Rock Rail announces the appointment of George Bearfield, from the Rail Safety and Standards Board (RSSB), to the new position of Health & Safety Director covering Rock Rail’s asset management activities and other business operations.
George starts with Rock on January 2nd, 2019 and will have responsibility for all aspects of Rock Rail’s Safety Management Systems including safety assurance responsibilities for all fleets under its management.
George joins with over 20 years of experience in the health and safety arena. In his previous role as Director of System Safety and Health at RSSB, George has been responsible for RSSB’s work to support the rail industry in all aspects of its health and safety management and assurance processes and capabilities. He also played a key role in the setting of the national rail health and safety strategy and in delivering associated programmes, including sponsoring the successful relaunch of the national supplier qualification scheme RISQS.
Prior to his work at RSSB he worked as a consultant on safety assurance of complex safety critical systems, following previous roles in the railway supply sector designing rail systems.
George’s appointment follows other recent recruits to the team, including Mike Kean, (previously Deputy Managing Director of Greater Anglia), who starts with Rock next month as Chief Operating Officer heading up the company’s asset management team.
Rock Rail has been providing specialist rolling stock asset management services for over two and a half years, alongside its funding, procurement and leasing activities. These services cover all aspects of design, construction, fleet introduction and ongoing operation with a focus on managing long term residual value. Rock provides these services across the three new rolling stock fleets, together worth £2 billion, that it has been awarded since 2016. Trains from the first of these fleets, the Siemens built Class 717s, are due to enter service on the Great Northern route over the next few weeks.
Mark Swindell, CEO of Rock Rail said:
“Rock Rail is thrilled to have George join the team in this key role. Health and safety assurance is a critical part of asset management and George’s experience and expertise in rail safety management and assurance fully complement the rest of the Rock team in delivering an industry leading asset management service.
“George’s appointment together with Mike Kean, Rock Rail’s new COO, and other recent recruits to the team will create an even stronger, scalable platform providing asset management services for our existing portfolio and with the capacity to extend to future Rock Rail procurements as well as to other third-party owned fleets.”
