Hackitt headlines Big Night Out

IChemE Council Member and Chair of the UK Health and Safety Executive Judith Hackitt was guest speaker last week at the Queensland Joint Chemical Engineering Committee’s (QLD JCEC) major event of the year, Big Night Out, in Australia.

Almost 100 guests gathered to honour members who achieved Chartered and Fellow status during the year while Hackitt's talk on process safety emphasised the constant need for vigilance and the need to avoid complacency.

IChemE State Chair, Graham Turner said: “The audience was particularly pleased to hear such a respected engineer from the other side of the world talk about process safety and to also understand how our institution and its members play such a huge part in keeping our industry safe.

“Hackitt drew parallels between applying good safety practice and tackling climate change – that is, if we believe it is a risk to the planet, why not do what we can to prevent it in the same way we would treat a safety risk on our plant.

"As an engineer you always hear about process safety incidents from across the world, but it becomes much more personal when you hear someone talk from their own experience, or how they personally know someone who was involved in an incident," said Turner.

The event was sponsored by Caltex, Uhde Shedden and AMEC.

Click here, to view photos from the event.