Rear-Admiral Derek Spickernell RIP

Kyt · May 29, 2009

Rear-Admiral Derek Spickernell: former director-general of the BSI | Times Online Obituary

First in the Royal Navy, and then at the British Standards Institution, Rear-Admiral Derek Spickernell worked to improve the quality and safety of military and industrial equipment. Later in his career he helped to prepare for the introduction of the IS0 9000 quality assurance regime.

Direct experience of naval accidents had left a lasting impression on him. He was on board the submarine Alderney in 1952 when an explosion in the engine room injured four ratings. But for a last-minute change of plan he would have been conducting a trial in the submarine Truculent in January 1950 when she was sunk in collision with an oil tanker in the Thames estuary with the loss of 63 lives, including dockyard workers. More relevant to design shortcomings was the loss of the submarine Affray with all hands including a complete officers’ qualifying class in the English Channel in April 1951 because of a fracture in its snort mast. Spickernell had been on board at sea the day before.

Spickernell went on to work in a succession of roles as a naval engineer. He was struck by the absence of channels through which dockyards could learn from the experience of those testing and operating naval hardware. He identified the dangers that came because of weak, or sometimes non-existent, communication between those who made specification requests and those who undertook research and development. He identified the importance of working out the cost of projects and the budgets that might be made available. He observed that safety and quality could be endangered if corners were cut. Trouble was avoidable, he said, if those involved maintained clarity of purpose and had firm understanding of costings.

Project managers, he believed, should consider issues that might arise through the entire working life of a piece of equipment and the risks posed if proper maintenance was not carried out. Allowances had to be made, he said, because prototypes made in laboratories or workshops could be substantially different from equipment made by contractors, especially those that won work by offering to do it cheaply. It was vital, he thought, to assess contractors’ procedures and controls before allowing them to bid for work. It was also important to assess contractors’ financial strength, because, as he once said: “It would be catastrophic if a contractor went bankrupt while building a ship.”

Spickernell also worked to convince colleagues that huge overall savings, in human as well as financial terms, would be made if relatively small sums were spent in the early design and building phases.

Derek Garland Spickernell was born in 1921. He trained as an artificer apprentice and was selected for a commission in 1939. He graduated from the naval engineering college at Keyham, Plymouth, as a lieutenant (E) in 1942 and was appointed to the fast minelayer Abdiel in the Mediterranean. Abdiel had an adventurous career laying minefields in such places as the Sicilian narrows, using her speed to escape air attack before daybreak. Later in 1943 he transferred to the support vessel Wayland based in North Africa before volunteering for submarines. After training in the UK he arrived at Trincomalee in Ceylon, joining the submarine Tally Ho commanded by the much decorated Commander L. W. A Bennington and taking part in several successful actions against Japanese shipping. When Tally Ho returned to the UK in October 1944, Spickernell transferred to the Statesman as engineer officer. Statesman’s war patrols were extraordinarily active with many enemy vessels sunk by gunfire. She also had the distinction of firing the last British torpedo of the Second World War.

After the war he served in the submarines Telemachus, Tudor and Alcide. By 1951 he was in charge of submarine refits at the Portsmouth Dockyard and by 1960 was Deputy Captain Superintendent of the underwater weapons research establishment at Portland, where his leadership qualities in a mixed scientific and serving officer community were much valued.

Promoted captain in 1962, he counted as one of his most enjoyable tours his command of the artificers’ training school, HMS Fisgard. From 1967 to 1970 Spickernell was deputy director of the Naval Ship Production Department at Bath. In 1970 he was promoted commodore and was chief executive of the Defence Quality Assurance Board at the Ministry of Defence.

He was promoted rear-admiral in 1971 and from then until retiring from the service in 1975, was Director General Quality Assurance at the MoD (Procurement Executive).

He joined the British Standards Institution after meeting Bob Feilden, the former director-general, after a lecture he had given at the Rolls-Royce plant in Derby. The BSI was, and is, responsible for setting industrial standards and promoting the emplyment of high-quality operating practices. It also tests products and awards authorising certification.

Spickernell served first as the BSI’s technical director and was director- General from 1981 to 1986. At a time when many BSI staff were ex-military, Spickernell insisted that military titles were no longer used in the office to make it a more egalitarian workplace.

Spickernell brought the MoD standard for quality assurance to BSI where it was published as BS 5750. BS 5750 became known as ISO 9000 in 1994. In the world of standardisation, Spickernell is remembered as the “father” of ISO 9000, an international management system introduced to help companies to build quality and safety into the way they work.

An important part of the BSI’s work continues to be in registering companies to the popular management system. Spickernell is remembered warmly by those who worked with him at BSI. He was well liked, treated everyone equally and established a good rapport with BSI staff. From 1986 to 1988 he was vice-president of the International Organisation for Standardisation (ISO) in Geneva. He was appointed CB in 1974.

Spickernell married Ursula Money in 1946. She died in 1997. He is survived by his second wife, Lyn, whom he married in 1998, and by a son and a daughter of his first marriage. A son of his first marriage predeceased him.

Rear-Admiral Derek Spickernell, CB, director-general of the British Standards Institution, 1981-86, was born on June 1, 1921. He died on May 14, 2009, aged 87
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Antipodean Andy · May 29, 2009

Wow, a man of considerable vision.

Phwoar, he was on the Abdiel! Great career. RIP.

Just watched Morning Departure which was released shortly after the loss of Truculent and pays tribute to the boat and crew.

Ferhilt · May 29, 2009

RIP, Interesting things I still learn even in their passing.

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