How we are governed

Following a career as Engineer, Manager and Leader at BNFL (20 years) and then AWE (17 years), Bruce is now retired. His career frequently required appropriate integration of Design Intent performance (Reliability and Quality); Legal Compliance and Licensing (development and meeting Safety Cases).

Relevant Engineering roles held: Facility Design (concept to realisation); performance demonstration via Modelling and Commissioning; Maintenance Optimisation; Engineering Substantiation; independent Corporate Assurance (Third Line of Defence); finally culminating as Technical Advisor to a Director.

Relevant experience includes: Production Operations; enhancing reliability by identifying and delivering Engineering and Human Factors solutions; development and deployment of unified Engineering and HF Deterministic Safety Cases; and Decommissioning of Conventional, Nuclear and Toxic assets.

Mark Norris is a past Chair of both the IMechE’s Safety & Reliability Group (SRG) and the Engineering for Reliability Working Group (WG1), having joined SRG in 2004, and is now Chair of the Human Factors in Safety & Reliability Working Group (WG4). Mark is a Chartered Engineer, Fellow of the IMechE, the Safety & Reliability Society (SaRS) and the Institute of Asset Management (IAM), as well as a Registered Asset Management Professional. Mark is a freelance asset management (AM) and reliability consultant, including training and coaching, from CEOs to Front Line Operatives in Failure Modes and Effects Analysis (FMEA), Reliability Centred Maintenance (RCM), Root Cause Analysis (RCA), A3 Problem Solving (part of the Toyota Production System), IAM Foundation, Certificate, Diploma, Strategic Asset Management Plan (SAMP) development and the development of Asset Management Systems to ISO 55001.

In his 35+ year career, Mark has developed an understanding of the entire asset lifecycle, from requirements to disposal, having been involved in every stage across multiple industries as an Asset Manager, supplier, designer, developer, consultant, and client. Mark has led design teams, development projects, validated new products (as supplier & purchaser), set up warranty systems, implemented Asset Information Management Systems (AIMS), created and embedded ISO 55001 AMS (Asset Management Systems), carried out AM maturity assessments etc., with direct experience of Nuclear, Automotive, Blue-Chip manufacturing, Metro Rail, Construction Equipment, Wind Energy and Mainline Rail.

Mark’s career began with the Safety & Reliability Directorate of the UK Atomic Energy Authority in 1988, progressing to become a Designer for Ricardo Consulting Engineers, in the Automotive industry, where he gained skills that have supported him through out his career, such as Failure Modes and Effects Analysis (FMEA) and Root Cause Analysis (RCA) using Fault Tree Analysis (FTA). Mark was lucky enough to be involved in the design of engines for a range of vehicles including the Smart Car, Mini, Triumph Motorcycle, Ferrari V8 and Toyota Formula One engine, ending his automotive career as a Reliability Engineer, a skills set he ported to Edwards, supporting the design and development of high vacuum pumps for the semiconductor industry and industrial pumps used for carbon capture. Mark subsequently joined Metronet, an organisation tasked with upgrading London Underground as part of a Public Private Partnership, initially as a Reliability Engineer, but was rapidly promoted to Fleet Asset Manager of the Bakerloo, Central, Victoria and Waterloo & City lines, where he was able to apply all he had learnt during his time in the automotive and blue chip manufacturing industries, deploying RCM to improve fleet reliability by 125% in 18 months. Mark then moved to Terex as Senior Reliability Manager to improve their product reliability, reducing warranty claims from $4.5M/month to $1.5M/month in 3.5 years, improving the reliability of every product and every production line at all six factories. Mark returned to London Underground in 2012 to oversee the reliability improvement of the new S8 and S7 trains for the Circle, District, Metropolitan and Hammersmith & City lines, where he was persuaded to join a consultancy and has remained an asset management and reliability engineering consultant.

Chief Engineer and Discipline Lead, Atkins

Former H M Principal Specialist Inspector of Health and Safety (Mechanical Engineering) at Health and Safety Executive

Vaughan, over a period of twenty years, held senior mechanical engineering positions in Health and Safety Executive. He was a Petroleum Specialist in HSE, Offshore Division, a Principal Specialist Inspector in Railway Division and a Principal Specialist Inspector in Field Operations Division. Vaughan has assessed safety reports or safety cases in all three Divisions for offshore, rail and COMAH activities.

Prior to joining HSE, he was employed by CEGB for ten years in the assessment of nuclear safety reports or cases. Vaughan’s earlier responsibilities, with British Rail, related to all aspects of railway mechanical and electrical engineering and with BOC, low temperature development projects. In addition, with CEGB, he was employed on coal and oil fired power stations and was responsible for conventional plant quality and timely delivery at contractors works.

Principal Reliability Engineer for the Ministry of Defence

Richard is responsible for all policy and standards on reliability across the MOD.

In prior posts he has been intensively involved in setting reliability requirements and assessing the achievement of requirements for naval weapon systems and for major platforms. He has produced numerous papers on various aspects of Defence Reliability and has a particular interested in modelling the Reliability characteristics of complex multi-function platforms and the use of the Reliability Case as a tool to ensure Reliability of assets. He is past Chairman and President of the Safety and Reliability Society (SaRS) and is currently editor of the SaRS Journal.

Eur Ing Dr Franceskides is a Chartered Mechanical Engineer, Fellow of the Institution of Mechanical Engineers and a member of the Institute of Physics and Engineering in Medicine. His current role at the IMechE is Vice Chair of the Reading area and organising team member of the Great Debate 2025. His experience as a forensic engineer has involved the handling of various claims, from pharmaceutical, manufacturing and property damage (contamination) as well as reinstatement, including low value contentious claims to high-value, high-profile matters.

He achieved his MEng in Mechanical Engineering at the University of Liverpool, he then joined Cranfield University and completed an MSc in Forensic Engineering and Science and a PhD in Biomedical and Biomechanical Engineering. He is experienced in Defence and Civilian industries with predominant focus in health, manufacturing, motorsport, marine and aerospace; where he has carried out component analysis and testing, rig design, build and commissioning studies as well as being engaged in change management and continuous improvement but also recovery and remediation activities.

HSE Senior Manager at Transport for London

Leading Consultant, BMT

James is a Chartered Engineer with a 1st Class honours degree in Mechanical Engineering from the University of Sheffield. Since graduating, James has over 13 years’ professional experience with a major focus on technical consulting within UK Defence.

His experience includes: (1) Working for AgustaWestland as a manufacturing engineer, specialising in repair and overhaul of composite aircraft components; as well as (2) Working with tpgroup as an operational analyst and modeller. James’ long-term role however has been as a consultant with BMT, working in the disciplines of Integrated Logistics Support and Reliability & Maintainability (R&M), applying reliability engineering techniques to support both customers and suppliers across a variety of programmes and domains.

James joined the SRG in 2024 with a desire to develop and maintain awareness of best practices being applied in adjacent industries, and to share knowledge based upon his previous experience. In particular, James has a keen interest and passion in the application of mathematical modelling techniques to analyse complex problems, undertake risk-based analysis, and support project, programme and policy decision making.

Kevin is Chair of the IMechE’s Engineering for Reliability Work Group and Network Rail’s Subject Matter Expert in Design For Reliability. He is an IMechE Fellow who gained his passion for continuous improvement at Ford Motor Company, where he was Quality Supervisor for Dagenham Body and Assembly Plant. His MSc in Advanced Automotive Engineering gained him a patent for an intelligent system which identified squeak and rattle issues using frequency finger-printing in 1996. As part of Ford’s world class Engineering Quality Improvement Programme, he trained and supported engineers and managers in Total Quality Management tools such as Statistical Process Control, Design of Experiments, Potential Failure Mode and Effects Analysis, Problem Solving, Quality Function Deployment and Robustness. This allowed him to build an extensive portfolio of successful projects, including winning Ford’s prestigious President’s Customer Driven Quality Award twice. Kevin was on the first waves of Ford’s Six Sigma Black Belt and Master Black Belt training and then headed up and deployed Six Sigma into foundries, V-Engine plants, Automatic Transmission Design and Diesel Engineering.

After spending time as the Quality and Reliability Supervisor for European Diesel Engines fitted into Jaguar vehicles, Kevin joined Network Rail to deliver their Maintenance Six Sigma Programme leading to very significant signed-off savings. A role as Reliability Improvement Manager for Signalling, led him to identify the need, write and gain stakeholder approval for Network Rail’s mandated Design for Reliability Standard, integrating reliability tools into the design process. He has briefed and taught this to Network Rail, suppliers and European Infrastructure Management companies. Kevin received a Network Rail Technical Fellowships, for experience and knowledge in the fields of quality and reliability. He won Kepner Tregoe’s combined technologies 2022 Global Excellence Award for his work on Design For Reliability and recognised at the 2022 National Rail Awards for his Outstanding Personal Contribution to Rail. Kevin has written a regular article on reliability for ‘Rail Infrastructure Magazine’ since July 2022.

Rasa Remenyte-Prescott is an Associate Professor in Risk and Reliability Engineering and the Head of Resilience Engineering Research Group at the University of Nottingham. The focus of her research is the development of techniques for risk, reliability and resilience, asset management, maintenance modelling and fault diagnostics, as well as models for the failure and recovery of engineering systems and clinical processes. The research spans across a few industrial sectors, including railway, highway, aerospace and energy. Rasa chairs an ESRA technical committee in the Healthcare and Medical Industry, and regularly participates in ESReDA projects groups in maintenance modelling and resilience. She joined the SRG Board in 2013.

Bob Wilson is a Chartered Mechanical Engineer having served an apprenticeship covering both mechanical and electrical engineering. He was enrolled as a Member of the IMechE in 1971 and a Member of the Chartered Management Institute (formerly BIM/IIM) 1986/7.

His engineering career has included research and development, design, production, application.

Prior to retirement in 2004, he was a Senior R&M Engineer within the Defence Logistics Organisation of the UK MoD. He supported the introduction of the reliability case and also pioneered root cause analysis as part of the MoD reliability tool kit. He is now a general consultant operating under the business name of Tridiam Services including accident investigation and similar activities relating to Safety and Reliability.