Bill Lawrence, Senior Member of the Institute of Electrical and Electronic Engineers (IEEE), currently holds the position of Principal Engineer - Hazardous Location at FM Approvals. FM Approvals is a US Nationally Recognized Testing Laboratory and a Standards Council of Canada accredited Testing and Certification Organization. FM Approvals Europe is appointed as a Notified Body for the ATEX Directive in Europe. Has been with FM Approvals for over twenty five years and involved with the examination and testing of electrical equipment rated for use in hazardous. Before joining FM Approvals, was employed by a test instrument manufacturer where I also worked in product safety. I received my Bachelor of Science in Electrical Engineering from the Pennsylvania State University (USA) and am a Registered Professional Engineer in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts (USA).

I currently serve as the US Technical Advisor to IEC Committee TC31 covering Equipment for Explosive Atmospheres. I also serve as a member of the US Technical Advisory Group for Sub-Committee SC31J for Classification of Areas and Materials related to Explosive Atmospheres. In addition to these functions, I represent the US as:

• Technical expert to Maintenance Team TC31/MT60079-1, developing revisions to the IEC standard 60079-1, equipment protection flameproof “d”
• Technical expert to Maintenance Team TC31/MT60079-7, developing revisions to the IEC standard 60079-7, equipment protection increased safety “e”
• Technical expert and International Convenor for Working Group TC31/WG22 responsible for developing revisions to IEC standards
• 60079-0, equipment protection general requirements
• 60079-5, equipment protection powder filling “q”
• 60079-6, equipment protection oil immersion “o”.
• US member of the TC31 Editing Committee
• US member of the TC31 task group on Good Working Practices

  I have been a US delegate to the meetings of IEC TC31 held in Houston, US; Sydney, AU; Seoul, KR; Dubrovnik, HR; Braunschweig, DE; Cape Town, ZA; Rio de Janeiro, BR; Kuala Lumpur, MY; Sao Paulo, BR; and Tel Aviv, IL. I have also served as US Head of Delegation to the meetings of IEC SC31A held in Sydney, AU; Seoul, KR; and Dubrovnik, HR; and the TC31 meetings in Cape Town, ZA; Rio de Janeiro, BR, Kuala Lumpur, MY; Sao Paulo, BR; and Tel Aviv, IL.

  I also serve as the FM Approvals alternate member to the United States National Committee (USNC) standing committee for IECEx, the global certification scheme.

  In 2005, I was presented with the IEC “1906 Award” in recognition of my work on the IEC 60079 series of standards.

  I serve on various National Fire Protection Association (NFPA) and International Society of Automation (ISA) committees for hazardous location electrical equipment.