Posted By Anne Smart This question was originally posted in November 2005 and generated a lot of interesting stories from members and non-members about what led them to a career in health and safety. Did you always intend to work in health and safety? Did a personal or professional experience make you change from a difference career? How did you get to where you are today? If you haven't already shared your story, please do so here! Anne Smart, IOSH media and marketing assistant

Posted By Richard Altoft In the seventies I was a manager in construction and as safety was my responsibility I always wanted to know more. Our company safety officer was Ken Urquhart who later went onto be Safety Director for the New Hong Kong Airport Project and was awarded the OBE (I think) for services to safety. As I changed jobs I always seemed to get involved with safety (but as a manager of sites and projects etc) and with safety people and met many that I am still proud to call friends.I was the site manager for many of the pre CDM experiments before 1994 working to support Terry Woods in developing CDM and write the firts ever CDM book. I guess safety people, even when they gave me grief, were my kind of people. When Working Well Together was getting up and running I contributed the construction experience to team up with George Westwood's safety experience in the Midlands. When I came out of Project Management I took a MSc in H&S and started my own project and safety management consultancy. That was in 2001 and we go from strength to strength but doing more and more safety than project work these days. Significantly a while ago at a IOSH conference I bumped into Ken Urquhart and when he asked what I was doing at the conference I said "I am in safety now". His immediate response was "what took you so long" so perhaps I got into safety back in 1978 as a manager of construction sites and only into safety as a career some 23 years later.I would also argue I am more effective at handling both managers and workforces in the interests of safety now because of my mixed experience than I would ever have been if I had specialised in safety too early. So to all those who influenced how I finished up in safety, you are forgiven but not forgotten. Richard G Altoft, CMIOSH and CEng and proud of being both.