About Stuart
Stuart started his career with an engineering apprenticeship with the Ministry of Defence and qualified six years’ later with a Higher National Certificate (HNC) in mechanical engineering. His experience with breathing apparatus started with a career with Sabre Safety (now part of 3M Scott Safety) working initially in the breathing apparatus research and development team. He was part of the team that fundamentally altered the physics and dimensions of previous equipment, simplifying the design and performance and ultimately creating a product that required less maintenance.
Stuart joined Draeger Safety Ltd working across sales, marketing and product development before developing the idea of a new style of chemical oxygen breathing apparatus.
Following many years of design and development, in 2001 he was responsible for the creation and launch of the HEAD10 Emergency Escape Breathing Apparatus. This concept – a short duration escape breathing apparatus using potassium superoxide (KO2) – resulted in an escape set that was easier to use and provided a much more comfortable experience for the wearer, as well as considerably reducing through life costs.
The HEAD range is now used extensively across different industrial applications and the HEAD RPE/CSRE Escape Set has been selected as the escape set of choice for the HMP Prison Service in England, Wales and Northern Ireland and also used extensively across private prisons.
