Comment

Petroplus, the Swiss refiner filing for bankruptcy, is only the tip of a continuing issue for refiners in Europe. Across the 104 EU27 refineries, roughly 40% require refurbishment in order to continue refining profitably. Demand for crude oil products is increasingly volatile, and many refineries do not have the flexibility to accommodate this more rapidly changing demand. Beyond the structural issues, many owners need access to credit lines, which in the case of Petroplus amounted to €2.4 billi

The future of the HSE and health & safety in the UK against the backdrop of current challenges. HSE Chair Judith Hackitt CBE, speaking last month at the XIX World Congress on Safety and Health at Work in Istanbul, Turkey. ‘This is the reality we all face, and we all need to demonstrate realism in how we respond to it. I have some strongly held views on the subject of cutting costs not corners - which you may have seen reported in the press over recent months - but which are also influenced by the many years I have spent in the private sector.’ She said.   ‘I want to concentrate primarily on the things we need to take into consideration as we respond to the current environment. Times are tough and the...

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We welcome comment from readers, we hear from Harvey Dearden........In HazardEx magazine of November 2011, Mr Stuart Nunns provides a comprehensive review of the requirement for Functional Safety Assessments in his article; ‘The art of assessing functional safety through the supply chain’. In the same magazine he provides further insight into functional safety concerns with an article ‘Additional assurance for your basis of safety’, written in collaboration with Mr John Walkington. I do not dispute the technical accuracy of these articles, but I am troubled by the despair that they (and others like them) may engender in readers from end user operations.  How on earth did we build process plants and operate them...

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The Fukushima Daiichi nuclear disaster gave terrorists and other malefactors a tip. By targeting nuclear plants, they can wreak havoc comparable to that wrought by an earthquake and tsunami, crippling a great economic and military power. True, no terrorist attack has ever released radiation from a nuclear facility. That's no guarantee one never will. But the likely ramifications boggle the mind. Nuclear safety and nuclear security share the goal of protecting humans and the environment by assuring that nuclear power plants operate at acceptable risk levels. People driven by malice with access to a nuclear site could stymie this goal. Cutting outside power to the reactor, damaging the site’s emergency diesel generator or...

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