About Us

Simon Hughes

Managing Director

Simon has spent virtually all of his working life in the scaffolding industry, starting out working for what was then the UK’s largest independently owned scaffolding contractor, progressing to become their National Health and Safety Manager, before breaking off into consultancy, and becoming a Founder-Director at SIMIAN.

He is a Chartered Member of IOSH and his reputation in the industry has seen him become an integral part of many committees and working groups, including CONIAM, NASC’s Health and Safety Committee (former Deputy Chair), CISRS Standardisation Committee, and ASITO. He has played a significant part in the production of several key pieces of NASC guidance and is Technical Author of their flagship guidance, SG4.

Simon is one of several SIMIAN team members who undertakes expert witness work, and he has been involved in very many civil and criminal scaffolding cases, arising from workplace fatalities, injuries and disputes.

Outside of work, Simon is a keen cyclist and when not spending time with his family, he is most likely to be found seeking out new PBs on the highways and byways of his native North Wales, as a long-standing member of the Graham Weigh cycling club.

Dave Randles

Operations Director

Dave started in the scaffolding industry in 1987 and since then has operated in a whole host of roles from Yardman and Labourer, through to Scaffolder, Supervisor, Contracts Manager and Health and Safety Manager. He is a Chartered Member of IOSH and joined SIMIAN as a Senior Consultant in 2005. Over the years he has gained experience in many industry sectors including construction, nuclear, rail, power generation, renewables, petrochemical and pharma.

Dave carries out expert witness reporting for the business and has been involved in several high-profile cases. He is a serving Executive Committee member for the North West Construction Safety Group, where he has served for over a decade, and he has contributed as Technical Author to several construction industry guidance publications.

Outside of work, Dave is a keen golfer battling to retain a single-figure handicap, and is a long-standing season ticket holder at Everton Football Club.

Jackie Thomason

Commercial Director

Jackie started her career in finance in 1989 with The Co-operative Group, working in various departments before specialising in planning, forecasting, budgets and strategy. Following her time in the retail sector, she moved to a global manufacturing business before arriving at SIMIAN in 2011.

During her career, Jackie has held various positions from Finance Manager/Joint MD, Financial Controller, Finance Director and more recently, Commercial Director. She has held a number of Governance roles over the years and currently serves as a Trustee/Director of University Technical College Warrington, a specialist engineering college.

Outside of work, Jackie is a keen runner/plodder, and follows St Helens RLFC, her hometown rugby league team, but finds herself outnumbered by 3:1 at home, as the rest of her family are diehard Warrington Wolves fans.

Tommy Jennings

Centre Manager – Warrington

Tommy started in the scaffolding industry in 1998 and since then has operated in a whole host of roles from Labourer, through to Scaffolder and Supervisor, working in numerous types of environments like petrochemical, offshore, street work, refurb and new build construction.

He joined Simian as an Instructor in 2010, then progressed to be a Senior Instructor in 2012. Tommy combines training delivery roles with management responsibility and is Manager for our Warrington and Anglesey centres.

Outside of work, Tommy enjoys playing football, yoga, and is another of the long-suffering season ticket holders at Everton Football Club.

Adie Holmes

Centre Manager – Weston super Mare

Adie started in the scaffolding industry in 1983 on the fabled YTS scheme, earning a grand total of £26 per week. Since then, he has operated in a whole host of roles from Labourer, through to Advanced Scaffolder, Supervisor, Training Manager for a multi-national scaffolding business, and Health and Safety lead.

He joined SIMIAN in an Instructor/Advisor role, and has since progressed to be Centre Manager of our Weston-super-Mare centre. Over the years, Adie has gained experience in many industry sectors including construction, nuclear, rail, MOD and TV and film.

Outside of work, Adie enjoys music, and is a self-taught musician who can turn his hand to most instruments including drums, bass, rhythm and lead guitar, ukulele, piano, and banjo – on which he plays a spookily wonderful version of duelling banjos!

Dean Johns

Centre Manager - LASC

Dean joined Simian in January 2023. Before that he had a long career as a Firefighter in the London Fire Brigade. He worked in multiple Fire stations and in numerous different roles as he worked his way up the ladder. Following promotions these included, Station Commander at Chelsea and Hendon Fire Stations, Borough Commander at Barnet where he managed four fire stations and worked in collaboration with the Local Authority, other Emergency Services and the local community.

In 2012 Dean was pivotal in the outsource of all LFB training to the Babcock International Group. Here he worked as their Head of Training and managed the transition of training from a public to a commercial environment. The training involved over 250 different courses and 30,000 training days per year.

Dean is devoted to his growing family of three children, Five grandkids (last count) and two dogs. He enjoys gardening, home improvements, walking and mountain biking. Generally anything that involves being outside. He was a keen footballer and has the knees to prove it. Dean is a football referee, kids coach and former Arsenal Season ticket holder. He enjoys eating out and discovering London’s hidden gems.