About Sheila Pantry

The late Sheila Pantry OBE was the Managing Director of Sheila Pantry Associates Ltd, a long-established provider of health, safety, environment and fire information. She worked internationally and in the UK in information provision, and was strongly committed to the use of computers in information management and associated training. Her role in the company included hands-on design, information sourcing and editorial activities.

Sheila worked in a variety of major industries, but her primary focus was the development of electronic products in health, safety, fire and chemical engineering. She developed and managed the world-renowned UK Health and Safety Executive Information Service, and over many years developed a number of computerised services, pioneering health and safety, environment and fire information via the Internet and compact disc technology.

Sheila worked closely with the International Labour Organization Health and Safety Centre (ILO/CIS), and worked with the European Commission programs in telematics and living/working conditions, and was instrumental in the development of a Masters Syllabus in Information Engineering.

She wrote and edited extensively for the health, safety, fire and environment press as well as for the information industry. She gave many talks and seminars in the UK and internationally on all aspects of information management, staff training and development, and the use of health, safety, fire, chemical and environment information. She was a Visiting Lecturer at the Department of Information Studies, University of Sheffield for many years. She also ran seminars and conferences on all aspects of health, safety and fire. Sheila was an active member of the UK Fire Information Group, the UK Fire and Rescue Statistics User Group and the Royal Society for the Prevention of Accidents (RoSPA) National Occupational Health and Safety Committee (NOSHC).

In association with NOSHC, Sheila created the Workers Memorial Day website to help commemorate the thousands of people who have been killed, disabled, seriously injured or made ill through their work.

With the help of members of the NOSHC, Sheila created the History of Occupational Safety and Health website which provides a wealth of information for those wishing to track the development of occupational safety and health in the UK and is an invaluable resource for students, lecturers, trainers, health and safety professionals and others with a general interest in industrial history.

Sheila was awarded the OBE by HM The Queen in 1993 for services to the health and safety information industry.

In 2000 the Royal Society for the Prevention of Accidents awarded Sheila its Distinguished Service Award, in recognition of her personal contributions in the field of occupational safety and health.

In 2004 a Certificate of Appreciation was awarded to Sheila for twenty-five years of untiring support of the International Occupational Safety and Health Information Centre (CIS) as National Counterpart (she set-up the UK National Centre in 1979). Sheila initiated, edited and hosted the CIS Newsletter for the CIS Centres from 1989–2011. Sheila was a constant advocate of the importance of information in making workplaces of the world ever safer and healthier.

In 2013 Sheila received the Institution of Occupational Safety and Health (IOSH) Lifetime Achievement Award, which honours those individuals who have furthered the status and practice of occupational safety and health, leading to substantial improvements to the lives of working people everywhere.