Hazardex 2009 - Best event yet
02 March 2009
HazardEx 2009, the eighth running of the conference, has been our best event yet. Held at the Majestic Hotel in Harrogate, HazardEx 2009 included a popular 2-day conference featuring papers from leading authorities such as the HSE, Airbus, FM Global and GlaxoSmithKline.
This year’s varied conference programme had a much greater emphasis on user experience with the bulk of papers being case studies of how leading companies have installed and operated safety systems in their hazardous area plants and processes. A conference delegate thought "The 2009 event was informative and educational in seeing how the industry viewed the compliance issues. It also gave an insight into what the future may entail and also gave me the opportunity to swap project related experiences." (delegate name withheld by request)
Running alongside the conference, attracting large numbers of delegates, suppliers were exhibiting new hazardous area technologies in the supporting sold out exhibition which was sponsored by Cooper Crouse-Hinds, Dialight, MTL, Pepperl + Fuchs, PR Electronics and STL International.
Exhibitors found the event hugely successful. Shaun Knox from Weidmuller Limited said "With respect to the success level of HazardEx 2009, I think it was pitched perfectly and all the marketing attached to the run up to the show was fantastic. The quality of the attendees was excellent. This is a specialist exhibition that attracts people from the process segment especially Energy, Oil / Gas and Petrochem. The people attending the show and our stand were genuine people with applications, projects and products that they wanted to discuss in-depth with the Weidmuller representatives."
Colleen Williams from R Stahl commented "We had high expectations for the event and were not disappointed. We were able to liase with a range of customers and network with other companies in the industry. Overall a successful show and we are looking forward to participating next year."
The HazardEx awards were presented at a gala evening on the 25th February. Guests enjoyed a champagne reception, a sumptuous 4-course meal, fine wine and superb after-dinner entertainment with excellent peer and industry networking. This year’s compere was TV and Radio star Garry Richardson, best known for his sports reports on Radio 4’s Today programme, as well as weekly appearances on Radio 5 live Sportsweek. Garry entertained diners by relating hilarious anecdotes about his 30 plus years in broadcasting and sports commentary, before compering the highlight of the evening -- the HazardEx 2009 Awards, which celebrated excellence in the hazardous area.
The Awards Ceremony was followed by the HazardEx casino, which continued into the early hours of the morning. Players competed on gambling tables to amass the most token cash from a starting float of £10, 000. Mike Shearman, managing director of Sira proved his gambling skills by stockpiling a massive £780,000 by the end of the evening and winning a bottle of champagne for his efforts.
As at previous HazardEx events, there were four categories at this year’s awards. Readers voted for one favourite in each category and the results were:
Technical Innovation of the Year
Sponsored by R.Stahl
Winner:
Technor – ATEX luminaire with 10 year guarantee
Runners-up:
Motorola – AP-5181 and Softstart - Soft starter
Contribution Towards Safety
Sponsored by 61508 Association
Winner:
Protego – Flame arrestor
Runners-up:
Detronics – Eagle Quantum Premier (EQP), fire and gas detection system
ABB – Trip requirement and availability calculator
User Application
Sponsored by Pepperl + Fuchs
Winner:
R.Stahl - Variable frequency drives
Runners-up:
STL – Ex lifeboat lighting system
EPM Solutions – Computerised engineering software systems
Event Sponsor’s Special Award
Sponsored by HazardEx
Winner:
STL International
Runners-up:
Pepperl and Fuchs
MTL
If you were a delegate, please could you spare a few minutes to complete this survey, and let us know what you thought about the event.
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