News
Richard Gowland to Chair Session at Industrial Technologies 2010 Conference
02/09/2010
EPSC Technical Director, Richard Gowland, is to chair a session on integrating safety into emerging technologies at the development stage, to take part on 7th September at Industrial Technologies 2010.
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02/09/2010
EPSC Technical Director, Richard Gowland, is to chair a session on integrating safety into emerging technologies at the development stage, to take part on 7th September at Industrial Technologies 2010.
» read more
2006-2008 Seveso 2 Implementation Report Made Available
23/08/2010
A summary of EU Member State reports of Seveso data covering the period 2006 to 2008 has been made available by the European Commission.
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23/08/2010
A summary of EU Member State reports of Seveso data covering the period 2006 to 2008 has been made available by the European Commission.
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CFPB To Hold Workshop On Land Use Planning For LPG
11/08/2010
The Comité Français du Propane et Butane (CFPB) is to hold a one day workshop next month in Paris on Industrial Safety and Land-use Planning around LPG establishments.
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11/08/2010
The Comité Français du Propane et Butane (CFPB) is to hold a one day workshop next month in Paris on Industrial Safety and Land-use Planning around LPG establishments.
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EPSC Strategic Review on Process Safety Competence
11/08/2010
EPSC has initiated a strategic review on process safety competence which it expects to publish mid 2011, for which it is requesting input.
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11/08/2010
EPSC has initiated a strategic review on process safety competence which it expects to publish mid 2011, for which it is requesting input.
» read more
Stuxnet Worm Webinar - Details of Process Control Malware
11/08/2010
IndustrialDefender hold a series of webinars on Stuxnet, the first malware found to deliberately target industrial process control software.
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11/08/2010
IndustrialDefender hold a series of webinars on Stuxnet, the first malware found to deliberately target industrial process control software.
» read more
Ispra Workshop Renews Attention Towards Safety Culture
22/07/2010A subject of note at the mutual joint visit meetings at Ispra and associated workshops was the role of safety culture on process safety performance. A greater interest in ability to demonstrate a good process safety culture has been raised in recent years as it has been cited in major accident investigations. One of the most notable of these has been the Baker Report into the Texas City accident of 2005. These investigations in many cases revealed that the causes of the accidents were not new phenomena but were potentially predictable and manageable.
As pointed out by EPCS Technical Director Richard Gowland, as long ago as 2003 the Columbia Shuttle Accident Investigation Board was able to characterize an appropriate Safety Culture into a small number of themes which are applicable to any hazard-managing organisation:
- Maintaining a Sense of Vulnerability
- Combating Normalisation of Deviance
- Establishing an Imperative for Safety
- Performing Valid and Timely Hazard and Risk Assessments
- Ensuring Open and Frank Communications
- Learning and Advancing the Culture
Safety Culture is one of the current areas of discussion and activity within EPSC as public attention to the topic grows. The presentational DVD - Process Safety Pays has been one successful project in this area, but one that can be augmented with additional work. EPSC is seeking ways to best assist companies in demonstrably forming a robust safety culture. It is important that the term "safety culture" be widely understood for this effort to progress and have meaningful results.