Welcoming Remarks

The chemical and fuels industry is facing a challenge of a generational shift. The retiring outgoing generation experienced a number of landmark catastrophic events, which led to the introduction of the OSHA Process Safety Management standard, Seveso Directive, COMAH regulations and active engagement of regulatory and professional organizations to curtail these incidents. This backdrop of about three decades of active practice, preceded the recent covid years. During these years, in spite of changes to safe work management practices and audits, the industry did not experience a significant global deterioration in safety performance. The speaker will highlight that this is evidence of the success of having the right balance of basic and complex safety process management tools, and leveraging the power of many, to stem the natural deterioration of systems. The keynote speech addresses the criticality of the knowledge and experience transfer mandate, and the importance of capitalizing on diversity and inclusion, to engage the best new talent in our industry.