Rhiannon Williams

Fire Safety Scientist

Rhiannon joined HSE in 2016 as a support scientist within the Explosives Atmospheres Team at the Science and Research Centre, moving to a new post within the Fire Safety Team in 2018. She has contributed to experiments, incident investigations and research projects across both research areas.

As one of the technicians within the battery safety projects team, Rhiannon has contributed to research undertaken to investigate the effects of battery abuse or misuse, such as creating short circuits, overheating and overcharging - which can lead to thermal runaway or cell failure. At other times, she is involved in undertaking non-standardised fire testing to analyse the fire risk of materials used within buildings and on construction sites.

Rhiannon is currently studying for a Fire Engineering Degree at the University of Central Lancashire - sponsored by HSE.

Research Interests

• Analysis of conditions affecting flame propagation through open channels created between exposed insulation material surfaces

• Fire spread on insulation materials

• Investigating how contamination alters the performance of flame and heat PPE

• The consequences of battery failures

Previous Projects

• Cooker Fire Mitigation Device Assessment for Cheshire Fire and Rescue Service

• Briar Chemicals Norwich Incident

• Port Sunderland Pontoon Incident

• LIBRIS - Lithium-Ion Battery Research in Safety

Further Information

• LinkedIn

• Research Gate