Kris De Meester (°1966) is first adviser at the Federation of Enterprises in Belgium covering the field of health and safety at work as well as international social affairs. He holds a degree in chemical and agricultural engineering (University of Leuven 1989) as well as a master in business administration (University Louvain-La-Neuve 1990) and special degrees in environmental sciences and safety and health at work.

After having worked 7 years on environmental issues for Unizo, the self-employed and SME organization in Belgium, Kris joined FEB in 1998 to deal with health, safety and wellbeing at work. In that capacity he now is the employer’s group spokesperson in the European Commission’s Advisory Committee on Safety and Health at Work. He is the chairman of the Health and Safety working group of BusinessEurope, the Union of Industrial and Employers Confederations of Europe. He is also co-chairing the IOE (International Organization of Employers) Taskforce on the Future of Work.

Kris is also a member of the governing board and the bureau of the European Agency for Safety and Health at Work (EU-OSHA Bilbao), the governing board of the European Foundation for the Improvement of Living and Working Conditions (Dublin), the Governing Body of the International Labour Organization (ILO Geneva), the Governing Body of the International Training Centre of the ILO in Turin, the GOSH (Global OSH network of the International Organisation of Employers), the National Council for Prevention and Protection at Work in Belgium and the National Council the Protection against Fire and Explosion in Belgium.

He is also CEO of the organization Contractor Safety Management that operates B2B contractor safety management schemes in Belgium (BeSaCC: Belgian Safety Criteria for Contractors and VCA-SCC: Safety health and environment Checklist Contractors) with approximately 3000 certified companies and 100.000 workers and supervisors trained on a yearly base.