Grant Cropper

Grant possesses extensive experience of lecturing in higher education. Recognised as an Industry Fellow at the University of Salford Business School, Grant took the lead in developing the internationally acclaimed MSc Degree in Risk and Crisis Management. This proved extremely popular with students from an insurance underwriting background.

Alongside crisis management. Over the past three years Grant has been delivering food safety assurance and risk management on behalf of Hong Kong Polytechnic University. Grant is competent of delivering a diverse range of subjects including health and safety crisis management, business continuity and organisational resilience, risk mitigation, food safety, and public health. Possessing over 20 years' experience in environmental health and public health and holding Chartered status with both the CIEH and IOSH, Grant has contributed to the development of significant schemes as part of his academic research interests. Grant was heavily involved in the 'Safer Food Better Business' HACCP scheme. Here he took the lead in researching the culture and practices of organisations such as Indian and Chinese food establishments together with food preparation in care home settings. Such work exists as the benchmark for HACCP compliance for small businesses.

In terms of non-academic experience, Grant has managed teams of environmental health officers in the public sector. During this time, he was responsible for housing, pollution, public health, and antisocial behaviour. Added to this, Grant supervised teams of EHPs enforcing health and safety and food safety. Here he took the lead in investigations such as E. coli 0157 outbreaks and workplace fatalities. In the private sector Grant has experience of managing the global response of over 200 consultants dealing with product recall and crisis management. This involved extensive travel across Europe, the Middle East, Asia, and the US. This required Grant to possess an extensive knowledge of regulatory and industry standards. Significant incidents which Grant had direct involvement with include: The Horse Meat Scandal, the BlueBell Ice Cream Listeria outbreak, and from a health and several high profile workplace fatality incidents. In his own right, Grant has acted as a health and safety consultant supporting blue-chip companies around the world. This work involved developing and overseeing IOSH Managing and Working Safely training together with bespoke training which included accident/incident investigation and root cause analysis. Grant has also worked with schools, delivering critical incident management training to over 150 schools to date.

Finally, Grant has a keen interest in crisis preparedness in the hotel industry. This forms the basis of his PhD proposal, and he is currently working with several organisations to highlight significant points which may arise out of the study.