Sue Caccavone, Operations Manager (Asset Management) at Binnies, has been selected as one of the Women’s Engineering Society’s Top 50 Women in Engineering (WE50) 2023: Make safety seen.
Founded by the Women’s Engineering Society in 2016, the WE50 awards are a UK event linked to International Women in Engineering Day (INWED) – the celebration of women in engineering that takes place on 23 June each year. In association with The Guardian* newspaper, the 2023 Top 50 Women in Engineering Awards celebrate the women engineers who are engaged in safety and security and who #MakeSafetySeen. These amazing women work to keep us safe, wherever we are.
Sue said, “I am keen on sharing my experiences and knowledge to inspire more young people, especially young women, into engineering. Without prompting, my daughter is currently applying to study civil engineering at university, following in my footsteps. I’m thrilled. This is what it’s all about – showing women there are no limitations to their talent and ambitions.”
Sue’s own career has shown that opportunities are there to be seized
She is a Chartered Member of the Institution of Civil Engineers (ICE) and the Institution of Occupational Safety and Health (IOSH), as well as a National Examination Board in Occupational Safety and Health (NEBOSH) trainer in construction safety. She became a technical director for safety and risk aged 30. She is an ICE Chartered Professional Reviewer, a member of the Professional Review Panel and a liaison officer for the Engineering Council. Working part-time has been no barrier in taking on new leadership challenges to progress her career.
Currently health and safety (H&S) programme lead for Southern Water’s H&S Transformation Programme, she is influencing culture with new behavioural safety, a safety management system, incident reporting, inductions and training. This programme will make all 2500 employees safety leaders, encouraging them all to show visible safety leadership and discuss safety at home, on sites and at community events. Her hope is that this will inspire young girls to be more curious about a career in STEM.
While she was the only female resident principal designer for the Environment Agency, Sue promoted the role women have in safety on flood protection projects. She has championed women in engineering for over 25 years and mentors new starters on early career success for the Women in Flood and Coastal Erosion Risk Management (Women in FCERM) networking group for 2023/24.
The personal highlight of Sue’s career is working with the RNLI for over 20 years as CDM coordinator, providing safety leadership on the construction and refurbishment of 75 lifeboat stations.
* Correction: The awards were sponsored by Power Engineering International this year.