Janet Wilson, who has died of cancer aged 61, had a distinguished career with the Health & Safety Executive (HSE). She was a pioneer of equal opportunities for women in industry and, as head of operations for north-west England, oversaw key investigations into deaths associated with work.
Born in Manchester, she spent her teenage years in Woodford Green, north-east London, and attended Woodford county high school for girls.
After graduating in zoology at Bristol University, Janet joined the Factory Inspectorate in 1967, following in the footsteps of her father, William Moore, who became deputy chief inspector of factories. Janet spent most of her working life in Manchester where, in 1977, she was seconded to the Equal Opportunities Commission to look at how health and safety law impacted on women at work. She played an important part in the removal of restrictions on the hours and type of industrial work women could do.
Janet pioneered part-time working and, having juggled her own commitments to home, motherhood and work, was supportive of staff, male and female, who wanted a different balance between domesticity and work. (She was instrumental in getting HSE to reimburse inspectors for their extra childcare costs during residential training courses.)
Janet was promoted to principal inspector in 1989 and to head of operations in 1995. She helped change the way HSE work was done, developing the "extended" role of the workplace contact officer who brings targeted advice and information to small firms. This brought greater opportunities for a wider range of work for support staff and meant inspectors could concentrate on their visits to workplaces.
Janet oversaw a number of prominent investigations into deaths associated with work. Some were carried out with the police, and some resulted in prosecutions for manslaughter. Others resulted in cases under the Health and Safety at Work etc Act. After the investigation into the drowning of a 10-year-old boy in a plunge pool in the Lake District in 2002, she ensured that detailed guidance was quickly available on how to avoid the mistakes which led to this death. She led the response, in the media, to suggestions that all school trips should be stopped, by arguing that such trips were important in the development of young people. With proper planning, organisation and supervision, they could be made safely.
Following her retirement in January 2005, she became a volunteer in the Citizens Advice Bureau in Stockport and joined the Manchester research ethics committee, which reads protocols for clinical trials. In just a short time she made valuable and perceptive contributions, often offering creative solutions that others might not have thought of.
Janet always listened, and said what she liked and what she did not like in a polite but firm way, and usually with a smile. She had wide interests: a book group with close friends, bird watching and caravanning with her husband, "food talk" with other keen cooks and gourmets, watching her younger daughter at horse events, and gardening and garden visiting.
In 2002, she joined garden historians on a trip to the gardens of Persia. As she donned her robe and scarf before landing at Tehran, Janet said she had been wearing the headscarf at home "to make sure I could eat comfortably with it on".
Janet is survived by her husband Ted and daughters Lindsay and Emily.
· Janet Marianne Wilson, civil servant, born January 25 1945; died November 11 2006
