Yesterday EEMUA held its first live online conference, with the theme of Resilience and Asset Integrity - managing our industrial infrastructure today and tomorrow. By all accounts it was a great success, helped in no small measure by the informative and insightful presentations given by our fantastic line-up of speakers.
Jane Lassey, Director, Chemical, Explosives and Microbiological Hazards Division, at the UK Health and Safety Executive, gave a sobering overview of the need for intelligent leadership in safety critical industries. The quote “I knew everything was all right because I never got any reports of things being wrong” will stay in attendees’ minds. Other presentations reinforced this message; Madeleine Abas, OAH Law, noted that someone starting a new job has the same risk of injury in the first six months as in the rest of their working life. The simple message was of suitable and sufficient risk assessments, clear processes, documented in a way that is appropriate for those who need it, and effective supervision. The presentation on Big Data: counting the cost of risk, by Ran Merkazy, Lloyd’s Register Foundation, included a graphic showing the effect of fatigue on critical workers in terms of units of beer equivalents; another sobering thought.
Other presentations covered a voyage into the use of digital twins (John Twiddle, SSE Renewables), as well as asset resilience in a climate emergency (Jim Wilkinson, Environment Agency). Fittingly there was also a presentation (Keith Owen, Northern Gas Networks) on the nuts and bolts of a move to a Net Zero hydrogen economy – a huge target.
Rounded off by a presentation on Net Zero norms: managing risks and seizing opportunities by Jonathon Porritt, this was a day that challenged the attendees to think differently about their role, and that of industry.
It was EEMUA’s first online conference, but it won’t be the last.
