This week Stan Yellop stood down as Chairman of Isle of Man International Branch.  This may not mean much too some people reading this but to us in the Executive Committee and Branch it is significant and cannot go by without comment.  Stan is a dedicated health and safety professional, who despite setting up and running his own consultancy business puts time into IOSH both in his Branch role and other roles in the national arena.  

It was Stan that got a group of like minded people together to float the idea of setting up an IOSH District for the Isle of Man.   My knowledge of the story started some 3 weeks after I came to work on the island in January 2003 when I was invited to a meeting at which we were asked to support the formation of an Isle of Man District under the Merseyside Branch.  There were 23 members on the island at that time but the whole ethos of Stan’s proposal was to encourage, support and grow health and safety expertise.

Very quickly we elected Stan as Chairman and, in the absence of others volunteering, myself as Vice Chair.  Since that time Stan has led the way in developing the executive and finding us our appropriate status, first as a Branch in our own right and then as an International Branch (persistence and common sense won the day).

With Stan at the helm and with membership now at 50 we have an active, lively and never short of an opinion executive committee!!  The committee consists of members from different employment sectors and includes our construction group representatives who contribute positively to the range of services and events we offer members and friends of IOSH.  Between us we have put together a series of well attended events including annual seminars which, despite us trying to keep the costs at break-even point, have always made money.

It was at the last executive meeting before the AGM that Stan announced that he did not wish to stand as Chair.  Having picked ourselves up off the floor and regrouped we made the nominations and with Stan still on the executive hope to take the Branch onward and upwards!

At the AGM last week, and despite me getting emotional, I managed to thank Stan for all he has done for the Branch and present him with a gift which could only ever be a small token of the appreciation and respect with which we hold him.

Thank you Stan, from all of us. 

Caron Palmer CMIOSH

Chairman

PS Stan, don’t get carried away, none of this will stop the banter!