Celebrating the first 10 years of the ISC

Back in 2013 an opportunity presented itself for me to take a new direction in my career. Until that time I had only worked for large operating companies, though I had experienced a variety of roles, from engineering, to operations, product quality, OHS, process safety and executive leadership roles. Reflecting back on this time, I don’t think I really knew what I was getting myself into when I made the leap to the Institution of Chemical Engineers to establish and lead the IChemE Safety Centre (ISC). At that time the ISC was just an idea, six upstream oil and gas companies based in Australia had signed up to financially support it for three years. This is where the opportunity, and journey of a lifetime began!

As I said, I didn’t really know what I was getting into. Dame Judith Hackitt , the IChemE President at the time, set the wheels in motion in mid-2013 and I formally established the centre on 6 January 2014. I was very fortunate that I was given a lot of freedom by IChemE and its CEO at the time, Dr David Brown , to build what I thought was needed. It is not often you get the opportunity in life to build your own job from the ground up within an established organisation. I approached the development from the perspective of what I would have liked to have seen when I was in industry. This seemed to be a winning formula, as the ISC grew in member numbers every year, to over 100 today in a wide variety of industry sectors. It was a huge learning experience for me, working across new industries and around the world. As the centre grew, we needed to expand the support base to continue to meet the member expectations. In 2016 Tracey Abrahart joined as the International Coordinator, to take on the day-to-day management of the centre. Within the next year, in 2017, Dr Zsuzsanna Gyenes joined us as the Deputy to the Director, providing technical support, allowing us to continue to expand our work. In 2022 she moved on to the European Commission. Later that year Craig Wright joined us as a Process Safety Specialist, providing technical support and growing the membership in the UK region. As the centre continues to grow, I look forward to bringing more amazing process safety specialists into the team.

The success of the ISC would also not have happened without the support and efforts of our Independent Chairs. The first Chair was Greg Lewin AM , from 2014 until 2016. Then Margaret Donnan took the reigns from 2016 until 2022. In late 2022, Dr Marlene Kanga AO FTSE FREng FAICD took over as Chair. All three of these people provided great advice and guidance to me as the Director, shaping the ISC.

It is important to note that I have always enjoyed strong support from the three IChemE CEOs, Dr David Brown, Jon Prichard KVRM CEng CEnv FICE FInstRE and Yvonne Baker OBE , as well as the IChemE's Presidents within this time. I am very grateful for this support and guidance they have all provided.

I also want to thank the many members of the ISC, for their support, faith and guidance. A membership organisation cannot exist without its members.

As a result of my role in the ISC I have had the opportunity to branch into different areas, like podcasting and writing regular columns with Chemical Processing , as well as visiting new places and getting to talk about a topic I am truly passionate about, process safety. I have received several awards for my work in this area as a direct result of leading the ISC. I have branched out into activities like Science & Technology Australia Superstars of STEM, to role model and encourage STEM education, as well as taken on government board and committee roles. I have even had the opportunity to write a few books.

So where to from here? The ISC has a great future in front of it and I am honoured and humbled to lead it. We will continue to broaden our membership base and keep producing valuable resources that industry want and need, as well as support university education for the future generations. If you are interested in learning more about the ISC, reach out and we can have a chat.

#IChemE #IChemESafetyCentre #ProcessSafety #MinuteToLearn #ReadToLearn #WatchToLearn #ParticipateToLearn #Leadership #FindYourPlatypus #PlatypusPhilosophy #SuperstarsOfSTEMCelebrating the first 10 years of the ISC.

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