For Stephan Borrmann, a day of high altitude detective work begins early. He wakes at about 5.30am in a hotel in the outskirts of Kathmandu, Nepal. After a quick breakfast, he and his team are driven to the city’s airport. Their job is to prepare a converted Russian espionage plane so that it can investigate one of the biggest mysteries of the atmosphere.

The Summerland fire on the Isle of Man in August 1973 shares many similarities to the Grenfell fire. Benjamin Khoo and Janet Skitt draw parallels between some of the key issues underpinning the systematic failure in the construction industry, and review how it could learn from the process industry when it comes to improving safety management and procedures.

On June 1, 1974, 28 workers were killed and 36 were injured at the Nypro chemicals plant in Flixborough. Major legal and cultural changes regarding process safety were made as a result. In hindsight, the disaster highlighted some learning points in terms of Management of Change – even more so after the Piper Alpha disaster that later became important in plant design.

On March 23, 2005, an explosion erupted at BP’s Texas City refinery, which resulted in 15 fatalities, 180 injured and $3 billion in damages and legal settlements. It is one of the worst industrial disasters to date. This article describes the events and associated failures which led to this incident, and explores how effective Process Safety Management could have readily prevented the tragedy.

Is it okay to challenge a LOPA after the fact? Is it reasonable to do so if you were not in attendance? The answer is yes, but prepare yourself for pushback, writes James Coakley. 

Chemical engineer and distiller Katherine Condon describes the importance of possessing technical, creative and communication skills, while also having a good nose for judging whiskey; and says that Henry Ford, 'the man who put the world on wheels', and Ada Lovelace, the first computer programmer, are among her engineering heroes.