News

For the legal/regulatory stream, we will feature David Myrol, a well-known and prominent legal expert, to talk about how to insulate oneself from Bill C-45. The intent of the presentation is to promote awareness and explain the protection afforded executives. A “Safety Primer” will be presented to bring everyone up to speed on terminology and issues.

The technical stream will feature Dr. Michel Houtermans, an expert from the safety approvals agency, TÜV, as well as Hinz Automation’s specialist on safety system design and implementation.

“Corporate Criminal Liability and You” - David Myrol

This presentation will put criminal liability for a workplace accident into practical perspective. It will provide an important context for senior management to better understand what has changed and where they must focus their resources to insulate themselves and their organizations from criminal liability. It will trace the history of Bill C-45, identify the purpose of the changes, and provide an important legislative context that senior management need to understand in order to develop appropriate systems to reduce the risk.

The topics will include:

• The origins and purpose of Bill C-45
• The practical effect of those amendments
• Review and update recent case law on Bill C-45
• The differences between a criminal and regulatory offence
• How to protect against criminal and regulatory work site liability.

“Functional Safety In A Practical World ” - Dr. Michel Houtermans

New international standards are changing the way the oil & gas, process, and chemical industries are addressing safety in their facilities and plants. The IEC 61508, IEC 61511, and ISA S84.01 standards follow a risk based philosophy which means the more risky the production process the more attention needs to be paid to the safety system. Many end-users are struggling with questions like “What do I need to do to comply with the new standards?”, “Do these standards apply to me?”, “How much safety is enough?”, “What requirements do I need to take into account for my safety systems?”. The purpose of this presentation is to give the attendance an overview of the standards so that they better understand what needs to be done and can be done in practice. The presentation will address functional safety, hazard & risk analysis and the design of safety system.

“Primer on Process Safety” - Dan Bourlet

Operators of potentially hazardous process facilities often have trouble deciding whether or not to install a safety system. Part of the issue is the common belief that safety systems are an overhead item. History teaches us that insufficient hazard analysis and safety system design do on occasion lead to disastrous consequences. An informed decision first requires knowing that risk can be reduced by spreading it out across time. By using qualified help with the initial hazard analysis and subsequent engineering, the facility operator obtains verifiable proof that their process has been made safe.

“Safety Lifecycle” - Eric Olson

Risk reduction is a closed-loop process of which safety system design and implementation are only a small part. The risk reduction process goes through a series of phases that are collectively called the “Safety Lifecycle”. There are several “right” ways to execute each phase. The best method produces all the essential outputs in a format that can be easily assimilated into the next phase. This is especially true for keeping the Operation and Maintenance phase easy and affordable to manage. In order to prove due diligence, project documents and other deliverables must be verified against the process hazards analysis. This degree of “auditability” is wholly dependent upon managing the Safety Lifecycle phases.