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Caroline Chell has worked as a building surveyor in the construction industry for five years. Following a 20-year career creating commercial radio campaigns, she retrained via a part-time master’s in building surveying, and went on to secure a graduate building surveyor role at Carter Jonas, before progressing to assistant building surveyor at Rider Levett Bucknall.

 

It was during this period that Caroline recognised a critical gap in industry practice: personal protective equipment (PPE) was not fit for purpose in a modern, diverse workforce. Individuals visiting or working on construction sites differed widely in gender, height, size, physical ability and religious requirements – yet PPE had not evolved to accommodate them.

 

Caroline used the research report module of her degree to ask: ‘Does it matter if PPE fits women who work in the UK construction industry?’ Her research provided the first contemporary academic evidence that ill-fitting PPE poses serious risks and restricts access to work. 

 

Caroline’s findings became a catalyst for change and contributed directly to the development of the newly published British Standard on inclusive PPE: BS 30417.

 

The judges said:

“Outstanding. Caroline’s research directly influenced parliament and led to the UK’s first inclusive PPE standard. This is rare, structural, national policy-level change that will have a lasting impact”