Ken Agnew


Health & Safety Associate Consultant
BSc (Hons), Dip I.S., H.E.C., MCIEH 

Ken graduated from the University of Ulster with an Upper Second Class Honours degree in 1985 and went on to pursue a career in Environmental Health in England. Initial posts involved working for London Borough of Hackney and London Borough of Southwark followed by the City of Westminster gaining a wide spectrum of knowledge and experience across the diverse range of Environmental Health subject areas.

In the late 1980s and continuing into the 1990s there were considerable high publicity incidents relating to food safety, i.e. Salmonella, BSE, Listeria and E.coli. As the demand for independent expertise in these areas increased it seemed the perfect time to set up a consultancy specialising in Food Safety and Health and Safety at Work. Ken was a co-founder of Stewart Harris Agnew Partnership (SHAP) established in 1989.

Initial contracts involved working with high profile caterers of the time such as Catering and Allied, High Table and smaller city of London chains such as Corney and Barrow Wine Bars. In 1992 the partnership was successful in the tender to oversee all aspects of Food Safety in relation to National Rail catering services. This involved nationwide auditing of suppliers, monitoring of all service centres throughout the length and breadth of Great Britain and auditing all on board train services. With the privatisation and fragmentation of railway contracts it became impossible to work for both client and customer but SHAP have retained their contract with Rail Gourmet – the supply company who are the focal point of railway catering and who source and supply all food to Train Operating Companies. This now includes supply to Irish Trains and for SHAP, auditing of food companies across Britain, Ireland and mainland Europe.

Ken has retained his Environmental Health Officer Registration and remains retained by some Local Authorities on a consultancy basis assisting with inspection programmes for food premises in relation to food safety and health and safety at work and also with specialist schemes such as ‘Scores on the Doors’.

Ken has completed post graduate training in relation to Health Education and Lead Assessor auditing as well as many specialist training opportunities in specific areas to keep up to date with the ever changing and developing landscape of food safety and health and safety at work.  He is a registered trainer and SHAP are a registered training centre able to offer the full range of Chartered Institute of Environmental Health training courses. 

Working in the private sector has allowed Ken an appreciation of the everyday obstacles a business can face and to realise that the input of a such a multi-skilled, problem solving Environmental Health Officer with clear written and verbal communication skills  can be immensely beneficial and can provide the peace of mind and security that clients desire.