Cumbrian-based UK fire safety expert strengthens team

One of Britain’s leading independent fire safety expert has strengthened its management team with a key appointment, as it continues its national growth drive. Dale Williams joins Cumbrian-based Safety Management (UK) as its new Head of Operations.

The 57-year-old has held a number of leadership roles in the manufacturing sector and joins from McBride, the leading supplier of private label household and personal care products for Europe's largest and most successful retailers.

Mr Williams was General Manager of its tablets and powder business, based at Barrow-in-Furness, and had been at the company for 13 years.

During his career he has also worked for a number of blue chip companies and groups, including GlaxoSmithKline, Kraft and Cadbury.

Safety Management (UK) Managing Director Brian Gregory said: “We are delighted that someone of Dale’s ability and experience has joined our management team.

“As Head of Operations, he will play a major role in our work as we look to continue our development and growth as a national business.”

Mr Williams added: “There is a massive amount of opportunity for this company and I am really looking forward to helping it continue to move forward and develop. The importance of the work that Safety Management (UK) carries out across a wide range of sectors cannot be underestimated.”

Safety Management (UK) is the biggest operation of its kind in the UK and carries out work for a range of companies, from manufacturing to the leisure and hospitality sector as well as social housing.

Based at Clawthorpe Hall Business Centre in Burton in Kendal, Cumbria, Safety Management (UK) is an independent provider of fire safety training, fire risk assessments and first aid training.

The company offers a national service through its dedicated team of regional fire risk assessors and trainers, who have decades of fire service experience. Its wide-ranging clients include housing associations, major hotels and retail outlet chains.

With a staff of almost 70, Safety Management (UK) has offices across the British Isles, from Orkney in Scotland to the Channel Islands and Galway on the west coast of Ireland. In the past three years its turnover has trebled.

This year it will complete around 12,000 fire risk assessments in the UK alone. That figure makes Safety Management (UK) the largest provider of fire risk assessments in Britain.

Mr Williams lives in Kendal with his wife, Anne. They have two children, Mandy, who works in the drinks sector in Carlisle, and Kelly, who coaches hockey at a school in Melbourne, Australia.