Step Change in Safety is governed by a board of directors, membership of which is drawn from senior executives within member companies or organisations, all of whom are committed to working to make safety improvements in the energy industry.
The board of directors provides leadership that guides and shapes the vision of Step Change in Safety as it continually works for members and their staff to deliver continuous improvements in the energy industry’s safety performance. Board members assist the Support Team, Leadership Team and Workgroups to develop and deliver events and resources for members, shape policy, facilitate research and engage with external organisations such as governments, local authorities, educational institutions, and non-member companies and associations, nationally and internationally.
Step Change in Safety and its board of directors are governed by articles of association.
Our board comprises a maximum of ten people and includes one representative of an Energy Company, one representative of a Supply Chain organisation, the CEO of Step Change in Safety and up to seven representatives from member companies.
The current members of our board are listed below.
The Board
- Craig Wiggins
- CEO
- Step Change in Safety
Craig Wiggins has nearly 40 years of experience in the energy industry. He has vast knowledge and experiences from front line operations to the board room. He is passionate about simplification and efficiency of processes due to strong experiences in lean manufacturing and is focused on making sure the people in the front line have the highest safety standards.
Craig started his career in 1985 as a Trainee Operations Technician and spent next 25 years at Shell in a variety of Operations and Business Improvement roles such as Offshore Installation Manger and finally as the St Fergus Gas Plant Manager.
Craig has also held senior operations leadership positions with Petrofac and BP. He joined Aker Solutions in 2015 as the Managing Director of their UK Maintenance, Modification and Operations Business which then developed into leading that business in the Middle East and Africa. In 2018 Craig became the Head of Health, Safety, Security and the Environment for Aker Solution’s global operations.
In 2022, Craig joined NEO Energy as their HSE & ESG Director.
Craig joined Step Change in Safety in October 2023 as Executive Director.
Craig has an MBA and is a Fellow of the Chartered Management Institute.
- Gillian Urquhart
- Energy Company Co-Chair
- BP Exploration
As Regional HSE & Carbon Manager for bp North Sea Gillian is part of the Business Leadership Team accountable for the delivery of HSE& Carbon activities across the business, supporting safe, compliant and reliable operations. Prior to joining bp, Gillian was head of Safety and Sustainability for Equinor in the UK working to establish Equinor’s first UK operatorship and overseeing Equinor UK’s low carbon and renewable activities.
Gillian spent 11 years working for the UK regulator (HSE) in a variety of roles including front line inspector for a wide range of high hazard industries including construction, nuclear and oil and gas. Working across these industries Gillian gained extensive knowledge and insight of safety management practices and experienced first-hand the impact incidents can have on people and their families. This has created a real drive and passion to improve and sustain high standards of safety.
Gillian has a Bachelor of Science degree in physics and a Master of Science degree in medical and radiation physics from the University of Aberdeen. Gillian is a chartered member of the Society of Radiation Protection and Institute of Physics, a STEM ambassador and an advocate for women in physics.
- Derek Mitchell
- Supply Chain Co-Chair
- nexos
- Peter Wilson
- Vice President
- Valaris
Peter Wilson is Vice President, Europe & Mediterranean, at Valaris – one of the world’s largest drilling contractors.
Peter became Vice President of the EUM business unit upon the merger of Ensco and Rowan in 2019. Prior to that, he served as Vice President, International Operations for Rowan. He returned to the UK to join Rowan in 2011 after a period running safe and efficient drilling contractor operations in deep-water Brazil and Gulf of Mexico.
With a strong foundation in subsea, well engineering and offshore operations starting in the UK.
- David King
- UKI Safety & Sustainability Manager
- Equinor
David is currently Head of HSE (Safety and Sustainability) for Equinor in the UK based in Aberdeen and has over 34 years’ experience in health & safety, operations and crisis management with professional qualifications including Chartered Engineer and Fellowship of IOSH.
Prior to joining Equinor, David spent 3 years as Director of Health, Safety and Environmental Protection at the Ministry of Defence based in Whitehall, responsible for strategic leadership of health, safety & environmental protection, spanning all the Commands and the Enabling Organisations that make up UK Defence. David provided advice to Defence Ministers, the Permanent Secretary, and the Defence chiefs.
David led the health and safety review of the AJAX armoured fighting vehicle programme that was laid before the UK Parliament in December 2021.
Prior to joining the MOD, David worked for BP for 29 years in various operational, engineering, corporate and leadership roles.
For the last seven years of his career with BP, David was Vice President of HSE for the Upstream division of the company, leading the HSE function comprising 740 professionals, supporting over 60 operations in 15 countries. David also led a central team responsible for policy, developing best practice, and providing subject matter expertise.
David’s role with BP also involved external responsibilities within the wider oil & gas industry. He was Vice Chair of the Safety Committee for the International Oil and Gas Producers Association (IOGP) during the development of the 9 Life Saving Rules, with other activities including setting policy for the industry globally on topics such as contractor management, safety management systems, transportation, and aviation safety.
- James Njuguna
- Associate Dean for Research & Knowledge Exchange, and Professor of Composite Materials
- Robert Gordon University
Professor James Njuguna is the Associate Dean for Research & Knowledge Exchange, and Professor of Composite Materials at RGU. He is a Fellow of Royal Society of Edinburgh (FRSE) and The Institute of Materials, Minerals and Mining (FIMMM).
James’ research is focused on experimental research on composite materials reinforcement, toughness, materials design, and selection; and structural-property relationship. Structural composites research is focused on new products design and industrial applications such as engineering design, evaluation of composites integrity and durability evaluation primary structural applications in extreme harsh conditions such as high temperature, high pressure, shock and impact resistance. This works on materials use, design and failure mitigation studies has widely contribute to safety features widely employed in automotive, aerospace, motorsports, oil and gas, renewable energy, construction sectors.
- Ellis Renforth
- President of Operations for Europe, Middle East and Africa
- Wood Plc
Ellis assumed the role of President of Operations for Europe, Middle East and Africa (EMEA) at Wood in 2022, following three years as Senior Vice President of the company’s upstream business in UK and Europe. In his role, Ellis leads a team of more than 7,000 supporting operations, decarbonisation and asset optimisation across the region.
A chartered engineer with more than 20 years of experience, Ellis has held several senior leadership roles within the oil and gas industry, including eight years with Aker Solutions as Operations Manager. Latterly, in his three years with CNOOC International as Senior Project Manager, he supported the subsea development for the largest oil discovery in the UK North Sea of the past two decades.
Committed to propelling growth safely and sustainably across EMEA, Ellis is focused on delivering exceptional results through the development and deployment of integrated and smart operations solutions across a broad range of end-markets, including oil, gas, new energies, life sciences, and the circular economy.
He is passionate about safety, ensuring people feel engaged and supported in their roles and helping them to progress to achieve their career aspirations at Wood.
- Ross McAllister
- Chief Safety Health and Wellbeing Officer
- Nuclear Decommissioning Authority
Currently, the Chief Safety Health and Wellbeing Officer with the Nuclear Decommissioning Authority Ross has 30 years of experience in the Nuclear Industry working in both the private and public sectors. He has held a variety of senior operational and leadership positions including Plant Manager of the Hartlepool Nuclear Power Plant, Nuclear Operations Director responsible for safe, efficient operations at 11 Nuclear Licenced sites across the United Kingdom and Programmes Delivery Director responsible for all projects and programmes being delivered by Nuclear Restoration Services.
During his career Ross spent 3 years seconded to the World Association of Nuclear Operators in Paris leading multinational teams of experts to assess the safety and reliability of nuclear sites across the globe.
He currently serves as President of the Independent Nuclear Safety Committee in Belgium (Electrabel).
Ross holds an Honours degree in Mechanical Engineering, is a Chartered Engineer and Fellow of the Institute of Mechanical Engineers. He successfully completed the Senior Nuclear Plant Management Course in Atlanta in 2014. He has featured in a number of publications on topics such as Nuclear Safety Culture and Outage Management.
- David Griffiths
- Group Director - Safety, Health & Wellbeing
- National Grid
David has over 30 years of industrial experience in development, construction, operational and HSE roles in Power Generation, Petrochemical, Oil & Gas, Manufacturing and Renewables sectors.
As Group Director - Safety, Health & Wellbeing for National Grid, he fulfills an executive role supporting their Group Executive and Board. Prior to joining National Grid, he worked for SSE from 2013 as Head of HSE supporting their Renewables, Thermal, Gas Storage and E&P business units. Since 2019 he solely focused on providing strategic and tactical HSE and wellbeing support to the SSE Renewables executive and management teams. Managing their team of HSE specialists across the portfolio including development, construction, operations and decommissioning covering Offshore wind, Onshore wind, Hydro, Solar generation and Battery storage technologies in GB, RoI and Internationally.
David is a Chartered Member of Institute of Occupational Safety and Health (CMIOSH), with an MSc Occupational Health and Safety and is also a Fellow of the Energy Institute. He was previously the chair of G+ International Offshore Wind H&S Board and a member of Energy Institute HSE Board.
