Instructors

Mr. Pat Berwanger

Mr. Berwanger is recognized as one of the world’s leading authorities in the area of pressure relief system design. He and his company have worked on more than 150 pressure relief system design and analysis projects. He is a co-author of the widely used Pressure Protection Manager^©TM software package and has also authored numerous articles on pressure relief system design. Berwanger is a member of and contributor to the Design Institute of Pressure Relief Systems (DIERS).

Mr. John Cornwell

Mr. Cornwell is a Principal Engineer with Quest Consultants Inc. and has over 20 years of experience in conducting consequence and risk analysis studies. At Quest, he is responsible for the continuing development of consequence and risk analysis software, and has directed numerous Quantitative Risk Analysis (QRA) studies for petrochemical projects around the world. John is part of a Quest team that combines theoretical model development with field testing and practical plant experience.

Mr. William (Skip) F. Early, II, P.E.

Mr. Early is President of Early Consulting, L. C., a process safety consulting firm in Houston, Texas. Mr. Early has been involved in the development of several of the American Institute of Chemical Engineers’ Center for Chemical Process Safety projects including Contractor and Client Relations to Assure Process Safety as author, Engineering Design for Process Safety as co-author and project manager, and Hazard Evaluation Procedures, 2nd Edition with Worked Examples, as a subcommittee member. Mr. Early has instructed the AIChE continuing education courses on Process Safety Management, and Engineering Design for Process Safety, as well as the Process Hazard Analysis Leadership Training course for the Center. He served as program chairman for the 1992, 1996, 1998, and 2001 Process Plant Safety Symposia in Houston , and has been the American Institute of Chemical Engineers South TexasSection Process Safety Chairman since 1990. Mr. Early has led and documented several hundred PHAs in chemical plants, refineries, and other industrial facilities.

Mr. Rudolph D. Frey, P.E.

Mr. Frey has more than fifty years of diversified experience in the design of process plants. In his current position at Kellogg Brown & Root, Inc. he assists in establishing technical policies and provides internal expert consultant services on a worldwide basis. As senior technical consultant he provides expert advice on engineering policy and practice issues, safety management, and related industrial codes, standards and regulations. As chief engineer he headed a group of key engineering experts, provided consultation services to engineering and gave advice to management on technical issues. Responsible for safety in engineering design and conducted appropriate hazard and risk analyses. Managed a major engineering department of over 300 engineers and staff in analytical or front-end engineering. The major divisions were piping systems, control systems, equipment and piping specifications. Developed innovative work methods including computerized P&I drafting. Instituted the development of transient computer programs and designed the first all electronic instrument systems application.

Mr. Stanley Grossel

Mr. Grossel has more than 51 years of diversified experience in the design of chemical process and pharmaceutical plants, as well as experience in standards work. He retired at the end of 1993 from Hoffmann-LaRoche, one of the world’s largest pharmaceutical companies, where he was manager of the Engineering Methods, Procedures, and Standards Group. Prior to holding this position, he designed numerous plants for the manufacture of vitamins and pharmaceuticals. He was also the Engineering Department in-house consultant in the fields of process safety and loss prevention and powder and bulk solids storage, handling, and processing. Prior to working for Hoffmann-LaRoche for 25 years, he was employed for 13 years by engineering contractors, where he was involved in the design of ammonia, ethylene, inorganic, and organic chemical plants. He also worked in plant engineering for a chemical company. He is the co-editor of a book on The Handling and Management of Highly Toxic Chemicals, and the author of a new CCPS book on Deflagration and Detonation Flame Arresters. He is presently writing a CCPS book on Safe Handling of Hazardous Particulate Solids, and has authored chapters in other CCPS books. He was the US Regional Editor, and is now the Book Editor, for the Journal of Loss Prevention in the Process Industries.

After retiring from Hoffmann-LaRoche he became a consultant in Process Safety/Loss Prevention and Particulate Solids Technology. He is a Fellow of the AIChE and a member of the American Chemical Society, the Institution of Chemical Engineers (UK), and The Combustion Institute.

Mr. Dennis C. Hendershot

Mr. Hendershot is a Senior Technical Fellow in the Process Hazard Assessment Department, Engineering Division of Rohm and Haas Company in Bristol, Pennsylvania. He has worked in process research and plant design and startup for a variety of chemical processes, including acrylic monomers, various polymerization processes, and agricultural chemicals. Since 1980 he has been responsible for process hazard analysis and risk assessment for new and existing plants throughout the company, and the development of tools and methodologies for hazard analysis and risk assessment. Mr. Hendershot has served on a number of subcommittees for the Center for Chemical Process Safety, including Risk Assessment (chair, 1994-2000), Hazard Evaluation Procedures (chair), Inherently Safer Design, and Undergraduate Education (SACHE). He authored the chapter on Inherently Safer Design in the CCPS book Guidelines for Engineering Design for Process Safety, and a co-author of Inherently Safer Chemical Processes: A Life Cycle Approach. Mr. Hendershot is a past Director and Chair of the Safety and Health Division of the American Institute of Chemical Engineers, and is a Director of AIChE for the 2001-2004 terms. He serves on the editorial board for Process Safety Progress and Chemical Engineering Progress. In 2000, he was presented with the Merit Award by the Mary Kay O’Connor Process Safety Center for his contributions to process safety.

Ms. Judy Hoffman

Ms. Hoffman spent seventeen years as the manager of Public Affairs for a chemical company that made one of the smelliest chemicals known to man. She frequently dealt with the press and the public, managing numerous crises like accidental releases, bomb threats, clean up of hazardous waste sites, transportation accidents, and employee injuries. In 1995, Hoffman founded JCH Enterprises, a crisis communications and community/media relations consulting firm. She presents workshops and keynote speeches to organizations throughout the country, urging the value of preparing for a crisis before it hits. She is the author of “Keeping Cool on the Hot Seat: Dealing Effectively with the Media in Times of Crisis” which has been adopted as a test for a graduate course in crisis communications by SyracuseUniversity. Many companies to train their supervisory and management personnel to handle irate phone calls and visitors or angry people at town meetings have used her CD, “Dealing Effectively with Angry People”. She has been a frequent speaker for the American Chemistry Council and the New York State Chemical Alliance and a guest lecturer at several colleges.

Dr. M. Sam Mannan

Dr. Mannan is a Professor in the Chemical Engineering Department at Texas A&M University and Director of the Mary Kay O’Connor Process Safety Center. The mission of the Center is to improve safety in the chemical process industry by conducting programs and research activities that promote safety as second nature for all plant personnel in their day-to-day activities. The vision of the Center is to be an international leader in developing safer processes, equipment, procedures, and management strategies that will minimize losses within the processing industry.

Before joining Texas A&M University, Dr. Mannan was Vice President at RMT, Inc., a nationwide engineering service company. In that capacity, he was the national program manager for the Process Safety and Risk Assessment projects. He is a registered professional engineer in the states of Texas and Louisiana, is certified by the National Council of Examiners for Engineers and Surveyors, and is a Certified Safety Professional. His experience is wide ranging, covering process design of chemical plants and refineries, computer simulation of engineering problems, mathematical modeling, and process safety and risk assessment in the chemical process industries. Before joining RMT, Dr. Mannan served as an Assistant Professor at the University of Oklahoma.

Dr. Mannan is involved very closely with projects that include hazard assessment and risk analysis, process hazard identification, HAZOP (hazard and operability) studies, process safety management, and risk management. He co-authored the Guidelines for Safe Process Operations and Maintenance published by the Center for Chemical Process Safety, American Institute of Chemical Engineers. Dr. Mannan has over 40 publications in national and international journals.

Mr. Jack McVaugh

Mr. McVaugh carries out consulting, training and auditing in the area of environmental, health and safety management systems ( EMS ), as well as related areas, such as pollution prevention and regulatory compliance management. In addition to his private consulting experience, he has over 21 years of environmental, business and operations management experience gained at the corporate, business unit and plant levels, in industry. He has established and directed cross-functional teams to reduce waste, operating and compliance costs, and improve product quality, and has implemented environmental, health and safety (EHS) management, total quality management and ISO 9001 quality systems. His consulting practice focuses on building effective EMS ’s that can be integrated with business and quality management processes for greater efficiency. He is a member of ISO Technical Committee 207 responsible for the ISO 14000 series of environmental management standards. He is also an adjunct lecturer at the University of Houston - Clear Lake School of Business and Public Administration, and is a lead EMS and Responsible Care Management System© certification auditor for a major US-based registrar. He is the current Chairman of the National Association of Environmental Professionals’ ISO 14000 Working Group, is a member of the Texas Association of Environmental Professionals, where he has served on the Board of Directors, and has served as Program Chairman for Section 1422 of the American Society for Quality.

Mr. David Moore

Mr. Moore is the President and CEO of the AcuTech Consulting Group, a process safety and security consulting firm based in San Francisco. Mr. Moore was the lead author of the AIChE CCPS® “Guidelines for Managing and Analyzing the Security Vulnerabilities of Fixed Chemical Sites”, as well as security guidelines for American Petroleum Institute (API), the National Petrochemical and Refiners Association (NPRA), and the American Chemistry Council (ACC).He is a frequent speaker on plant security, process safety management, human factors, and inherent safety, and is actively involved in chemical process safety and security. He has provided risk consulting services and training to industrial facilities worldwide, including oil refineries, chemical plants, pipelines, and manufacturing plants. Mr. Moore has taught process safety and security courses for over 15 years to many of the world’s largest corporations. Mr. Moore was formerly a Senior Engineer with Mobil Corporation; and a Fire Protection Engineer with the National Fire Protection Association. Mr. Moore is a Registered Professional Engineer. He serves on the AIChE Center for Chemical Process Safety Technical Steering Committee, the CCPS Plant Security Committee, the Canadian Chemical Producer’s Association PSM Committee, and the Mary Kay O’Connor Process Safety Center at Texas A&M University. He has an MBA, (NYU-1987), and a B.Sc., Fire Protection Engineering (University of Md.-1979).

Mr. Jack Philley, CSP

Mr. Philley is a Principal Consultant with Baker Engineering and Risk Consultants (BakerRisk) located in Stafford TX . He specializes in root cause incident investigation and process safety. With 21 years chemical plant experience, he has an in-depth understanding of chemical manufacturing and practical accident prevention. He was principal author and project manager for the first edition of incident investigation guidelines published by the Center for Chemical Process Safety, and was a member of the recent task force that produced the updated second edition. He also is the author of the new Incident Investigation Chapter in the Third Edition of Lees Loss Prevention in the Chemical Process Industry. His professional experience includes manufacturing, safety, and consulting positions in chemical, petrochemical, refining, LNG, pipelines, upstream oil & gas, pulp & paper, nuclear fuel production, and pharmaceuticals. He holds memberships in the American Society of Safety Engineers, System Safety Society, Human Factors and Ergonomics Society, and National Association of Fire Investigators.

Dr. William (Bill) Rogers

Dr. Rogers is a Research Scientist in the Mary Kay O’Connor Process Safety Center of the Chemical Engineering Department at Texas A&M University, where he has been a staff scientist since 1979.

Dr. Rogers received his Ph.D. in physical chemistry from Ohio State University. He is experienced with experimental research techniques for the measurements of thermophysical properties. Current interests include the behavior of reactive chemical processes with measurements and calculations of fluid properties and chemical reactivity.

Mr. Roy Sanders, P.E.

Mr. Sanders is a Compliance Team Leader for PPG Industries, Lake Charles, Louisiana. He has specialized in Process Safety since 1974. He has worked his entire career in a chemical complex that produces high volumes of a variety of flammable, combustible, toxic, acidic, caustic and carcinogenic chemicals. He has been the principal author of many practical articles and two books published on chemical process safety that offer a within-the-fence look at that activity from an operations, maintenance and engineering standpoint. A third edition of Chemical Process Safety: Learning from Case Histories was published in 2005.

Mr. Sanders is a regular lecturer on Process Safety topics throughout North America and is a frequent contributor of papers to the AIChE Loss Prevention Symposia and for the Mary Kay O’Connor Process Safety Center Symposia. He assists the Lake Area Industries - McNeese Engineering Partnership presenting OSHA Process Safety Programs to local industry. He serves on the editorial board of two chemical industry technical journals.

Mr. Adrian L. Sepeda, P.E.

Mr. Sepeda is President of A. L. Sepeda Consulting Inc., a small firm specializing in process safety and risk management programs, issues, education and auditing. He formed the firm after retiring from the chemical industry with over thirty-three years of service.

While working in the chemical industry, he gained experience in a variety of areas including, design, construction, energy conservation, quality management, manufacturing and production, Responsible Care^©, accident investigation, and process safety and risk management. Mr. Sepeda led accident investigations and PHAs in chemical plants, and guided Occidental Chemical Corporation (OxyChem) to a leadership position in process safety by developing and implementing process safety management programs prior to the OSHA PSM regulation. In the last few years before retiring, he instituted a comprehensive risk management process that integrates process safety components and risk management concepts into the business decision-making process at OxyChem. He was active with AIChE’s Center for Chemical Process Safety (CCPS) by serving on the Technical Steering Committee, the Planning Sub-committee, the International Conference 2000 technical paper review committee, a conference paper presentation section chair, and a peer reviewer for a number of CCPS publications. Mr. Sepeda was the committee chair for the Process Safety in Outsourced Manufacturing Operations book and one of the chapter authors for the updated version of the book, Investigating Chemical Process Incidents. He currently works for CCPS as a staff consultant managing several projects.

Mr. Sepeda began teaching in the continuing education program for the Mary Kay O’Conner Process Safety Center almost immediately after retiring from industry.

Mr. Orville (Bud) Slye, Jr.

Mr. Slye is President of Loss Control Associates, Inc (LCAI) in Langhorne, PA, a consulting engineering firm specializing in process safety and fire protection engineering for petrochemical, petroleum and chemical facilities. He has over 39 years of fire and explosion prevention and protection experience in oil, gas and petrochemical industries with LCAI, Mobil Oil Corporation, the Kennedy Space Center, DuPont and the U.S. Navy. Mr. Slye has a BS from the University of Maryland in Fire Protection Engineering and is a Fellow of the Society of Fire Protection Engineers. Mr. Slye has served on API and NFPA Standards making committees including the NFPA Standards Council, the Flammable and Combustible Liquids Code, Foam, Aerosol Fire Protection, and Safety to Life Code. He is a registered professional engineer in Pennsylvania and Delaware.

Dr. Angela E. Summers

Dr. Summers is President of SIS-TECH Solutions, LLC, specializing in SIS assessment and design. She is one of six US representatives to the international IEC 61511 committee and is a member of the US ISA 84 committee. She has taught courses on SIS assignment, verification and design to over 1800 process industry representatives worldwide. Summers has a Ph.D. in Chemical Engineering from The University of Alabama and a Masters of Engineering in Environmental Systems Engineering from Clemson University. She is a licensed Professional Engineer in the State of Texas and an Adjunct Professor in the Environmental Management department at the University of Houston-Clear Lake.