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CDS Defence & Security (CDS DS) has incredible expertise at its fingertips. Our consultants and human factor professionals have supported some of the most critical, complex, and high-risk programmes in the UK. From emergency preparedness at a nuclear new-build to sea trials for the RNLI, our people bring experience shaped by working in environments where safety, performance, and resilience are non-negotiable.
We benefit from our consultants’ lived experience and knowledge. This real-world insight sits at the heart of how we help organisations sustain critical capability, giving clients access to practical, proven expertise that informs better design, faster decisions, and safer outcomes.
We take this experience and apply it from day one. Our consultants identify risks early, ask the right questions, and help shape systems that work under pressure, not just in theory, but in the real world.
Designing for the worst day, not just the ideal one
In support of a major UK nuclear programme, one of our consultants provided the emergency planning and internal safety design team for a new power facility. Their work focused on reviewing the procedures for how key infrastructure control rooms, escape routes, and emergency power systems would function from a human factors perspective.
This wasn’t about theoretical compliance but about challenging assumptions and ensuring safety procedures accounted for real human behaviour in extreme scenarios.
Following the 2011 Fukushima disaster, nuclear regulators across Europe, including the UK’s Office for Nuclear Regulation (ONR), redefined preparedness. Human usability became a non-negotiable part of safety design. Our consultant contributed to a human factors integration (HFI) review that helped ensure the client’s designs met that standard.
By identifying where plans might break down, the team made practical adjustments early to improve usability, reduce risk, and support regulatory readiness. The knowledge gained from this work now informs how CDS DS supports other safety-critical organisations in building resilience from the ground up.
Learning from sea trials and applying it to shore-based systems
In another demanding project, one of our consultants supported the Royal National Lifeboat Institution (RNLI) with design reviews and operational trials of the Shannon-class lifeboat, a fast-response vessel built for life-saving missions in some of the UK’s harshest coastal conditions.
This work focused on ergonomics and usability: how people interact with equipment, displays, seats, and controls in fast-moving, high-stress situations. Onboard the vessel during live sea trials, our consultant helped assess and refine system interfaces to reduce the risk of fatigue, error, or injury.
Understanding how systems perform in context, not just in a lab, helped identify meaningful design improvements, from layout changes to more precise feedback mechanisms. That same hands-on insight is now applied at CDS DS to help clients across the defence, nuclear, and maritime sectors build more user-centred systems that perform when it matters most.
Supporting capability that lasts
Today, CDS DS clients benefit from this accumulated experience. Our consultants know what works and fails, not just on paper but in real-world use. They understand what it takes to support people, not just platforms.
This insight helps us contribute to genuinely sustainable capability as long-term performance isn't only about maintenance schedules; it’s about ensuring that operators can continue doing their jobs safely, effectively, and confidently over time. We embed our expert teams within organisations to tailor accurate solutions and provide first-hand experience to guarantee best practice and that safety is real human behaviour.
Whether supporting military communications, complex control systems, or safety-critical environments, our team helps clients to anticipate operational challenges, reduce downstream risks, and strengthen resilience from day one.
Built on people who’ve delivered under pressure
CDS DS is built on more than just technical knowledge. It’s built on people who’ve delivered in some of the UK’s most critical sectors. Our Human Factors, Capability Sustainment, and Systems Consultants have supported the delivery of high-stakes programmes, and they bring that hard-won insight to every new project we take on.
Today, that expertise helps our clients design better systems, avoid preventable risks, and build trusted, enduring capability that performs under pressure.
When our clients engage with CDS DS, they don’t just get a service; they get a partner who’s been there, understands the risks, and knows how to deliver solutions that work in the real world.
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