Overview

On 1 June 1974 an explosion occurred at the Nypro UK Flixborough facility, killing 28 people and injuring 36 others. This event changed the management of major hazards in the UK and internationally, and introduced the concept of management of change. The webinar will be a panel discussion.

Panelists

Dame Judith Hackitt, DBE, FREng, FIChemE, FCGI

Dame Judith Hackitt is a chemical engineer by training and spent her early career working in the chemicals industry – both in manufacturing and also as an advocate for the industry at national and international level. She is a former President of the Institution of Chemical Engineers and a Fellow of the Royal Academy of Engineering. Throughout her career she has championed the importance of Engineering in delivering solutions which provide benefit to society and has been a role model particularly for young women wanting to enter the profession.

She cares deeply about safety in the workplace and more broadly. From 2007 to 2016 she was Chair of the UK’s Health and Safety Executive and in 2017 conducted an Independent Review for UK Government into Building Regulations and Fire Safety in the wake of the Grenfell Tower disaster. Since publishing her final report in 2018 she has continued to press for regulatory change and for industry culture change and her recommendations for radical reform of the regulatory system received Royal Assent in the Building Safety Act 2022. She is currently Interim Chair of the Office for Nuclear Regulation.

Ramin Abhari

Ramin Abhari is a Senior Staff Research Engineer with Chevron Renewable Energy Group. He has over 34 years of experience in the chemical process industry, with expertise in hydrogenation and polymerization technologies. Abhari has held engineering positions with W. R. Grace, General Electric, and ExxonMobil. He is named as inventor on over 54 U.S. patents and has (co)authored several peer-reviewed technical papers about bio-based chemical processes, renewable energy, and fuels. He has also written and illustrated several graphic novels with industrial safety themes. Abhari has a master’s in chemical engineering from the City College of New York, and Bachelors in Chemistry from the College of Wooster. He is a registered professional engineer in the State of Oklahoma, and a senior member of AIChE.

Ken Rivers, FIChemE

Ken is a non-executive director of the Health and Safety Executive and a past President of the Institution of Chemical Engineers. He is also a member of the Industry Safety teering Group (ISSG) monitoring the progress made by the built environment towards achieving culture change following the Grenfell Tower fire. Ken is a former chair of the Control of Major Accident Hazards (COMAH) Strategic Forum.

Ken’s background is in the oil industry. He is a past President of the UK Petroleum Industry Association and chaired the industry/regulator task force in the wake of the Buncefield terminal explosion. He also chaired the government and industry task force, which considered ways of improving the resilience of oil product supplies following a government review.

Robin Turney, IChemE

Robin Turney held positions in engineering and production in ICI before specialising in Process Safety as lead/manager for Hazard Identification and Risk Assessment in ICI Corporate Engineering. Following ICI he became Technical Director of the European Process Safety Centre and chaired an international collaboration on human factors in process safety for the European Community. He is a strong supporter of IChemE, a past chair of the LPB editorial panel, a member of the European Federation of Chemical Engineers working party and chaired the group which developed Fundamentals of Process Safety. He has contributed to many international conferences and co-editor of the book Risk Assessment in the Process Industries. He served on the Health and Safety Commission and is a recipient of the Institutions Ned Franklin and Arnold Greene medals. Currently he is a member of the Institution’s Major Hazard Committee.

Moderator

Trish Kerin, Director, Institution of Chemical Engineers Safety Centre (ISC)

Trish Kerin is an award-winning international expert and keynote speaker in process safety and the inaugural director of the IChemE Safety Centre. She leads a team who help organisations share and learn in process safety. Trish leverages her years of engineering and varied leadership experience to help organisations improve their process safety outcomes.

She has represented industry to many government bodies and sat on boards. She is a Chartered Engineer, registered Professional Process Safety Engineer, Fellow of IChemE and Engineers Australia and a Senior Member of AIChE. Trish also holds a diploma in OHS, a Master of Leadership and is a Graduate of the Australian Institute of Company Directors.

Her expertise has been recognised with the John A Brodie Medal (2015), the Trevor Kletz Merit Award (2018) and Women in Safety Network’s Inaugural Leader of the Year (2022). She has been named one of the “Superstars of STEM” for 2023/24 by Science and Technology Australia.

The material presented in this webinar has not been peer-reviewed. Any opinions are the presenter's own and do not necessarily represent those of IChemE or the Safety and Loss Prevention Special Interest Group. The information is given in good faith but without any liability on the part of IChemE.

Webinar recording