Ron Bell Consulting

Ron Bell, OBE, BSc, CEng, FIET specialises in the functional safety of safety critical systems. Key areas of expertise in the context of safety critical systems, and in which he has undertaken work, include:

 

Knowledge of legal requirements and safety regulatory practice;
Application of IEC 61508 and related standards (e.g. IEC 61511/IEC 62061 etc.);
Competence management systems and personal competence requirements;
Management of functional safety requirements;
Functional safety assessment;
Training/coaching in respect of functional safety

 

Ron Bell Consulting Ltd,

Formby Liverpool, L37 7HQ
Telephone: +44 1704 831429;

Mobile: +44 780 1733099;

Email: ronbell@dsl.pipex.com

 

 

Career History and skill set

 

Ron Joined the Health and Safety Executive in 1976 and from 1992 until May 2006, he was Head of the Electrical and Control Systems Group with responsibilities covering the field of electrical power system engineering and safety-related control systems

 

He has recently provided consultancy services to in relation to safety critical control systems including:
Development and review of Functional Safety Management System (FSMS) procedures;
Development and review of SIL Achievement procedures;
Participated in the team undertaking Functional Safety Assessments;
Undertaken SIL Achievement training courses to a multinational vendor in various locations worldwide.

 

Ron is Chairmen of the Impartiality Committee of exida Certification SA whose function is to safeguard impartiality of the operations of exida Certification SA. The scope of certification activities of exida Certification SA covers product certification and Functional Safety Management certification of organisations having responsibilities for functional safety.

In 1998 he was appointed as one of the five UK members of the Channel Tunnel Safety Authority (CTSA) by the Health and Safety Commission which is a post he still holds. His responsibilities in that role include advising the CTSA on all aspects of safety critical equipment of the Tunnel infrastructure (e.g. the Tunnel itself; French and UK terminals; emergency ventilation systems; power systems; safety critical control systems).

Ron chaired the international IEC Task Group that assessed the viability of developing an international standard for safety critical computer systems and then went on to chair one of the two (IEC) working groups responsible for developing IEC 61508. He currently chairs one of the two teams responsible for the revision of IEC 61508. His other professional appointments include:

Member of the IEC Advisory Committee on Safety (ACOS) with special responsibilities for functional safety.

Member and past Chair of the IET Functional Safety Professional Network.

Member of the IET/HSE/BCS Working Group that was responsible for developing guidance on competence management systems and personal competence criteria for safety critical electrical, electronic and programmable electronic systems.

 

Chair of the IET Residential Course on Safety Critical Systems (and lecturer on that course since in 1991).

 

He is the author of many papers on functional safety of safety critical systems and has given many presentations. He gave a Key Note address at the “9th Embedded Systems Conference and Expo" held in Tokyo, Japan in June 2006.

Ron has an honours degree in Electrical Engineering and a post graduate Diploma in Occupational Safety and Hygiene.

In 2005 he received the IEC 1906 Award for his work on functional safety and in particular IEC 61508. He received the OBE in the Queen's 2006 New Year Honours.

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