No specific background was required when I joined the Factory Inspectorate in the mid-1960s, before it became part of the Health and Safety Executive: a philosophy graduate could be as successful as a chartered engineer. Indeed, diversity was one of its main strengths: the combination of a small group of specialists and a larger group with a wide variety of backgrounds gave it the ability to see a problem from many different perspectives and allowed it to challenge assumptions and ask stupid questions - often the most necessary.

LRB 16 March 2000 | PDF Download