Upcoming events and webinars
Below are conferences and webinars where Trish Kerin or Craig Wright will present.
October 2023
3rd BCECA Annual Conference
4 October 2023, Virtual
BCECA's third annual conference will focus on the UK's implementation of CCUS and hydrogen infrastructure, waste to energy schemes and examine solutions to the challenges presented by the delivery of large-scale decarbonisation projects. The one-day virtual meeting will assess the experiences and lessons learned to date. The importance of collaboration will be a theme of the day. Collaboration within the context of competition is essential if the UK is to meet its targets. Ideas and proposals emerging from the conversation will be written up in a short report.
Mary Kay O'Connor Safety & Risk Conference
11–13 October 2023, College Station, Texas
Mary Kay O’Connor Process Safety and Risk Global conference is planned for 2023 with strong industry and academic participation. The conference will serve as a venue to discuss challenges faced and potential solutions to support the safer energy transition.
Conference topics:
- Process safety and risk management
- Process instrumentation and safety
- Safety of hydrogen and alternate fuels
- Ocean energy systems safety (renewable and non-renewable)
- Safety and security in cyber physical
- Reliability and asset integrity of processing systems
Canadian Chemical Engineering Conference (CSChE) 2023
29 October - 1 November 2023, Calgary, Canada
The 73rd Canadian Society of Chemical Engineering Conference (CSChE) 2023 will take place in Calgary. The conference theme, “Transitions: Materials, Energy, and the Environment”, operates at several levels. At a fundamental level, chemical engineers deal with the transformation of raw materials into useful products. These transformations involve molecular, phase, and energy transitions. At a broader level, the processes that have been built from these fundamentals have led to significant changes in society, both good and bad. For example, fertilizers and petroleum founded an unprecedented growth in the standard of living. However, that growth came with some unforeseen consequences for our environment. There is now an opportunity to help with the transition to a more sustainable future. Finally, chemical engineering itself is in transition as we grow in our understanding of science, its consequences, and its role in education and society.
November 2023
Hazards 33 Process Safety Conference
7–9 November 2023, Birmingham, UK
Hazards is widely recognised as one of the world’s leading process safety conferences. First staged in 1960, it is an industry-focused event which shares good practice, current thinking and lessons learned in process safety, and offers valuable networking opportunities. This conference is an excellent opportunity for process safety and loss prevention professionals to connect with their peers, build networks and renew their focus on good process safety practice post-pandemic.
Themes running throughout the programme will include:
- identifying and embedding good practice in major hazards management
- the role of executive leadership in managing major hazards
- understanding and managing the challenges and hazard implications of new technologies and applications
- identifying further opportunities for sharing and learning across industries and sectors.
December 2023
Third European Conference on Plant and Process Safety
13–14 December 2023, Maastricht, The Netherlands
The third European Conference on Plant and Process Safety organised by the European Process Safety Centre will take place at the MECC Maastricht, Forum 100, 6229 GV Maastricht, The Netherlands.
WEBINAR: Tacoa Power Plant Boilover
14 December 2023 01:00 - 02:00 GMT
19th December 1982 marks Venezuela’s deadliest industrial disaster. An explosion in a fuel oil tank at the Tacoa Power Plant, then operated by Electricidad de Caracas, had already claimed the lives of two operators. However, as the resulting fire continued to burn, emergency personnel, onlookers, and media gathered in the vicinity, all unaware of the ominous heat wave creeping to the bottom of the tank. Suddenly, a heel of undrained water was vapourised, ejecting the tank’s contents in a violent eruption which gushed burning oil down the steep hillside. Caracas suffered severe blackouts as the grim news emerged. 40,000 evacuated. 500 injured. More than 150 dead. This case study will reveal how it is possible to ignite a heavy fuel oil, the importance of maintaining fire response systems, and the three ingredients of a fuel storage tank boilover. Aided by dramatic helicopter footage of the aftermath, the role of plant topography in the escalation of the Tacoa tragedy will be explained.
Speakers
Ewan Stewart is the deputy chair of IChemE Australia, and immediate past chair of the Queensland Joint Chemical Engineering Committee. He works for Kent Plc in Brisbane, supporting a refining client with a major future fuels upgrade. Ewan has authored technical content for the IChemE Loss Prevention Bulletin and has presented safety case studies at Hazards Australasia. He applies a strong safety focus across his work and is a firm believer in storytelling as a means of getting the safety message across.
Ewan will be joined by Rixio E. Medina, founder, and principal at Texas-based R.E.M Risk Consultants. At the time of the incident, Rixio was a fire protection engineer with five years of experience. Arriving at Tacoa shortly after the boilover, he advised military, law enforcement, fire, and civil authorities on the firefighting strategy, and was involved in the investigation. Rixio only left the site after the fire was finally extinguished.
2024
March 2024
24 - 28 March 2024, New Orleans, USA
The Spring24 and 20th Global Congress for Process Safety will take place in Ernest N. Morial Convention Center in New Orleans, USA.
December 2024
International Process Safety Week
2 - 6 December 2024, Virtual
This week-long event will be filled with webinars, panel discussions and case studies to enhance process safety. This event will be facilitated by Congress for Chemical Process Safety, IChemE Safety Centre, Mary Kay O'Connor Process Safety Center, Fire & Blast Info Group, and European Process Safety Centre.
Further information can be found here.