3DAssurance is an independent advisory company whose members are registered as independent consultants with the Association of Security Consultants. We specialise in management systems for providing assurance that corporate risks are under control. Formed by Blackwell Security Consulting (www.blackwell-security.co.uk), and SeMSnet, 3DAssurance provides ready-made and tailored solutions to the corporate challenges in areas such as security, risk, quality, and safety assurance.  We work with you to bring pragmatic solutions to real-life business issues. Our team combines many years of practical experience in implementing risk management and assurance systems, with deep analytical and strategic design expertise. We ensure the sustainability of our solutions by embedding them with mentoring and training in the principles and practices, supporting continuous improvement activities where appropriate. 

With long careers at senior positions in household name organisations, our principals have demonstrated the ability to lead and innovate new ways of working. They have separately established themselves as leading figures in aviation and security and now deliver consultancy services to advance industry’s security management capability.  Both are Registered Independent Security Consultants with the Association of Security Consultants.

Andy is a subject matter expert on SeMS and a wide range of transport security matters. He provides support to the UK CPNI’s SeMS Study and consultancy to the UK Department for Transport.  Andy was formerly Head of Security with Virgin Atlantic, where he was responsible for all aspects of the airline’s security programme, including Security Management Systems (SeMS) implementation and development. In that role, Andy was the leading industry contributor to the development of the UK SeMS Framework. He took a primary role in the government-industry working group that reviewed and contributed throughout the Framework’s development; he drafted some parts of the Framework and associated documents; and he put the Framework into practice, implementing it successfully at Virgin.  

Prior to joining Virgin Atlantic, Andy was UK Security Manager and Lead Threat Assessor with DHL. Andy has a law enforcement and intelligence background, with previous service with UK Customs, British Transport Police, the National Criminal Intelligence Service and the National Drugs Intelligence Service of the Czech Republic.  Andy is now Managing Director of Blackwell Security Consulting. He is a Registered Independent Security Consultant with the Association of Security Consultants and member of the Advisory Boards of UK Security Expo and International Airport Review. He also sits on the Editorial Panel of Aviation Security International magazine and holds full membership of the Emergency Planning Society. Andy is a regular speaker at international security events and has authored numerous published articles on SeMS and other security-related topics. 

Blackwell Security Consulting was named as Best Risk Management Consultancy in Corporate Vision magazine’s 2017 Global Excellence Awards Blackwell Security Consulting was named as Most Innovative Risk Management Consultancy - UK Recognised Leaders in Transport and Travel Consulting – UK in Corporate Vision magazine’s 2016 Consultancy Awards.  

At the annual review of Virgin Atlantic’s Safety and Security Review Board in January 2015, Andrew Haines, the UK CAA’s Chief Executive Officer, referring to Andy stated that VAA had the best Security Manager in the sector.  Whilst at Virgin Atlantic, Andy was also commended by the Metropolitan Police for demonstrating a high degree of professionalism and providing an exceptional level of service during a period of heightened threat against civil aviation interests. 

John is a Security Management Systems (SeMS) subject matter expert, and was responsible at the UK CAA for developing the UK SeMS framework published jointly by government and the CAA.  As the CAA’s Aviation Security Strategy Lead and SeMS subject matter expert, John worked with many industry stakeholders and guided the first two pathfinder organisations to develop their SeMS to achieve a successful regulatory assessment.

Experienced in guiding the design and implementation of effective strategic change in public and private sectors to improve operational effectiveness, John has been a lead designer of numerous governance, risk and compliance systems.  He is adept at unifying strategic vision with its practical delivery to drive business change and align objectives with business requirements; innovating practical solutions to strategic and operational challenges, removing obstacles to change and achieving strategic goals and training / mentoring multi-disciplined teams to embed fresh working practices and behaviours which drive performance improvements.  

John is a qualified project, programme and risk manager, (PRINCE2, MSP, MoR) and holds a masters degree in Physics from Oxford University. 

On completion of his assignment at the CAA, John recognised the need to continue the promotion of SeMS worldwide and founded SeMSnet, a group for security managers and related experts to share best security and risk management practice. In 3 years, SeMSnet has grown to 1300+ members worldwide and continues to debate the key issues in aviation security management.  

Prior to SeMSnet, John had two key roles at the CAA. Originally engaged to develop the safety regulation strategy, John led this programme to create the strategy and implementation blueprint for the CAA’s Performance Based Regulation which is being implemented across all divisions of the CAA’s safety group and has been adopted by a growing number of regulated entities.  On the basis of that success, John was assigned to develop the Security Regulation Strategy, and on publication of the strategy as part of the CAA’s strategic plan, he quickly allied with the UK government’s aviation team to implement that strategy by driving development of the Framework for SeMS, authoring much of the document himself, and developing the surrounding methodology and practices.

John has consistently demonstrated his value to clients, receiving testimonials such as: · “John's guidance and support in helping me develop a security management system at the airport was invaluable. His advice was always practical and he very quickly grasped the issues.”  

“John's advice and guidance has been of tremendous benefit to us as we further develop our Security Management System. He has the ability to simplify complexity and facilitate positive change.”  

“John has continuously demonstrated his almost unique ability to get inside his client's head, win them over and then help them deal with complex system, organisational and cultural challenges.” · “He is a visionary, problem solver and has a great capability to convert the vision and deliver a practical workable solution. He used all of these skills on a major change programme working alongside the stakeholders and delivering through leadership and mentoring.”        

Sharing Best Practice in Risk Management

SeMSnet was formed to research and promote sharing of risk management practices. The SeMS principles were designed for managing security risks, but are equally applicable managing corporate risks of all types.

Much can be learned by sharing information and learning from others. The purpose of the LinkedIn SeMSnet Group is to promote sharing of practices, knowledge and opinions from every industry, every discipline and every regulatory regime world-wide. The terminology may vary but the concepts are universal and well proven. We encourage staff and managers to share information and best practice and to be open to learning from specialists in related fields such as Safety, Quality, Corporate Governance and Risk,  Communications and Business Change. Every organisation has specialists in such disciplines who may be (relatively) readily available as a (relatively) free resource to the SeMS team.

SeMS and Risk Assurance Support

SeMSnet is a joint owner and founder of 3DAssurance, formed specifically to deliver SeMS and risk assurance support. 

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