Nancy Hey, OBE
Director of Evidence and Insight
Nancy is Director of Evidence and Insight, leading the Global Safety Evidence Centre at Lloyd’s Register Foundation, as well as the World Risk Poll and the Foundation’s impact framework.
About the Centre
We collate, create, and communicate the best available global safety evidence and insight.
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The Global Safety Evidence Centre is a hub for people who want to know ‘what works’ to make people safer.
We collate, create, and communicate the best available evidence on both the nature a scale of global safety challenges, and what works to address them.
Working with us
Working with us
How you can engage with the Centre
We work with partners to identify and fill evidence gaps and to use this evidence for action.
22
22
Live Global Safety Evidence Centre grants
12
12
Countries receiving funding in this area
£4.4m
£4.4m
Current value of grant portfolio in this area
Our purpose
The Centre was established in 2025, backed by a £15 million investment from Lloyd’s Register Foundation over 10 years.
It was formed in response to a concerning scarcity of reliable, high-quality evidence on the comparative effectiveness of difference safety measures, and a need to make evidence more relevant and accessible to practitioners in different global and industrial contexts.
This need was identified initially in a foresight review of global safety evidence, and confirmed in two reports published in May 2025: a systematic review of OSH interventions reviews, and the findings of a consultation with OSH practitioners in high-risk sectors around the world.
The Centre has three core evidence programmes
Safety science is knowledge about safety and risk related issues. It considers how to assess and manage these issues, and how individuals, organisations and communities understand, assess, measure and manage safety. The problem is that presently, safety terms can be poorly defined, while interventions and measures are inconsistent and are often not evaluated.
With this programme, we aim to bring together the relevant knowledge, tools and methods to help address this and improve safety outcomes,
Nearly three million people worldwide die of work-related accidents and diseases every year. Another 395 million workers sustain non-fatal injuries, particularly in hazardous industrial sectors such as agriculture and construction. The World Risk Poll tells us that almost one in six of the global workforce have experienced harm while working. Despite these high figures, it isn’t high on the list of things most people worry about.
A review of the state of the evidence shows that safety terms are poorly defined, and that interventions are inconsistent and often not evaluated. We are therefore looking to bring together the relevant knowledge, tools and methods to help improve safety outcomes at work. This is focused particularly in ‘high hazard’ industries, building on insights from the Lloyd’s Register Foundation World Risk Poll.
Including Safer Maritime Systems, Safer Sustainable Infrastructure and Skilled People for Safer Engineering (particularly in the context of climate change adaptation, decarbonisation, emerging technologies and changing populations).
