Family affair
Ronald has worked in the insurance industry for almost 30 years, although that was never his original plan. “Like my father before me, I wanted to become an accountant,” he confides. “Sadly, after he passed away at a relatively young age, I was unable to follow up on that ambition. Instead, I started working in insurance, which perhaps was not surprising, given that several family members already worked in the sector or branches of it.”
In the meantime Ronald has accumulated some 20 years’ professional expertise in the field of WFT (Financial Supervision Act) in business damage. Moreover, he has also notched up a total of about 15 years’ experience as a risk engineer with international companies.
From explosion safety to business continuity
During those years, and on top of his core responsibilities, Ronald focused on a wide range of other areas. In addition to being trained in explosion safety (ATEX 001 and 002) for the preparation of explosion-safety documents and zoning, he also obtained CBCI certification in accordance with ISO 22301, the acknowledged international standard for business continuity management systems.
I find it important to keep up to speed with innovations, such as the rise of lithium-ion batteries and solar-power installations
Extensive CV
Having an extensive curriculum vitae has always been a conscious choice, insists Ronald. “I think it’s important to stay abreast of new developments every two or three years, and to keep up to speed with innovations like the rise of lithium-ion batteries,” he says. “As it happens, I’ve been conducting fire tests with these since 2017.”
During his last training course, in Higher Safety Science (HVK) – the highest professional training and expertise level in the Netherlands for workplace safety, health, and risk management – Ronald specialised in fire safety. For the related thesis he investigated fire-safety procedures related to the electrification of Ground Support Equipment (GSE) at Dutch airline KLM. He then injected that same investigative approach into a new training course he recently embarked upon that will make him a qualified person in sprinkler systems.
Meanwhile, at Riskonet
At Riskonet, Ronald will focus on the integral fusion of occupational safety, fire safety and business continuity. “My goal is to put organisations in control,” he explains. “And I’d also like to create more awareness around complex themes like ATEX.”
He is very much looking forward to collaborating with Marc Rossel, Managing Partner at Riskosafe. “There are excellent opportunities to combine occupational safety, fire safety and business continuity,” he assures. “Get occupational safety up to scratch and you often see positive effects in the other two areas.”
Appreciating the underlying logic
“It gives me huge satisfaction when customers not only understand what they need to do in the area of prevention, but also appreciate the underlying logic,” Ronald explains. “Rather than me just telling a customer what to do, I much prefer it when that customer sees for himself that a particular measure needs to be implemented. The football analogy here would be that ‘I provide the assist and you head the ball home’.”
“A phone call on a Saturday evening? No problem. I’m there for my customers, more or less 24/7. The customer comes first.”
I provide the assist and you head the ball home
A clear head
During weekends, when Ronald is not focused on work, you’re most likely to find him staying active by cycling and running. “I think it’s important to clear my head,” he offers. He also loves spending me-time with his partner and nine-year-old daughter.
