External Technical Activity Committee (ETA) – Reports from External Bodies

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External Body	Aims/Objectives	Meeting Report
MoD Committee on Defence Equipment Reliability & Maintainability (CODERM)	Facilitates the co-operation of MoD and industry to ensure military capability is maximised through optimal levels of equipment R&M. Provides a mechanism to: Develop mutually beneficial R&M practices, techniques, research programmes and training; Improve equipment R&M; Resolve difficulties arising from MOD or industry practices.	Click here for latest report.
Independent Safety Assurance Working Group (ISA WG)	Promotes the ISA role as a means of providing independent safety assurance of products to the supplier, purchaser and user; Promote the ISA role of a safety professional in standards; Support professional development by defining minimum standards, identifying training that meets minimum standards and supporting resources; Support professional ISAs by developing guidance and providing information that affects their role.	Click here for latest report.
Hazards Forum	Established in 1989 by the Institutions of Civil, Electrical, Mechanical and Chemical Engineers to provide an interdisciplinary focus for the study of disasters and the promulgation of lessons learned from them. Since then the Forum has broadened its remit to inform the public understanding of risk, while continuing to develop its work on the assessment of hazardous events, dissemination of lessons learned and the promotion of risk reduction strategies.	Hazards Forum continues to run a series of events which may of interest to some SaRS members. June saw a successful workshop on Risk, Regulation and Innovation. This considered the challenges in regulation in a rapidly changing technological environment which focused on the recent review of UK nuclear regulation, The autumn will offer a number of events: The first will be the Hazards Forum Annual Lecture by Dame Judith Hackitt to be held at the Institution of Civil Engineers in London on 23rd September, entitled Safety Leadership: Are we making progress?. Dame Judith was chair of the Health and Safety Executive from 2007-2016 and in 2017 was asked to conduct an independent review into building safety and fire regulations following the terrible tragedy at Grenfell Tower. What began as a review which was completed within a year has now turned into an extended mission – to drive culture change and bring safety leadership to a sector which has been engaged in a “race to the bottom” for far too long. 2nd November will see a one-day facilitated discussion considering Culture, Leadership and Governance for Industries Managing Catastrophic Incident Risks at the Institution of Structural Engineers, London. This will be led by Trish Kerin, participants will explore insights, language, and practical tools to challenge assumptions, shape better conversations, and drive more effective performance in managing catastrophic incident risks. Hazards Forum will also host an evening event to be held in central Manchester on 16th November, the night before IChemE Hazards 36 Conference commences. This year’s theme will be “Learning to Learn: accelerating individual and organisational competence for next-generation process safety.” It will strike a chord with anyone thinking about how to build capability for what comes next. Click here for the Hazards Forum website, which contains news and event reports.
Health and Safety Executive (HSE)	The national independent watchdog for work-related health, safety and illness.	The latest HSE newsletter containing the latest HSE news, health and safety advice, case studies, court stories, and guidance is available on the HSE website: http://www.hse.gov.uk/news/index.htm See also Thomas Ashton Institute https://www.ashtoninstitute.ac.uk/– drawing on the combined knowledge and experience of University of Manchester and Health & Safety Executive to deliver research, learning and regulatory insights to enable a better working world.
IMechE Safety and Reliability Group (SRG)	Promotes the development of safety and reliability requirements for products such as equipment, systems or services.	The committee has recently been focussed on internal activity. It is organising its annual ALARP seminar to be held 24 September in Manchester details at ALARP 2026.
Engineering Council – Building Safety Collaborative Training Working Group (BSCTWG)	Create a framework for training and teaching tools to professional engineering institutions to encourage its members to work collaboratively with other building environment professionals	Report from 28^th Apr 2025: Maps have been developed for: 1. Structural, Civil and Building Services Engineers, Building Physics, and Building Maintenance. 2. Basic concepts, Specific topics, Integrated design, Safe design, and Sustainability. Plan to: – Develop mapping documents of training needs for clients, operations / maintenance professionals, and industry professionals. – Agree training format and delivery mechanisms, guidance texts, worked examples, and e-Learning video modules.
IChemE Safety and Loss Prevention Special Interest Group	Provides a network for all of those interested in safety within the process industries.	Click here for the IChemE Safety and Loss Prevention Special Interest Group website.