Our People

Olivia van der Werff Managing Director

LLB (Hons) LPC CMIOSH FRSH MRIPH

Olivia qualified as a solicitor in 2001 and worked in private practice before becoming one of the first solicitors in the country to dual qualify in health and safety. She is a Chartered Member of IOSH and a Member of the Occupational Safety and Health Consultants Register.

Olivia founded Beyond Dispute in 1997 with the specific aim of reducing the risks facing businesses by taking a practical constructive approach.

She specialises in two areas of risk management. Health and safety consultancy and adjudication of competitions, quizzes, television shows and phone votes.

Olivia was one of the first solicitors in the country to dual qualify in health and safety. This legal background gives the ability to take a practical and pragmatic approach to finding solutions to the health and safety problems facing her clients.

She was the first adjudicator on Deal or No Deal for Endemol and since then has worked on a large number of shows including most recently Red or Black?, The Chase, Let’s Dance for Comic Relief, Cleverdicks, Eurovision Song Contest.

Beyond Dispute is an approved BBC verifier and one of Olivia's specialities is verification of judging panels and back up jurys. Olivia has worked with BBC Compliance departments to shape a set of guidelines for running judging panels.

Other shows include In It To Win It, Perfection, Magic Numbers, The Magicians, Who Dares Wins and The Colour of Money.

Olivia has provided health and safety consultancy to a large number of shows including, The Great British Bake Off, The Exit List, Plain Jane, Boys and Girls Alone, Vodafone TBA’s 1, 2 and 3, Ultimate Challenge, Big Brother, Soccer Aid.

Tiggi Trethowan

Tiggi Trethowan is a highly experienced Line Producerand First Assistant Director in charge of logistics, safety and the smooth running of each programme she works on. Her professional history has been spread widely across the BBC & independent sector. Her work has concentrated on high profile and extreme type of programmes including '999' for the BBC, the 'Man vs Wild' series starring Bear Grylls, 'Girl on Wire' for BBC Blue Peter & most recently the new Ben Fogle series 'Year of Adventure' for the BBC & Lonely Planets.

Nigel Billing CMIOSH MIIRSM

Nigel is a chartered member of the Institution of Occupational Safety and Health (IOSH) and has worked as a health and safety professional since 1991. He has worked for multinational organisations in manufacturing with BTR Industries and the commercial sector with Barclays and HSBC Banks where, for the latter, he headed up UK operations.

Since 2009 he has worked as a health and safety consultant, dealing with clients across a wide range of sectors including construction, tv production, maintenance, warehousing, media, textiles and printing. Notable clients include Virgin Media, BSkyB and the BBC where he works with them on DIY SOS – The Big Build.

Amanda Billing CMIOSH MIIRSM

Amanda is a chartered member of the Institution of Occupational Safety and Health (IOSH) and has worked as a health and safety professional since 1995. She started her health and safety career working for BTR Industries dealing with a wide range of manufacturing locations and then moved into the public sector with responsibility for education services and leisure.

She then worked in the exhibition and events sector for the NEC Group and latterly for Virgin Media with responsibilities within tv production and facilities. Since 2011 she has worked as a health and safety consultant with a range of clients including AXA PPP, Serco, Virgin Media and the BBC where she works with them on DIY SOS – The Big Build.

Neil Maidman CMIOSH

Neil has a wide experience and a proven record of accomplishment in Health and Safety Management. He is a strong communicator with excellent presentation, analytical and interpersonal skills, liaising across broad personnel spectrums.

He is worked on a wide range of shows providing hands on, practical and user friendly advice. He is also a particularly skilled and experienced trainer with a well-developed ability to make health and safety as painless as possible.

Ray Thompson – DIP2 OSH Grad IOSH MIIRSM

Ray is an extremely competent and experienced practitioner. Like Nigel, Ray has a specialism in construction safety in tv and provides the CDM support on the Big Brother house to Endemol.

Kim England Head of HR FCIPD

With an impressive corporate background, prior to joining Beyond Dispute, Kim was Assistant Director of Personnel at the University of Bristol.

Partner organisations

We work closely with interactive broadcast consultancy - Cork And Leather.