UK HSE cybersecurity expert to present at Hazards 31

HAZARDS 31 will feature a talk by cybersecurity expert Sarabjit Purewal – from the UK’s Health and Safety Executive – about the challenges in this area for those managing and preventing major hazards in chemical and process industries.

This year’s virtual event will take place on 16–18 November. Hosted by IChemE, Hazards is widely recognised as one of the world’s leading process safety conferences.

The process safety opportunities and risks associated with digitalisation, big data, artificial intelligence, and cyber security is one of several key themes to this year’s conference. They are all part of IChemE’s commitment to keep the industry and society safe by promoting good practice in process safety that enables businesses to ensure their operations are as safe as possible.

Purewal is Principal Specialist Inspector and portfolio lead for cybersecurity and emerging technologies at HSE. He began his career in the electricity supply industry working on automation of conventional and nuclear power plants, then moved into senior engineering management roles at engineering consultancies Kennedy and Donkin Consulting Engineers, and Mott MacDonald. Since joining HSE, Purewal has worked in a number of technical areas, been an advisor to the UK Minister for Health and Safety, and led operational teams in the major hazards sector.

In 2020, he was awarded an OBE to recognise his expertise and services to health and safety, and cybersecurity.

Many other industry experts will join Purewal at Hazards 31, delivering thought-provoking observations that affect the process safety and hazard management of the process industries. The event will include more than 80 technical presentations showcasing good practice, new approaches, and lessons learned that will help process safety and loss prevention professionals in their day-to-day operations.

New for this year, IChemE has included facilitated discussion time into the proceedings to enable delegates to further talk to their peers about how they could utilise and respond to the information that they have learned, to help improve safety in their sector.

Ken Rivers, Chair of IChemE’s volunteer Hazards Committee, said: “Responsible production, digitalisation and major hazard management are the three priorities IChemE is focusing on as a learned society for chemical and process engineers. Therefore, it’s incredibly important that we provide as many opportunities to share new insight and boost the flow and exchange of knowledge and experience for safety improvements as part of this annual conference. Introducing this new facilitated discussion time allows just that.

“Building on the success of last year’s virtual event, we’ve put together an engaging and interactive programme with the newly-added facilitated discussion time to enable ideas exchange in the safest and most accessible way, encouraging participation from all around the world.

“We also hope (like last year’s delegates who spent 640 hours on the platform in the 30 days after the event watching the 31 hours of technical content available), that those joining us for Hazards 31 will utilise and benefit from the same learning opportunities this virtual presentation brings.”

Speakers at this year’s Hazards will include Atula Abeysekera, Professor of Risk Management at Imperial College London, UK; Terry Cooper, Non-Executive Director for the UK Government’s Offshore Petroleum Regulator for Environment and Decommissioning (OPRED); and Simon Wood, Environment, Health and Safety Specialist at the UK Petroleum Industry Association (UKPIA).

For more details about the speakers, programme, and to register visit the IChemE Hazards page.