RIFA Committee Members 

Elected Officers 

Chairman – Ben Mossop

Ben is the Head of the Transport Fire Safety Group of the London Fire & Emergency Planning Authority (LFEPA).  A Chartered Engineer and Member of the Institution of Fire Engineers. 

General Secretary - David Rayworth  

David is a Fire Safety Engineer for Network Rail where he is responsible for Sussex and Western Routes. He is currently involved with major projects where he provides a fire safety engineering interface role with an ambitious rebuild of London Bridge Station projects which will be constructed whilst keeping the operational railway in full working order.  David is a qualified Fire Engineer.  Previously David was Assistant Station Manager at Liverpool Street Railway Station, Britain’s busiest sub-surface railway station and various other operational roles within the Railway.  

Treasurer - Jason Seward 

Jason is a Member of the Institution of Fire Engineers, a member of the Rail Industry Fire Association and has over twenty years of experience within fire safety, fire engineering and the built environment.

His previous employers include WSP UK as Director of Fire Engineering, Network Rail Infrastructure Ltd and Royal Berkshire Fire and Rescue Service, serving in both operational and fire safety capacities. Jason has a broad knowledge of the application of fire safety engineering, particularly in the rail sector having lead the delivery of fire engineering on Birmingham New St. Masterplan, Crossrail Bond St. and Tottenham Court Rd, and The London Bridge Station Redevelopment.

International President  - Dr Tony Cash

Tony Cash is an experienced Chartered Fire Engineer, Safety Professional and Emergency Planner with a demonstrable history of working in the transportation/trucking/railroad, oil & petrochemical, rail, marine, road and aviation industries. Skilled in Compliance, having a Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) focused on Physical Chemistry, Thermodynamics, Reaction-to-Fire Calorimetry, Fires and Explosions awarded by University of Leeds and a BSc in Chemistry at the University of London. Ready to help improve the lot of any organisation with integrity and dynamism as their core values. A fire and transport safety professional, with broad experience gained from over 32 years working in a wide range of industries including recreational and public transport, aviation, oil, petrochemical, marine and local authority environments, Tony has considerable experience in the development and maintenance of requirements related to product certification and test, fire safety, risk assessments and emergency planning.  Tony is a Chartered Engineer (accredited by the IFE*), Fellow of the Institution of Fire Engineers (*IFE) and a Member of the NFPA, a Chartered Chemist, Fellow of the Royal Society of Chemistry and European Chemist.

Deputy Chair - Nicole Hoffman

Nicole is a Director and Fire Engineer at NiHo Ltd.  She has more than 25 years experience in fire safety engineering, and for more than 15 years has been primarily involved with the development of fire strategies within the railway industry for both stations and tunnels; in the UK and internationally.  She obtained a PhD for her CFD modelling of fire and sprinkler interaction, and has a particular interest in the analysis of smoke movement. As one of the originators of the evacuation modelling package STEPS, she also has a special interest in evacuation behaviour and its modelling.  

Nicole is a Chartered Fire Engineer (CEng) and is a Member of the Institute of Fire Engineers (MIFireE).  

 Management Committee  

James Holland  

James is the Head of Fire Safety Policy for Network Rail where he is responsible for fire safety compliance across the whole of the Network Rail property portfolio. James is a Chartered Fire Engineer and a Chartered Member of IOSH. He served for 31 years in the London Fire Brigade and was previously Fire Safety Manager for London Underground Ltd.

Phil Mather  

I am now semi retired after working 21 years with London Underground.  I have now formed my own company "TUBEFIRE LTD" and taking on reduced but regular assignments working mainly for various departments of LU via third party companies  During my time with LU, I reached the position of Lead Fire Engineer working directly for the Principal Fire Engineer following 7 years with "Metronet Rail" rising to the position of Chief Engineer (FIRE) where I was engaged in receiving assurance from Station Delivery Projects and monitoring and ensuring that projects are successfully handed over to LU in accordance with all LU & Metronet Rail Standards and responsible for assisting with the preparation and submission of “Approval Submissions” and liaising with the LFEPA Railway Projects Group.  

Previous to joining LU, I spent 24 years in local authority Fire Service culminating with a three year secondment to the Fire Service College as a Course Director and instructor with the Fire Prevention faculty, followed by 21 years experience with London Underground and "Metronet Rail" as a Fire Safety Engineer prior to my recent retirement in May 2011.  

Jon Pagan  

Jon is Director of Fire Safety Engineering at International Fire Consultants Ltd. He is a Chartered Fire Engineer and Member of the Institute of Fire Engineers.  Before joining IFC in 2012, Jon was in charge of the Fire Engineering Division of Exova WarringtonFire.  

Jon has been working in fire engineering since 1995. In that time he has been responsible for developing fire safety designs, fire strategies and fire engineering analyses on some of the largest and most complex buildings in the country. His experience includes the design of a number of mainline and underground stations, including several new stations (such as on the Crossrail route) and refurbishments of a range of existing stations. He also has extensive experience in most types of buildings, shopping centres, residential buildings, schools, airports and hospitals.  

Guy Middleton  

Guy says “Railways, Deltics in particular, have been a part of my life from the age of 6 when I lived in Doncaster, a town where all boys had a combined volume and took numbers.  When those locos were retired by BR in 1982 I had been able to have a ride behind each one of the twenty-two and was able to contribute a little of my money to help save several of some from the scrap line”.  Guy filled the massive void in his life by making it his business to travel the UK rail network, leaving no curve unturned (London Underground included, of course, in the days when you could do the whole LU network in one day!).  

Having helped an 8-year rail-to-roof rebuild of Deltic “D9009 Alycidon” in the 1990s, Guy became a trustee and director of the charity and organisation behind three of the locos.  These went “mainline” from 1999 for 5 years working for VSOE on their safety case.  This was as much fun as hard work.  Guy’s role became organiser and promoter of enthusiasts’ charters so he is known to more people than he knows, sometimes embarrassingly so.  

Ross Thornton  

Ross is currently the Fire Safety & Emergency Planning Manager for Southern Railway/ Gatwick Express (formerly South Central) which operates train services on the London, Sussex and South Coast routes, possibly the UK’s busiest commuter network.  

Ross has served as an operational fire fighter, Station Officer/ Duty Fire Protection Manager with the British Airways Fire Service at Heathrow & Gatwick Airports for 19 years, and has held positions with various transport related industries and accumulated some 30 years of experience in the field of Fire Safety management.  

Since joining Southern in June 2004 Ross has developed strong working relationships with the Network Rail Fire Engineering department and worked in partnership with them in a continuous improvement strategy on fire safety standards on Southern’s network.  

Ross’s work with Fire Authorities and Industry security forces has reduced acts of Arson, on the Southern network, both in stations and on trains to almost negligible levels recording only one minor incident in the last 18 months.

Stewart Dabin

Stewart is an Associate Fire Engineer with Buro Happold. He has over ten years’ experience in the fire engineering industry specialising in rail projects with a background in tunnel ventilation. He has worked on a number of high profile rail projects in the UK and overseas including the Crossrail Project, Cooling the tube and the Riyadh Metro. Stewart is also a Chartered Fire Engineer.