Past Event - Market volatility and inflation – impact on downstream assets
Speaker: Jean Martin
Date: Tuesday 14th March
A copy of this presentation and associated video recording will be made available on the OPERA Members area of the website in due course.
Past Event - OPERA AGM and Presentation - Renewables - Hazards and Risks of the Energy Transition
Speaker: Roger Stokes, Baker Risk
Date: Thursday 19th January
Slides and video recording from this seminar are available from the Members area of the OPERA website to current OPERA members only.
Past Event - It all adds up…the impact of cumulative changes on safety and production
Speaker: Trish Kerin - Director, Institution of Chemical Engineers Safety Centre (ISC)
Date: Tuesday 8th November
THIS PRESENTATION AND MEETING VIDEO IS NOW AVAILABLE ON THE OPERA MEMBERS AREA FOR CURRENT MEMBERS ONLY
Past Event - OPERA Online/Hybrid Presentation - Learning from Natech events and the next steps in risk management - Zsuzsanna Gyenes
Speaker:
Zsuzsanna Gyenes
Presentation Synopsis:
Natural hazards, such as floods, earthquakes, and extreme temperatures are still prone to trigger technological accidents. For example, lightning has caused fires in different parts of the world in the past few weeks at oil terminals. These so-called Natech events (natural hazards triggering technological disasters) need further attention to be able to prepare for and prevent future cases from occurring. Operators of hazardous assets need to be aware of the possible tools to manage risks arising from Natechs. This presentation will demonstrate the potential effects of Natech events via past case studies and discussions about risk management.
Presentation and video from this meeting are now available on the OPERA Members area of the website.
Past Event - Ammonium Nitrate Safety in Industrial Operations
TO BE HELD ONLINE VIA ZOOM WITH LIMITED IN PERSON SPACES TO ATTEND FOR FULL OPERA MEMBERS - Online invite link will be sent to all registered attendees nearer to the time of the presentation itself after bookings have closed.
Speaker:
Kish Shah
Presentation Synopsis:
The presentation will give a historical perspective of the developments of uses for ammonium nitrate (AN) and will describe the main range of AN-based products produced, with a brief outline of the manufacturing processes. The main potential hazards of these products will be described with illustrations. Various methods and means employed in the industry for controlling these hazards will be presented. A selection of past accidents with interesting features will be reviewed. We will look into a review of the safety performance of the industry and the challenges facing the industry. Main recommendations concerning safety provision will be summarised.
FULL PRESENTATION AND VIDEO AVAILABLE TO OPERA MEMBERS VIA THE MEMBERS AREA OF THE OPERA WEBSITE
Past Event - OPERA Summer Social - Open to both members and non-members
OPERA Summer Social - Afternoon Cruise on the Golden Sunrise - boarding at 12:45pm with 1pm departure on Thursday 14th July
Thanks to everyone who attended!
Past Presentation - Experiences with HAZOP/PHA/PHR Revalidation and remote studies
Speaker:
Graham Laughland - ABB
Presentation Synopsis:
Graeme Laughland, Principal Process Safety Consultant, ABB will reflect on > 30 years of experience on the practical application of HAZOP/PHA/PHR re-validation including techniques described in the Delta HAZOP methodology as recently published by the IChemE.
The opportunities and challenges of conducting remote hazard studies versus face to face meetings will also be discussed.
Full slides and a video recording of this seminar is available to OPERA members via the Members area of the OPERA website.
Past Presentation - National Cultures, and How They Influence Approaches to Industrial Safety and Loss Prevention
Speakers:
Egbert Schram – CEO - Hofstede Insights and Trevor Hughes – Hughes Consultancy and Research
Presentation Synopsis:
Trevor Hughes will introduce Hofstede’s work. He will recount a number of humorous experiences in different countries which point to distinct national cultures. Egbert Schram of Hofstede Insights will further describe Hofstede’s work and how its findings influence safety culture, using example country comparisons over six dimensions of national culture. Finally, we will pose the question as to whether national cultures should influence risk engineering and loss prevention approaches in different countries.
• Do we accept deep seated differences between national cultures, and that these be assessed factually, without being accused of bias and stereotyping? If so…
• Should we be using the same “toolkit” in loss prevention consultancy and risk engineering? Same agenda, same line of questioning, similar recommendations.
• Does ‘good’ risk quality potentially look different according to the local culture?
Presentation and video are available to current OPERA members via the members area of the OPERA website.
Past Presentation - Large Vapour Cloud Explosions: What do we know?
Speaker:
Graham Atkinson - Health and Safety Executive
Presentation Synopsis:
Graham Atkinson of the UK’s Health and Safety Executive (HSE) Laboratory will be reviewing learnings from work on a variety of large vapour cloud explosions. He will discuss some major events and what these have in common. The presentation will cover aspects such as observed damage patterns, the importance of meteorological conditions and the role of congestion.
Speaker Bio:
Graham Atkinson has a degree and doctorate in physics from Cambridge University and has worked for HSE since 1989. He has regularly carried out investigations at the scene of fatal or unusual fires and explosions. The majority of these incidents have been in factories, chemical sites or warehouses. Graham has also led numerous research projects on a wide range of industrial fire and explosion problems.
Presentation and video are available to current OPERA members via the members area of the OPERA website.
Past Presentation - Safety and Reliability Society
Speaker:
Andrew Buchan and David Holland
Presentation Synopsis:
The presentation will give an introduction to the Safety and Reliability Society (SaRS), highlight SaRS members depth of expertise in oil and petrochemical industries and prompt discussion in cross sector learning in a range of high hazard industries - for full synopsis please see document attachment.
Speaker Bio:
Andrew Buchan- Bsc (Hons) MRSC CChem FNucI FSaRS MIFireE
Andrew Buchan graduated from RGIT in Aberdeen and started his career at UKAEA Harwell working on the chemistry of nuclear waste disposal. He then carried out technical decommissioning assessments at Sellafield and Windscale before moving to a role undertaking safety and risk assessments for a wide range of both operational and decommissioning nuclear chemical plant. He has worked across a wide range of areas in developing safety assessment methodologies and undertaking peer review across the nuclear industry. Andrew has contributed to several Nuclear Energy Agency and IAEA publications and working groups.
Andrew leads the programme of Severe Accident Analysis for the Sellafield site which brings together detailed analysis of safety, security, risk and emergency management. Andrew is a Chartered Chemist, a member of the Institute of Fire Engineers, a Fellow of the Nuclear Institute and the Safety and Reliability Society. He is the current Chairman of the Safety and Reliability Society (SaRS) which represents engineers and scientists from many industries working in Safety and Reliability.
David Holland BSc, MSc, PhD, CEng, MSaRS, MIMMM
Dr David Holland has been working in the field of Technical Safety / Process Safety management for over 25 years, both as a consultant and as a manager within the offshore oil and gas industry. In his current role as Technical Safety Manager at TAQA, a North Sea oil and gas operator, he is responsible for driving functional and behavioural excellence in Technical Safety and Process Safety across the entire asset lifecycle.
Leading a team of Engineers that provides expert technical Safety, advice, support, guidance and direction into existing operations, projects, decommissioning and wells including Safety Case management.
Led three international high profile incident investigations and delivered findings and dealt effectively with challenges to ensure that the root causes are taken on board leading to improved organisational effectiveness.
Implementing and embedding TAQAs process safety dashboard which has in turn driven a culture of process safety excellence and operational excellence. The dashboard and the culture it created helped TAQA to win the P&J Health and Safety Gold award in 2018.
David has been on the SaRS Council since 2000 and over this time has been Chair, President and seen SaRS develop to be a full member of the Engineering Council, able to confer CEng status. He has organized conferences, dinners and raised SaRS profile across Aberdeen. Most recent in a joint collaboration with the Energy Institute on “Asset Integrity Management”.
This presentation and associated video can be found in the OPERA Members Area - accessible to currently subscribed OPERA Members.
Past Presentation - OPERA AGM and Presentation - Valuations and cost trends in the process industries
Speaker:
James Arthur - Riskology
Presentation Synopsis:
Topics covered will include methods of estimating the valuation of process plant.
There will be discussion on the benefits of a site survey compared to historical costs and include a review of some of the key elements such as labour and material costs. There will be a review of recent changes to costs and how individual elements make a difference to the overall cost of the complete plant.
There will also be comparison of plant cost compared to throughput of typical process units and how recent escalation have made a difference to different facilities.
We will include a view on “crystal ball gazing” and discussion on Actual Cash Values and Reinstatement as New values with a review of what these terms mean.
Speaker Bio:
While completing a mechanical engineering apprenticeship James took certificates in mechanical engineering and metallurgy at the University of Hertfordshire, after which, he joined the Royal Navy as a Marine Engineer Artificer.
James started valuing in 1984 with loss adjusters Toplis and Harding and began risk surveying with Thomas Howell before he moving to Indonesia in 1995. As President Director of Synergy Risk Management Consultants until 2006 providing risk management advice in South-East Asia. He founded Riskology in 2006 expanding the business into the Middle East and Africa.
The company which continues to advise insurers and major oil and energy companies with a specialist team that provides highly detailed asset valuations, risk surveys and drilling surveys. These include upstream and downstream operations both onshore and offshore and that include sub-sea facilities and Floating Production Storage Offloading operations.
He is a member of the Association of Cost Engineers in the United Kingdom.
This presentation and associated video can be found in the OPERA Members Area - accessible to currently subscribed OPERA Members.
Past Presentation - Automated Well Control
Speaker:
Bryan Atchison - Managing Director at Safe Influx
Presentation Synopsis:
The major accident of a blowout is the most dramatic and traumatic event that can occur in upstream oil and gas operations. The presentation covers the historical frequency of well control events and the projected number of events in the future to determine the size of the prize. A high level technical description of the system and the interfaces are then discussed followed by the risk benefits and cost benefits of using an Automated Well Control system.The presentation should be of interest to risk engineers and underwriters.
Speaker Bio:
Bryan originally graduated with Honours as a Mechanical Engineer at Aberdeen University, and holds a MEng in Petroleum Engineering from Heriot-Watt University. From 1981, Bryan has been working in the oil and gas industry, predominantly in the UK and Denmark.
He is an experienced project manager in drilling, well engineering and offshore operations, and has held Drilling Supervisor, Engineering, Superintendent and Drilling Manager positions in Operators.
Bryan then joined Robert Gordon University in 2017 in a business facing role delivering and creating courses that optimise the skill sets of well engineering personnel for well control and high-risk critical operations using numerical drilling simulators.
The university environment coupled with a career in well engineering enabled the research and development for Automated Well Control.
Date: Tuesday 9th November
Time: 3PM
A full recording of this event and associated slide package is available to OPERA members only on the members area of the OPERA website.
Past Presentation - Hydrogen and Ammonia – the Unique Safety Challenges
Speaker:
Darren Malik - Baker Risk
Presentation Synopsis:
The presentation will briefly highlight some of the global initiatives related to achieving carbon neutral, or NetZero, emissions. The physical and economic limitations of hydrogen and ammonia to act as energy carriers will also be discussed. The core purpose of the presentation is to highlight the unique safety challenges associated with ammonia and hydrogen. Flammability and explosibility hazards associated with hydrogen and ammonia will be demonstrated via previous research performed at BakerRisk’s test facilities.
The presentation should be of interest to risk engineers and underwriters.
Speaker Bio:
Darren is a graduate of Texas A&M University, he has Bachelor of Science degree in Nuclear Engineering (2008) and a Master of Science degree in Mechanical Engineering (2010). Darren has been employed at BakerRisk since 2010; where he currently serves as the general manager of BakerRisk testing operations. Darren’s primary technical focus is on the development and application of empirical, analytical, and numerical models for the characterization of flammability and explosion phenomena. This includes the materials laboratory at the corporate headquarters in San Antonio, the 160-acre Wilfred E Baker Test Facility (WEBTF), and the 2300-acre Box Canyon Test Facility (BCTF). As a certified fire and explosion investigator (CFEI); Darren also supports and/or leads the investigation of accidental industrial fires and explosions as well as other related near miss incidents.
This presentation and a video recording of the event are both available on the OPERA members area to full or overseas OPERA members.
Past Presentation - Corrosion Risk Analytics to get the real picture
Speaker:
James Rosenshine - Corrosion Radar Ltd
Speaker Bio:
James Rosenshine - Head of Business Development, Corrosion Radar Ltd - With more than a decade experience in the global energy sector, James has been at forefront of business growth for new and disruptive digital technologies, entering and expanding into new markets.
This presentation is available to download from the OPERA Members Area of the website for current members only.
Past Presentation - Creeping Changes
Speaker:
Zsuzsanna Gyenes - IChemE
Presentation main topics:
Brief introduction of the ISC
Managing creeping changes – why is it a challenge?
Case studies and main learning points
Potential lead process safety metrics associated with the cases
What can a plant manager/supervisor/operator do to manage creeping changes?
Q&A
Speaker Bio:
Please see bio attached to the main event listing.
This presentation is available to download for OPERA Members within the membership area of the OPERA website.
Past Presentation - Geothermal Wells
Speaker:
Mark Macdonald - Lloyd Warwick
Presentation synopsis:
The presentation will cover the background and development of geothermal resources for power generation. This will be followed up with an overview of the risks/challenges encountered when drilling geothermal wells. There will be a brief consideration of important aspects with respect to the production and workover of geothermal wells prior to discussing some of the loss events sustained either during drilling or production operations.
Speaker Bio:
Mark graduated from the University of Dundee in 2003 with a Master’s degree in Electronic Engineering. He worked as a Research Engineer prior to moving into the Oil & Gas industry in 2005. Mark worked as a Measurement / Logging While Drilling (M/LWD) engineer for Pathfinder Energy Services (now a Schlumberger company). During his time at Pathfinder, he worked on many jack-up and semi-submersible rigs during drilling operations throughout the Dutch and UK sectors of the North Sea, as well as onshore Italy, the Netherlands, and the UK. He has experience of drilling conventional oil and gas wells, high pressure high temperature (HPHT) wells and geothermal wells.
In 2009, Mark began his loss adjusting career in London with Matthews Daniel. Given his background and in-depth knowledge of drilling operations, he mainly focused on the handling of well control claims, both onshore and offshore and on a worldwide basis. He also gained knowledge of the London insurance market and of policy wordings associated with Control of Well and other Upstream Energy risks.
In 2012, Mark moved to Singapore with Matthews Daniel. During his time in Singapore, Mark was involved in a number of complex well control claims in the Asia-Pacific region. In addition, Mark handled many Upstream Energy claims (PD, CAR, TPL) across Asia.
In February 2018, Mark returned to London to join Braemar Technical Services (now AqualisBraemar). In this role he continued to handle a variety of Upstream & Midstream Energy claims in Europe, Africa and the Middle East.
Mark subsequently joined McLarens in January 2020 before transferring to Lloyd Warwick International (LWI) in June 2020 following McLarens acquisition of LWI.
Slides from this meeting are now available within the members area of the OPERA website.
Past Presentation - Introduction to Human Factors & the Importance of Understanding Human Behaviour
Speaker:
Janette Edmonds - Director, Keil Centre
Presentation synopsis:
The oil and petrochemical industries have made significant advances in health, safety and performance in the last few decades with technological advances and massive improvements in safety management. So why do accidents and incidents still occur? And why are systems still not meeting the performances we expect of them? To answer these questions we need to understand that people are fundamental to the system and if we don’t understand human behaviour then we miss the opportunity to reach full system potential and reduce the risks associated with it. Janette will explain the relevance of human factors for reducing risks related to major accidents.
Speaker Bio:
Janette Edmonds. Chartered Ergonomics and Human Factors Specialist. BSc(Hons) MSc CErgHF FCIEHF CMIOSH.
Janette is a director of the Keil Centre, a leading practice of chartered psychologists and human factors specialists. She has 27 years’ of practical ergonomics experience within a wide range of industries including chemical processing, shipping and oil and gas. Janette provides generalist human factors support but specialises in human factors in engineering design and human safety analysis. She was awarded the William F Floyd Award in 1999 for her outstanding contribution to ergonomics. She is the course director for the UK & Europe IChemE Human Factors in Health & Safety course.
THIS PRESENTATION IS NOW AVAILABLE ON THE OPERA MEMBERS AREA FOR CURRENT MEMBERS ONLY
Past Presentation - OPERA March Online Presentation - BI Coverages & Trends for the Energy Industry
Speakers:
Chris Price-Kuehne (Global BI Engineering Leader, Energy & Power, Marsh)
Anna Frau (BI Engineer, Energy & Power, Marsh)
Lawrence Walters (BI Engineer, Energy & Power, Marsh)
Presentation synopsis:
We welcome you to join this session hosted by members of Marsh’s BI engineering team to learn more about the Business Interruption (BI) coverages available to Energy clients. The session will cover the principles of a range of BI policy types, including their suitability to upstream, midstream and downstream operations. Following recent innovation in the offshore BI sector, there will also be a closer look at the differences between the classic LOPI (2005), revised LOPI (2020) and Operability coverages. With respect to onshore BI we’ll also discuss the recent trend to apply restrictions to coverage via the BI Volatility Clause, and consider an operator’s perspective on managing the volatility that is inherent in the industry.
Speaker Bios:
This session will be hosted by Chris Price-Kuehne, Anna Frau and Lawrence Walters; members of Marsh’s BI engineering team in the UK. Chris is the Energy & Power practice’s Global BI Engineering Leader and has been working with clients and markets to develop BI engineering processes and coverages for over a decade. Anna and Lawrence joined the insurance industry with backgrounds in refinery planning and scheduling, and provide BI engineering services for a wide range of Energy & Power clients.
MEETING SLIDES ARE AVAILABLE TO CURRENT OPERA MEMBERS VIA THE MEMBER AREA OF THE OPERA WEBSITE.
Past Presentation - Science and Technology of Battery Fire Safety - Prof. Guillermo Rein, Imperial College London
Speaker: Prof. Guillermo Rein, Imperial College London
Presentation synopsis:
The Lithium-ion battery (LIB) is an important technology for the present and future of energy storage, transport, and consumer electronics. However, many LIB types display a tendency to ignite or release toxic gases. This talk provides an overview of the existing research, the industrial challenges, the causes of LIB fires, and the layers of protection. The talk recommends a closer collaborations between the battery and fire safety communities, which, supported by major industries, could drive improvements, integration and harmonization of LIB safety across sectors.
Speaker Bio:
Guillermo Rein is Professor of Fire Science at the Department of Mechanical Engineering of Imperial College London and Editor-in-Chief of the journal Fire Technology.
His research is centred on heat transfer, combustion and fire. The purpose of his work is to reduce the worldwide burden of accidental fires and protect people, their property, and the environment. His research portfolio is ample, but over the last 20 years he is best known in three areas: 1) how polymers and wood ignite so we can avoid fires from starting; 2) how engineers can design better structures that resist fire; and 3) how wildfires spread and how to fight them. He leads the research group Imperial Hazelab which currently counts 15 fire researchers.
A video recording of this presentation is now available to download from the members area of the OPERA website - for current members only.
Past Presentation - OPERA Online ZOOM AGM and Seminar - 'Digital Technologies & Risk Engineering - Hype, Hope & Reality'
OPERA Online ZOOM AGM and Seminar - 'Digital Technologies & Risk Engineering - Hype, Hope & Reality'
TO BE HELD ONLINE VIA ZOOM - Invite link will be sent to all registered attendees nearer to the time of the presentation itself.
Speaker: Ryan McGovern, Chief Product Officer, Virtual i Technologies
Presentation synopsis:
The global pandemic has changed the way in which we work...for now. When 'normality' resumes will we go back to the same tools, techniques and travels that we were used to? Will we keep some of the reactive practices we have adopted? Or will we shift into a new gear and more fully embrace the promise of digital technologies? In this presentation we will take a look at what is currently being used to deliver Risk Engineering services in an alternative way, take a look into the near future to see what is coming and we will take a few stops along the way to bust some hype (hint - the word 'blockchain' may be used).
Speaker Bio:
Ryan has 15+ years of operations management, production economics, risk engineering and business interruption experience obtained within Marsh and ExxonMobil. Conducted a broad range of risk engineering activities across 40+ countries for multinational energy and power companies.
MEng Chemical Engineering with Polymer Science, Queen’s University Belfast, and an MSc Environmentally Sustainable Process Technology, Chalmers Technical University, Göteborg.
This presentation is available to download from the OPERA Members Area of the website for current members only.