Process safety competence matters

The director of the Institution of Chemical Engineers Safety Centre (ISC), Trish Kerin, has won the Engineers Australia John A Brodie Medal for her paper featuring a new process safety competency. The medal recognises Kerin’s work and leadership in developing a robust blueprint for a global process safety action plan.

The John A Brodie Medal is awarded by the Chemical College Board of Engineers Australia. It was presented at the recent annual Awards for Excellence in Chemical Engineering at the Asian Pacific Confederation of Chemical Engineering Congress (incorporating Chemeca 2015). Presenting the award was EA Chemical College Board chair Dr Leon Prentice, who said Kerin’s paper provides a clear framework to create a culture of safety awareness and competency.

“It makes it clear that all levels of an organisation are involved and shows a real-world link on how chemical engineering provides value in achieving organisational objectives and performance,” he said. “The very real pathway for implementation involves a collaborative approach with everyone in the organisation, from the technical support to the chair of the board.”

Kerin’s paper featured ISC’s guidance works, ‘The Process Safety Competency — a Model 2015’, launched only a couple of months ago. The document builds and expands on current thinking in the field. Existing documents tend to be generic in nature, stopping short of defining different levels of competency for different roles within an organisation.

Kerin said that she was honoured to receive the award, as it is great recognition of the work done by the ISC and its member companies over the past 12 months.  

“It also confirms the standing of the ISC as a leading global process safety centre,” she said.

The ISC also launched ‘Lead Process Safety Metrics — Selecting, Tracking and Learning 2015’. This document focuses on the operational phase of an organisation. It will help to develop consistency in lead process safety metrics and facilitate effective benchmarking.

The publications offer practical guidance and support for anyone involved with improving process safety performance. Both documents benefit operating companies in the major hazard industries and reflect current industry thinking and best practice.

To download the guidance documents, visit the ISC website. For more information, contact Trish Kerin.

About the John A Brodie Medal

The John A Brodie Medal is awarded by the institution of Engineers Australia (EA) for the best paper in the discipline of chemical engineering presented at the Chemeca conference; at any other conference sponsored by EA; at a branch meeting of the institution; or published in the journal Chemical Engineering in Australia during the past year. It is named in honour of JA Brodie, who was chief engineer with Union Carbide. He established a reputation as a leading industrial innovator in Australia, having been responsible for the design and construction for polyethylene film extrusion units, the manufacture of bakelite and a continuous crystallisation plant known as the Brodie Purifier. He won several international awards for his inventions, including the Prince Philip Award for Australian Design. Brodie was a councillor for Engineers Australia from 1967 to 1971.