Lois Audrey Pittom

Lois Audrey Pittom (4 July 1918 — 5 April 1990), known as Audrey Pittom, was a British Civil Servant; her career included roles as an Inspector of Factories, Deputy Chief Inspector of Factories, Under-Secretary in the Health and Safety Executive, Department of Employment.

Education Pittom was educated at Laurels School, Wroxall Abbey, Warwick; and St Anne's College, Oxford, where she was awarded a BA (Hons) degree in 1939.

Career Audrey Pitton was appointed as an Inspector of Factories in 1945; she was promoted to Superintending Inspector, Nottingham, in 1967; Deputy Chief Inspector of Factories in 1970; and Under-Secretary in the Health and Safety Executive, Department of Employment in 1975.

When she was appointed Under-Secretary in the 1970s she said: “If you really want to give health a boost it must come first in the title”.

It is reputed that the title of the Health and Safety at Work etc. Act 1974, and the wider use of the term ‘Health and Safety’ was coined by Pittom. She was appointed Under-Secretary in charge of health policy when the Health and Safety Executive was formed in 1975. Formally the Heath and Safety Executive was a 3-person body corporate comprising a Director General, a Deputy Director General and a third senior official. The first post-holders were John Howard Locke (DG); Bryan Hugh Harvey (DDG) and Audrey Pittom head of the Hazardous Substances Branch. She was also Director for Hazardous Substances for the Ministry of Health.

Pittom was one of the signatories of the 1978 Canvey Report which investigated the hazards from various industrial activities on Canvey Island.

Audrey Pittom became a Member of the Association of University Women in 1966. She remained active in her local Association after her retirement.

She was appointed Companion of the Bath (CB) in the New Year Honours 1979.

Personal Lois Audrey Pittom was born in Barby Northamptonshire, the second of three daughters of Thomas Pittom, farmer and landowner, and his wife Hylda (née Ashby).

Audrey Pittom never married. Charities received a total of £18,000.