is drawn from the Forum and meets more frequently to provide advice to UKAS on more detailed policy issues. We are confident that, following on from the excellent leadership of her predecessor, Ron Gainsford, Caroline will continue to ensure that the Policy Advisory Forum and Council continue supporting UKAS to respond to the exciting opportunities ahead.
Matt Gantley, UKAS Chief Executive welcomed Caroline to her role:
‘Congratulations to our new UKAS Policy Advisory Forum and Council Chair, Caroline Hamilton. With her wealth of engineering experience in the nuclear and manufacturing industries coupled with her leadership of SAFed, Caroline is ideally placed to Chair our key stakeholder forum. I am confident she will do an excellent job and look forward to working with her as UKAS continues to respond to the opportunities ahead.’
Caroline commented on her new venture:
‘I am honoured and excited to have been accepted as the chair of PAF. I hope that my knowledge and experiences from the majority of my career working in nuclear decommissioning consultancy and engineering within the manufacturing sector will be of use, as well the experiences I now have from my SAFed tenure having only recently joined in March 2020. I have already met a number of forum members and UKAS representatives involved, and I am looking forward to our first meeting in early 2023.’