Ian Travers - Process Safety Consultancy

A unique combination of expertise and experience

I have a unique combination of expertise and experience in the management of major hazard risks coupled with an innovative approach to the diagnosis and analysis of risk management systems, safety culture and corporate leadership.

My extensive experience in the investigation of major accidents, identification of underlying root causes and from experience working with individual companies and sector expert groups means that I am able to fulfil a number of expert roles.

designing and implementing process safety management systems
leadership and safety culture analysis and developing improvement programmes
developing leadership programmes including training of senior executives in the essential elements of process safety
supporting the development of high reliability organisations
development and implementation of key performance indicators for process safety
business analysis and auditing process safety management and general safety management systems
incident investigation leading to improvement programmes to prevent a reoccurrence
training, delivering seminars and presenting at conferences on these issues

a world expert on process safety management

Twenty five years experience

Recently retired from HSE as Deputy Director, Chemicals Regulation I have over twenty five years' experience in the regulation of chemical and major hazard industries and in the investigation of major incidents to discover the underlying causes. I am a world expert on process safety management, leadership and the establishment and implementation of key performance indicators for major hazard industries. I hold the Institute of Chemical Engineers' Franklin Medal for my outstanding contribution to Process Safety.

I can provide a unique insight to how HSE, the global leading safety regulator, verifies risk management systems in the chemicals, oils, gas and other major hazard industries. I know how complex systems fail and how to manage risks efficiently and effectively. I can quickly and reliably check that an organisation has on-the-ground safety under control to provide pragmatic solutions and training where problems exist.

COVID 19 risk assessment

Quite a few people have been in touch to ask me for help in preparing the workplace for operating under the new conditions. The UK Government have issued guidelines for most sectors of the economomy including construction, engineering and process activities. I have set up a new website which allows you to complete an online COVID 19 risk assessment to ensure that you are fully compliant with the requirements in these guidelines. Visit www.covsafe.co.uk to find out more.

Significant Achievements

Regulation

Responsible for implementing HSE's Control of Major Accident Hazards (COMAH) Regulations (EC Seveso) regulatory regime.

Process safety management and key performance indicators

Award winning company ScottishPower/Iberdrolla applied my work on process safety management and key performance indicators to boost their global plant reliability and enhance their safety performance.

OECD Guidelines on Process Safety Governance

I lead the international expert panel on process safety leadership that developed the OECD Guidelines on Process Safety Governance.

Buncefield accident

Established the joint industry and regulator response to the Buncefield major accident in 2005. I formed the Process Safety Leadership Group that produced the groundbreaking guidelines on Safety Standards for Large Scale Fuel Storage Sites but more importantly, the first ever global standards on Process Safety Leadership.

Identifying process safety risk vulnerability

I developed HSE's system for identifying process safety risk vulnerability within major hazard installations and trained HSE's inspectors in this protocol. This enables HSE inspectors to quickly and accurately target vulnerable aspects of risk management and gain assurance about an organisation's process safety management system.

Deepwater Horizon accident

I wrote the first guidelines on the establishment and implementation of key performance indicators for process safety: A Step by Step Guide to Developing Key Performance Indicators for Process Safety, HS(G)254. Following the BP Texas City Refinery Accident the US Baker Panel Investigation Board and the US Chemical Safety Board (CSB) recommended the universal adoption of process safety KPIs based on my work. The outcome was API Recommended Practice 754. I was a key expert witness at the July 2012 CSB two day public hearing on API 754 and on the initial findings of the CSB's investigation of BP/Macondo, Deepwater Horizon accident in the Gulf of Mexico.