Jonathan O’Neill became managing director of the Fire Protection Association in 1999, and also sits on a number of government and ministerial advisory bodies, including the Business and Community Safety Board, the Arson Control Forum, the Integrated Risk Management Advisory Board and the Operational Guidance Strategy Board.
He was awarded in the Queen’s Birthday Honours for services to fire safety, and received his OBE on Tuesday 31 October at Buckingham Palace from Prince William, Duke of Cambridge.
Jonathan commented: ‘I am very humbled - it is a recognition of all of the FPA’s work to keep people safe. It must be said that whilst I am the one who picked up the award, I am only too aware that I am just the front man for what is an excellent team.
‘On behalf of the sector, I truly hope that we never have to respond to an incident on the scale of Grenfell Tower again. It has to be a wake up call. We have been campaigning for years - we hope this will lead to the best fire safety regulations in Europe.’