INDEPENDENT FUNCTIONAL SAFETY AUTHORITY
Functional safety projects don't go wrong. They start wrong.
When functional safety arrives late or under-scoped, things get missed and the costs land later — at approval, at handover, or after. ROAK makes sure your team gets it right from the start: the right expertise at the right time, and independent assessment when the project needs it.
Most problems blamed on functional safety are really timing problems.
By the time functional safety is introduced on most programmes, design decisions, assumptions and timelines are already fixed. At that point the job is correcting the project rather than guiding it — and that's where rework appears, costs rise, and pressure builds on the team.
The earlier the right input arrives, the less it costs. Early functional safety input is worth more than more resource.
The risk doesn't sit with your team. It sits with you.
On most projects where functional safety arrives late, the same sequence unfolds: requirements are retrofitted, traceability is reconstructed, and the team spends the final phase correcting documentation rather than confirming design.
The direct cost is rework. The indirect cost is the timeline slip, the pressure, and the credibility of the people accountable for delivery. When an assessor or regulator finds the gap, "my team said it was fine" has never been a defence anyone wanted to give.
One named expert. Personally accountable.
You're not handed a rotating bench of associates. You work directly with one certified functional safety expert — CFSE, TÜV, 20+ years in nuclear and defence — who's sat on the assessor's side of the table. Hands-on with your engineers where it matters, and honest with you about where things actually stand while there's still time to act.
What you get.
Your team gets it right the first time.
Expert guidance in front of your engineers, so functional safety is delivered with confidence instead of guesswork.
Functional safety that's scoped properly.
Time and budget protected early, so it never becomes the thing that gets squeezed when the programme tightens.
Costly mistakes caught early.
The gaps that surface at approval or handover, found and closed while there's still time to fix them cheaply.
Independent assessment when you need it.
Assessment your client and regulator will trust, provided when the project calls for it.
Used as much or as little as you need.
A one-off review or assessment, or ongoing support across the project. You choose.
This is built for you if…
You're accountable for delivery and assurance on a highly regulated project, and you need someone to own the functional safety thread across the lifecycle. Especially if:
- Requirements are unclear or spread across multiple documents.
- Traceability is weak and difficult to explain to stakeholders.
- Design approval or a key governance gate is approaching and gaps are becoming visible.
- Functional safety activity has fallen behind design work.
- Major decisions are about to be locked in and you need a clear, independent view of where the risks sit first.
If any of these feel familiar, it usually means one thing — the work needs experienced functional safety input, not just more resource. The earlier it arrives, the less it costs.
Direct. Embedded. Early.
You work directly with me — not through layers, not via handoffs. You always know who's doing the work, what it produces, and when.
Book a call.
Thirty minutes, no pitch. Tell me where the programme is exposed.
I tell you straight.
Whether you need an independent authority, what that looks like — and if you don't, I'll say so.
I work with your team.
Guiding your engineers, checking the work at the points that matter, and providing independent assessment when the project needs it — scoped to exactly how much support you want.
Credibility you can stand behind to a regulator.
- CFSE — Certified Functional Safety Expert (Exida)
- TÜV Functional Safety Engineer
- CEng MIET — Chartered Engineer
- 20+ years applying IEC 61508 / 61511 on live nuclear and defence projects — not reviewing them from a distance
- Worked on ONR-regulated nuclear programmes, including against NS-TAST-GD-003 and NS-TAST-GD-046
- IET course leader
Independent. Named. Accountable. The functional safety authority a programme actually needs.
What clients say
What clients say.
Real feedback from partners on safety-critical, high-stakes programmes.
“Richard has been my main Safety Instrumented Systems consultant during the delivery of a number of significantly complex nuclear and explosive handling projects. He will identify and directly challenge any person or organisation, no matter how confident they are or reluctant they are to comply. He is excellent in this field and he has never let me down.”
— Duncan Wharton, Director, HarroPeak
BIDDING ON AN FS CONTRACT?
Winning the work comes first.
If you're a contractor bidding on a functional-safety-critical contract, there's a dedicated engagement for that — an independent FS authority embedded in your bid, built on the perspective your client's evaluators actually use. It's often how a longer working relationship begins.
Make sure functional safety is right — from the start.
A short conversation costs nothing. Walking into a governance review without one can cost considerably more.