ERM has completed the acquisition of Engineering Safety Consultants (ESC) – a UK-based global functional safety management and engineering consultancy. The acquisition of ESC further enhances ERM’s capability and capacity in relation to technical and process safety services.

Founded in 2009 by Ken Simpson, Ron Bell and Simon Burwood, ESC provides functional safety management services and advanced safety advisory services that enable owners, designers and operators in manufacturing, chemical, renewables, utilities, oil and gas and petrochemical industries to plan and manage their assets and projects safely and successfully.

The ESC team has over 100+ combined years of technical safety expertise and sit as members of international expert working groups for the key international Functional Safety Standards IEC 61508 and IEC 61511; providing leading edge insights into developments in this domain. ESC’s ProSET® tool is a process safety evaluation software, which adds to ERM’s capabilities in digital risk management and will further improve consulting outcomes for our clients.

The combined ERM and ESC business will now be better placed to address a client’s technical and functional safety challenges associated with high-hazard processes in chemicals, mining, pharmaceuticals, oil and gas, utilities, automotive and manufacturing sectors.

ESC’s experience also enhances ERM’s ability to support our clients as they navigate the low carbon energy transition applying functional and technical safety expertise to hydrogen, carbon capture and storage, offshore wind, hydro projects and flood defense. In addition, ESC has expertise in the assessment and management of biosafety risks applying functional safety approaches to this critical area.

ERM CEO Keryn James states: “Safety is paramount to the success of any company, and a key aspect of this for many includes functional safety. ERM helps its clients around the world with the whole spectrum of safety-associated services as experts in addressing the functional, behavioral, process and technical aspects of this work. The evolving complexity of industrial processes and systems driven by ‘Industry 4.0’ and new applications of technology are changing the risk landscape for our clients. This, coupled with increasing compliance requirements is creating greater demand for our services in the growing functional safety services market. ERM’s intention is to rapidly grow and expand our capabilities organically and inorganically, so that we extend our leadership position in this space. The acquisition of ESC supports this aim, and enables us to serve our clients’ needs better by broadening our service offering.”

Simon Burwood, Managing Director of ESC adds: “We are excited about our future as part of the ERM Group and the extensive opportunities that are now possible for our business and our employees. This acquisition will allow us to better serve our existing client base with an expanded array of services and expertise on a global level.”

About ESC
Engineering Safety Consultants (ESC) is a global engineering consultancy, offering services and solutions in all aspects of Functional Safety Management. ESC’s primary function is supporting clients in the oil and gas, petrochemical, biosafety, utilities (including renewable energy), rail, military and manufacturing industries. ESC enables the owners, designers and operators of the above industries to plan and manage their assets and projects more safely and successfully, through the provision of advanced technologies and systems solutions. Learn more