Position: Quality Assurance & Health and Safety Manager

How long at atg airports: 8 years

Role at atg airports: Managing the QA and Health and Safety processes across the whole business.

What major projects am I working on at the moment: Ensuring we are all working to a single set of QA processes across the business.

What made me choose a career in Quality and Health and Safety? The opportunity of working in all areas of a business, at all levels, in the pursuit of high standards.

What's the golden rule for someone doing this type of role? Never give up, the solution is there for the taking.

What advice would I give to my 18 year old self? Be yourself with confidence and stand up for your values

In a fire, which 1 item would I save? Common sense tells me; Photo ID

Things I enjoy: Walking in the country, 1970's Rock Music, Theatre, European Cities

Most memorable place visited: Marrakech

Favourite book: Walking in Mysterious Cheshire by Tony Bowerman – started me off on an enjoyable past time.

Favourite TV programme: The Prisoner

If I could meet someone dead or alive who would it be: Richard Branson

What would you say to them? What is your winning formula for motivating people to be passionate about quality and the business in general?

Any Health and Safety incidents to report: The Who concert at Wembley, trampled on at the front by Mods jumping up and down. (Just a few bruises), didn't do the risk assessment.

FULL BODY SCANNERS IN UK AIRPORTS: HAVE YOUR SAY

Following the attempted bombing of Northwest Flight 253 to Detroit late last year, the debate surrounding airport security and the imminent use of full body scanners continues to rage. With no clear consensus from governments and lobbyists around the world, and many questions raised by the general public as to the suitability of their introduction, are they really the safest solution they promise to be?

Despite the introduction of a “code of practice” for airport body scanners, countless issues have been raised over the apparent breach of privacy rules under the Human Rights Act. Are parents going to be willing to subject their children to such invasive scrutiny? There are those that argue a full body scan is no more invasive than hands on pat-down check from airport security staff, but honestly we can’t find many people that agree with the sentiment. Many religious concerns arise too; not only from mainstream clergy, but there are billions of people around the word whose customs and faiths highly-value privacy and modesty.

Do these new machines mean passengers will now have to forego the right to common privacy when travelling (an inconvenience that doesn’t seem to be extending to the undersea train track of the Channel Tunnel, or the thousands of ferries leaving the UK every year)? Are we looking for a needle (or an incendiary device) in a mountain of haystacks, and what’s the point when not every haystack is even being looked at in the same way?

Are we fooling ourselves even entering into the debate, and are scanners soon to become as ubiquitous in every terminal we travel through as the x-ray machine? Is this the unfortunate reality of the world we now live in and vital in protecting us all from potential terror attacks? But how many aircraft terrorist attacks have led to a loss of life since 9/11, and wasn’t it air marshals, liquid confiscations and extra diligence that helped here?

Is it really necessary to introduce this new technology at a time when so many “issues” still surround its legality, cost, inconvenience and questionable effectiveness, or are we duty-bound to try everything possible to stay one step ahead of the terrorists at any cost? Why has ‘scanning’ been preferred to ‘profiling’? Ask a dozen people, and you’ll get a dozen different responses: so what’s your view?

Click here to enter the debate, we’ll be sure to print the best responses in the next AirMail.