David Sparkes - Technical Director of Method Process Safety

Professional experience

I’m an experienced process engineer with a solid background in plant support, capital projects and control system design. Like many people, I got into process safety ‘by accident’, after working on a project to rebuild and restart a process after an explosion which had seriously injured two people.

Being involved in that project had a profound effect on me – not only the physical damage I witnessed, but also seeing the emotional toll on other members of staff who kept thinking “if only I had...”. It was at this point that I realised the importance of process safety and so began an enduring quest to “do it right”.

My introduction to =Method was attending the TÜV SÜD Functional Safety Professional course in 2016, because I wanted to understand more about what went on ‘under the bonnet’ of functional safety. It’s easy for a Process Safety Engineer to say “SIL 2”, but how is that reliability actually achieved in practice?

I really liked =Method’s philosophy and their practical approach to training. However, it took a chance meeting with =Method’s CEO, Dil Wetherill, at a site turnstile in 2018 to renew that contact, which eventually led to me becoming Technical Director of Method Process Safety Ltd.

Credentials

• Method Competency Register
• TÜV SÜD Certified Persons Register
• LinkedIn Profile

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Professional Recognition & Standards Work

Professional recognition

• Chartered Chemical Engineer and Fellow of the IChemE (CEng, FIChemE)
• Professional Process Safety Engineer - Institution of Chemical Engineers (IChemE)
• TÜV SÜD Functional Safety Professional TP16051167
• CSComp - Cyber Security Risk Management - Method Cyber Security

Academic qualifications

• BEng (Hons.) Chemical and Process Engineering, University of Newcastle Upon Tyne

Member of

• Member of Safety and Reliability Society (SaRS)