Isuru Herath

Isuru Herath (PhD, CEng, MSaRS, MIET)

I am a Safety Engineer with over 15 years of experience in academia and industry. My interest in safety started when as a summer student I got the opportunity to work on a steer-by-wire project with a leading automotive consultancy.  I could see that safety was a very interesting challenge, so I followed up my BEng with a PhD in automotive safety critical systems.

After my PhD, I moved to working in industry, gaining safety and reliability experience in automotive, nuclear, defence and aerospace domains. During  this time I held roles in technical leadership, as well as project and people management.

I currently work as a Senior Safety and Reliability Engineer in the Aerospace industry.

My work in three different safety critical sectors showed me the value of learning from different industries and sharing cross-sector knowledge and experience. Cross-sector learning leads to not just safer and more reliable systems and products, but also to cost and time savings on projects.

One of the main reasons I joined SaRS was that it brings together Safety and Reliability professionals from different sectors. With the technical talks, events, journal and networking opportunities, SaRS enables me to continue my own development by learning from other safety and reliability engineers. Not only that, it also gives me a platform to contribute back to the profession by sharing my own knowledge and experience.

In addition to the Council, I also support the SaRS Midland branch activities. I as also part of the SaRS licensed member team, supporting activities to register SaRS as a licensed member of the Engineering Council. I have recently taken on the role of the deputy chair of the SaRS Academic Assessment Committee (AAC).

These volunteer activities allow me to strengthen my “non-technical” skills – organisation, communication, interviewing to name a few. It’s also a great opportunity to network and work with others in my profession – those who share a passion for Safety and Reliability and face similar challenges.”