MMI have been very active with working with the Institute of Chemical Engineers (IChemE) in the Asia-Pacific (AP) region this year. More specifically in Malaysia and Australia where IChemE is established as one of the most prominent international professional organizations. This activity has generated a lot of name recognition for MMI within the process industries and also generates opportunities for high quality networking and relationship building. MMI consultants Garry Law, Paul Heierman-Rix and Robert Bruce in Melbourne, Perth and Kuala Lumpur offices respectively, were working relatively independently on their IChemE efforts up until mid-2014 but they are now developing their plans to be more proactive and formally coordinate efforts including selecting IChemE events and conferences for targeted attendance, sharing presentation information between offices and coordination with the centralized IChemE efforts that already exist in MMI UK e.g. HAZARDS 2015. Their current focus areas include:
- Garry Law is on the technical committee for HAZARDS Australasia (Brisbane 2015) and a key contact for the activities of the Australasian members Safety and Loss Prevention Special Interest Group (SLPSIG). The Director of the IChemE Safety Centre (ISC) and the focal point for SLPSIG are both based in Melbourne, so Garry will be the main MMI focal point for HAZARDS, ISC and SLPSIG activities in Australia.
- Paul Heierman-Rix is working with the West Australian members community to build an IChemE presence in WA and initiate meetings and special interest groups. Paul is also active with the ISC effort and a frequent presenter of HAZARDS conference papers.
- Robert Bruce is the current chair of the IChemE Special Interest Oil & Natural Gas (SONG) group in Malaysia and also active on the academic interface committee and sustainability group (which represents the East Coast; Kuantan, Gerbeng). Alan Munn, who is also based in KL, recently presented to SONG on loss of process vessel liquid level risks and associated protection layers for the downstream O&G industry. Plans are already underway to share this information with the ISC and Australasian SLPSIG members.
In addition to routine special interest group meetings are the annual Hazards conferences (AP and Australasia), Sustainability Seminars (an opportunity for Geosyntec cross –pollination), sponsoring the Annual Process Safety Award in Malaysia and membership in the ISC.
The ISC is a relatively new development in the region and is intended to follow a similar model to the Mary Kay O’Connor Process Safety Center (MKOCPSC) at Texas A&M. It will initially be based in Australia with an ambition to grow and be an significant industry group through the AP region and forge links to similar process safety groups like the European Safety Centre, MKOCPSC and CCPS. Initially ISC membership was only available to industry owners and operators but IChemE have recently introduced a new class of membership and because of MMI’s involvement with IChemE over many years, MMI have been invited and have now joined to become a “Industry Partner” member which covers MMI in ISC activities anywhere in the world. For more information on ISC, please contact Garry Law (glaw@mmiengineering.com) or see http://www.ichemesafetycentre.org/home.aspx