Haslam was educated at Bolton School and Birmingham University where he gained a first-class degree in mining engineering.
He obtained his colliery manager's certificate in June 1947, six months after the coal industry was nationalised.
[1] In October 1947 he joined the technical service department of the Nobel division of Imperial Chemical Industries in Glasgow and spent ten years there.
In Egypt he blew up the cofferdam to enable building of the Aswan Dam.
He took over the chairmanship of state-run British Steel Corporation from Ian MacGregor.