LONDON, April 30, 2015 /PRNewswire/ --

How to demonstrate leadership and accountability when protecting people from harm in the workplace will be the theme of a keynote speech at the leading international conference on occupational safety and health, in June.

More than 700 delegates from around the world will converge at IOSH 2015, at ExCeL London on 16-17 June, to hear global leadership expert Dr John Izzo give his address on 'Stepping up -how taking personal responsibility changes everything.'

In the last 20 years, Dr Izzo has spoken to more than one million people, taught at two major universities and advised over 500 organisations worldwide, including DuPont, McDonald's, Lockheed Martin, Qantas Airlines, Humana, Microsoft and the Mayo Clinic.

He defines stepping up as "seeing a need and deciding you are the right person to do something about it". In this session he will provide guidelines, tips and steps on becoming accountable, and share examples that exemplify these concepts along with helping delegates and their teams to be more effective within their workplace.

He said: "I cannot think of an industry where the Stepping Up concept and message of accountability could be a better fit. There is no other industry where being responsible for your tasks and part of the company is more imperative than the occupational safety and health industry."

"I am excited to share my Stepping Up talk with you, helping you to explore how you can be the champions of success and effectiveness in your industry."

Following this theme, Karl Simons, Head of Health, Safety and Wellbeing at Thames Water, will look at how you can strategically align safety and health to your business structure. In this session he will explore how safety and health practitioners can influence even with limited budget, resource and authority.

Dr Izzo will also chair the leadership in action track across both days of the conference, overseeing sessions including a case study from Steve Howells, Head of HSSE at Thames Tideway Tunnel, on how the project intends to deliver its 'triple zero' vision of zero incidents, zero harm and zero compromise with a transformational HSSE programme.

Other speakers participating and sharing their expertise within this track are Richard Byrne, Safety Director at Travis Perkins, Louise Ward, Head of Route Safety, Health and Environment at Network Rail and Dave Nicholls, Global HSE Manager for Wood Group PSN, amongst others.

An exciting new addition to the IOSH conference is the occupational health track; the new track complements the leadership in action, beyond compliance and managing global risk tracks. In all of these, high-level plenary sessions will be coupled with a choice of case studies, presentations and panel discussions.

Highlights in the occupational health track include Richard Heron, Vice President and Chief Medical Officer for BP, who will discuss how to lead and develop multi-disciplinary teams in a health setting. Clive Johnson, Group Head of Health and Safety at Land Securities will draw on his own experience to help explain the requirements of occupational health management as an employer, specifically in the context of the construction industry. His session will go on to define the boundaries between occupational health management, occupational hygiene and wellbeing.

Professor Neil Greenberg, Academic Psychiatrist at King's College London and Director of March on Stress, will also be looking specifically at occupational health and the impact of poor mental health, which is reportedly costing the UK economy up to £100 billion per year. Using his experience from a range of organisations, Prof Greenberg will help delegates to better understand how to prevent, detect and treat mental health problems to minimise the effects they have on staff and the business.

These are just some of the highlights of a packed and inspirational programme for the two-day conference, which is the flagship annual event of the Institution of Occupational Safety and Health (IOSH). Leadership in action - Shaping the future of occupational safety and health, this year's theme, is the driving force behind the success of safety and health strategies. Delegates will hear first-hand from those who have succeeded and, more importantly, find out how they achieved their success. 

For the full programme and details of the event, visit the http://www.ioshconference.co.uk. Anyone can stay up-to-date with the latest developments in the lead up to and during IOSH 2015 on Twitter by following the @IOSH_conference account, or via the hashtag #IOSH2015.

About IOSH:  

IOSH is the Chartered body for health and safety professionals. With more than 44,000 members in 120 countries, we're the world's biggest professional health and safety organisation.

We set standards, and support, develop and connect our members with resources, guidance, events and training. We're the voice of the profession, and campaign on issues that affect millions of working people.

IOSH was founded in 1945 and is a registered charity with international NGO status.

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Notes to editor:
For further information please contact:
Patsy Bateman
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Email: bryan.henesey@iosh.co.uk  

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