Knowing my poor record for updating this diary as I do, this will probably be one of the last few entries before I hand over the Presidency to Nattasha Freeman on 11 November.
However, I have some time to hand so let me bring you up to date. There's a lot to get through, so I'll post it in sections over the next few days.
16/17 September – IOSH Council meeting
Members may not be aware that Council of Management meets twice a year: a one day meeting in February and a two day meeting in September. Since the governance changes agreed by Council back in 2004 the day to day running of the Institution is managed by the senior management team. The Board of Trustees meet 6 times a year to look at direction, finance, and overseeing of the management systems.
However, this Council meeting (as they often are) proved to be an interesting one, with items raised on the members forum at the forefront of the debate.
By now you should be aware that Council minutes will be posted on a separate page of the IOSH website for all those members who want to see the thrust of any particular debate and the outcome (where a vote was required). This will be subject to the usual rules as they relate to data protection and confidentiality (e.g. commercial sensitivity or issues relating to individual members).
Council also discussed other items raised on the forum such as “electioneering” which also generated a lot of debate. These discussions and the outcome of the debate will be included in the minutes and published. As noted by the Chief Executive, publication on the website for scrutiny by members should be within one month from the date of meeting deadline period.
Day 2 of the meeting saw the election of senior officers and the confirmation of Nattasha Freeman as the Council nominee for president for the year 2008/09 and the election of John Holden (Manchester Branch) as Council nominee for president elect. I was elected as the nominee to become Immediate Past President for 2008/09 - no other candidate eligible it seems…
18 September – Chiltern Branch Visit
Not too far from home this one, can be done in a day by car. However, never underestimate the power of the M25 to create chaos. Despite leaving plenty of time I still only arrived by the skin of my teeth. A good meeting marred only by technical problems at the start of my presentation – yes, I had tried it all the night before and it was working perfectly but somehow or another the gremlins got into the system and this meant I had to delay the start by some 30 minutes or so. This left Sarah Hamilton and Mary Sturgess from the Grange too short of time to present their session, my apologies once again to them. However, the branch is inviting them back at a later date. I believe they were able to answer questions from the floor on a range of issues while I was trying to get the laptop to co-operate.
I wish to thank personally the branch exec for lunch, those members of the branch who took the time and trouble to speak to me individually at the end of the presentation to say amongst other things “…it was worth the wait.” My thanks also go to the IT guys at the Grange who spent most of those 30 minutes trying to talk me through a solution.
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