The Chair of the Health and Safety Commission (HSC), Judith Hackitt chaired an International Safety Conference hosted by the UK Petroleum Industry Association which brought together experts from the oil industry, regulators, professional bodies and trade associations in order to generate a wider debate on process safety and sharing of best practice in the downstream oil industry.

Recent incidents, at Texas City, Buncefield and the Thorp plant in Sellafield have emphasised to everyone the need to learn lessons from the past and from each other and improve process safety performance across the major hazard industries.

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Hackitt once again called for effective leadership, a major theme she has championed since taking on her role as HSC Chair.

"I cannot emphasise enough how industry leaders must play a pivotal role in setting strong and visible process safety controls throughout their organisations. Safety not only ensures that people go home safely at the end of the day, but is also good business," said Hackitt.

Highlighting the need to ensure that important information, experiences and know-how are obtained and retained, Hackitt said: "Loss of corporate memory is an increasingly familiar problem and we must find a solution in order to allow new people entering the sector to understand the legacy before changing the future."

(CD/JM)