Derek Coulson – Machinery Safety Consultant

Brief CV

Derek Coulson started work as an apprentice Heavy Goods Vehicle fitter for a local authority. Following an apprenticeship Derek went on to become a member of the Institute of Motor Industry (AMIMI) and Associate of the Institute of Road Transport Engineers (AIRTE).

Derek Coulson

After seven years with the local authority, Derek Coulson became a service engineer for Schmidt Manufacturing (UK) Ltd. Schmidt sold road cleaning and winter maintenance equipment. After seven years, Derek left to sell trucks and was spectacularly unsuccessful, leaving after five months by mutual consent.
Self-employment beckoned for a while as a service engineer, then Derek joined Sweeptech who also supplied equipment into local authorities. One of the machines supplied was a refuse vehicle from an Italian manufacturer. When CE marking became a requirement, Derek assisted the Italian manufacturer in the CE marking of the machine. Longlands Advisory and Consultancy Service (LACS) assisted with this process.

Consultancy

Following the successful CE marking of this machine, Derek started working with LACS. During this time Derek assisted companies with CE marking of all sorts of equipment from production lines in television factories and food factories to a crane used to build suspension bridges.

LACS was a part of Teesside Tertiary College. In 1998 the college decided that the service was not a core part of the educational business. The key principals left to start Laidler Associates Consulting Service Ltd in July 1998.

Laidler Associates

Laidler Associates soon grew, with new services including EMC testing and PUWER assessments. They developed a software package was to help companies with CE marking and PUWER. At this time Laidler Associates became the UK market leader in machinery safety consultancy. A Notified Body, number 0870, Laidler Certification was created in 2000. Derek became one of the Senior Engineers within Laidler Certification.

CE marking projects included a large distribution depot and a Formula 1 engine test cell. Other machines CE marked included many mobile machines. Derek did PUWER assessments on mail-sorting equipment, vehicle component machinery, robot cells and food manufacturing and packaging equipment. Training and assistance was developed in conjunction with the Processing and Packaging Machinery Association (PPMA).

In 2010 TUV-SUD Product Service integrated Laidler Associates into its UK business as their Machinery Division.

Safe Machine

In December 2012, Derek left to start Safe Machine, offering consultancy services in the field of machinery safety. Services include CE marking, CE Audits, PUWER assessments and Training. Safe Machine will also hold Technical Files on behalf of non-EU manufacturers.

In 2015, Derek worked with Daniel Kay, a former Laidler IT engineer, to produce a new Machinery Safety software package. This allows individuals to carry out CE marking and CE Audits, PUWER assessments and risk assessments. COMPLIANCE Risk Software was launched in 2017 and has developed further with additional features.

A new version is being developed for the EU Machinery Regulation 2023/1230.