“My vision is that everyone would be a willing participant in the safety system to effect change, rather than relying on regulation to effect change.” – Catherine Roome, new President and CEO of the BC Safety Authority.
Effective April 1, professional engineer Catherine Roome is the new President and Chief Executive Officer of the BC Safety Authority, following the March 31 retirement of founding President and CEO Harry Diemer. Her selection was made public December 2010 following a rigorous and thorough search conducted under the direction of the Safety Authority’s Board of Directors.
In a call to industry and business owners, Roome says she will be pushing forward a philosophy built around risk management – where reducing or eliminating risk is everyone’s responsibility.
“Often regulation is put into place after a catastrophic incident. We could avoid that by each of us doing our part: the Safety Authority in disseminating information on what we believe are risks in the future; and industry and companies creating innovative practices to control those risks.”
A graduate of the University of Victoria in the engineering program, Roome joined the Safety Authority as Vice-President of Engineering in 2005, coming from BC Hydro where she had been General Manager of its Thermal Operations. She was appointed the Safety Authority’s Chief Operating Officer in 2007.
Roome said she is looking forward to hearing from stakeholders and clients towards improving processes and encouraging innovation, both from the Safety Authority and those in the safety arena.
“Business is all about building relationships,” she says. “We need to look at new ways of thinking. Confident decisions. And everyone doing their part. That’s progress.”