My father, Jim Hammer, who has died aged 91, played a role in the development of the 1974 Health and Safety at Work Act, which he helped to draft as a superintending inspector at the Factory Inspectorate.
Previous health and safety legislation had been prescriptive, dealt largely with hardware and equipment, and did not address the need for underpinning management systems. Even allowing for the decline of heavy industry since then, there has been a massive improvement in UK health and safety performance: the Act played a big part in that, as did the creation of two new regulatory bodies, the Health and Safety Commission and the Health and Safety Executive, which Jim did much to help establish.
Jim was born in Dulwich in south east London to George Hammer, a civil servant, and his wife, Gertie (nee Dicke). After being educated at Dulwich college he did his national service in the Intelligence Corps, mostly in Austria, then studied at Corpus Christi College, Cambridge, before joining the Factory Inspectorate as a factory inspector in Birmingham in the 1950s. There he met fellow inspector Meg Halse; they married in Birmingham in 1955 and raised three children in a vibrant, happy household, moving to Manchester, Norfolk and then Stoke-on-Trent before finally settling in London in 1970.
He spent his whole career until retirement working for the Factory Inspectorate and then the Health and Safety Executive, rising to be deputy chief inspector at the inspectorate (1974), chief inspector of factories (1975-84) and then deputy director general at the Health and Safety Executive (1985-89). He was made a Companion of the Order of the Bath in 1979.
In retirement he became president of the International Association of Labour Inspection, leading reviews of inspection systems across the world and sometimes chairing meetings in three languages. He was also one of the first directors on the board of UK Skills (now Worldskills UK), set up in 1990 to promote the value of vocational skills to young people.
In addition he was vice-chairman of Camberwell health authority (1982-91), volunteered for Lambeth & Southwark Mencap, and with Meg sold fairtrade goods for Traidcraft at his local church.
Jim was a superb conversationalist who had charm, boundless energy and an unforgettable laugh. All of this made him an effervescent host: glass of wine in hand, he could recount his favourite phrase, “I appear to have an evaporation problem!”, in many languages.
An avid walker and prolific painter, he absorbed culture by visiting theatres, exhibitions and classical music concerts. He also travelled to more than 30 countries with Meg after his retirement.
Jim showed great resilience and dignity in the face of the death of his two sons, Paul and David, in 1990 and 2013 respectively, and then Meg in 2018.
He is survived by me and his five grandchildren.
