MBE for Baseefa MD

Ron Sinclair, managing director of Baseefa Ltd (UK) received the MBE from the Prince of Wales in a ceremony held at Buckingham Palace on June 22. The award was made for Ron’s 35 years of service to the certification of electrical equipment in explosive atmospheres, and for his work in the development of international standards.

Ron, who was accompanied by his wife Isabel, son Alistair and youngest daughter, Rachel, said it had been a very proud moment. “The Prince was obviously briefed about Baseefa’s work and showed a keen interest in what we did,” he said.

He added that he saw the honour as recognition for the work that he and his staff did in rescuing Electrical Equipment Certification Service (EECS) from the threat of closure by HSE in 2001. “I believe it also recognises the way that since then, we have seen Baseefa grow into a world leader in its specialist field.”

Ron Sinclair takes a leading role in the many international committees responsible for the certification of equipment and installations in hazardous areas. These include chairmanship of ExTAG, the Test and Assessment Group of the IECEx International Certification Scheme, and chairman of the committee responsible for the UK input to both European and International standards for Electrical Equipment for use in explosive atmospheres. Ron is also chairman of Cenelec TC31 and is responsible for representing electrical standardisation interests at the European Commission’s ATEX Standing Committee.

Ron said: “It is very moving to get this level of recognition for doing work that I really enjoy and believe to be worthwhile. There is no record of any product that we have certified being responsible for a serious incident causing death or major destruction.

“Everything points to the most common cause of incidents such as Piper Alpha, Bunstead and BP Macondo (in the Gulf of Mexico) as relating to the training of people. That is why we at Baseefa are also proud now to be in the forefront of the new international scheme for certifying the competence of individuals working in areas where there may be explosive atmospheres.”