The EPSC Highlights 2022 are:
Members
Members remain appreciating EPSC and three new full members (Eli Lilly, Syngenta, Umicore) and three new associated members (ABS Group, HIMA, Tecsa) joined EPSC.
2nd European Conference on Plant & Process Safety – Antwerp
The Antwerp event provided a great opportunity to network and share about practical process safety learnings, among 300 technical safety specialists. With a special anniversary reception, 40 presentations and 22 booths at the network forum, the event has become a well-recognized and appreciated congress. The 3rd European Conference on Plant & Process Safety will take place on 13 & 14 December 2023 in Maastricht, The Netherlands.
Big Data and Digitalization
The 7th Big Data & Digital Conference was organized together with CCPS and had about 100 participants. Digitalization will continue to be important for the industry and next year’s event will be again at DECHEMA in Frankfurt in October 2023.
Technical Meetings
The spring (Berlin) and fall (Budapest) TSC meetings took place as face to face meetings, with the option to join on-line. With a strong program and a nice location the TSC’s remain the core of EPSC for sharing and networking. Minutes and presentations can be found in the “members only” area on the EPSC website.
Webinars
Webinars continued to be a great forum for sharing and discussing on process safety topics:
- EPSC Promoted Webinar had 6 interesting presentations from solution providers where typically about 300 people register. The presentations are available at the EPSC website for all.
- The Digitalization Working Group organized webinar sessions on relevant topics like “modeling of heat shielding on sites”. All employees of members companies are invited to join these webinars ad discussion. Presentations are available at the EPSC website.
CHEF/RAST
A 10 webinar session training was provided on the Chemical Engineering Fundamentals (CHEF). These principals are relevant for all technical safety specialists and are the basis for the Risk Analysis Screening Tool (RAST). People that have followed the CHEF course and work with RAST can join the EPSC RAST Users Group where actual cases are discussed.
EPSC Learning sheets
EPSC learning sheets have become widely appreciated by industry. They are available in 19 languages and the subscription list is growing every year.
Progression in active Working Groups
- Process Safety Fundamentals did become available in 11 languages and gained in practical use and appreciation.
- PHA Efficiency: The 5 work streams finalized the main work on HAZOP efficiency, practical readiness checklist, typicals and useful KPI’s.
- Leadership in Process Safety: The working group made a leadership development experience available for all, that was tested by the board. A flyer on the website can link you to partners that can provide the session for you.
- Process Safety in Pharma and Consumer Industries shared on best practices during the active sessions and developed the Process Safety Fundamentals for Pharma.
- Energy Transition & Renewables: The working group participants continued to discuss cases and their hazards to raise awareness. Some of the presentations are available at the EPSC website.
- Unwanted Polymerization had detailed discussions on operational practices and design on how to avoid unwanted polymerization of butadiene.
EPSC Benchmark Study
EPSC executed for the 5th year a benchmark study on process safety incidents. Incident rates and main cause frequency of the participating companies were made available anonymously in an easy overview, which can be found in the “members only” area. It is the largest and best documented benchmark study available including over a billion manhours.
Relations
EPSC continued to strengthen interaction with related associations including CEFIC (Jean Godts), FABIG (Guillaume Vannier), Seveso Expert Group (Stefan Leiner), VCI (Thilo Hoechst), DECHEMA (Andreas Förster), Process-Net (Maike Andresen), EFCE and Loss Prevention (Bruno Fabiano), Safety Delta Netherlands (Arjan van Dijk), Essenscia (Geert Boogaerts), GESIP (Frederic Pavard), Chemical Industry Association (Phil Scott), Phosgene working group (Kurt Meurer), IE-net (Frank Verschuren), Eurochlor (Ton Manders), Energy Institute (Mark Scanlon), OECD (Marie-Ange Baucher), Federchimica (Alessandra Pellegrini), CCPS (Shakeel and Willi Meier), AIChE (Trish Kern).
EPSC Website
The EPSC website was updated with all new materials in a well-organized way and continued to be a frequent visited website.
EPSC Newsletters
The Newsletters informed members and relations quarterly of all activities. Also an overview of relevant large incidents is provided.