(EnergyAsia, February 5, Tuesday) — A two-day conference and exhibition, being held at Peterborough UK on February 27 and 28 will examine details and issues related to the safe operation of process plant and the protection of plant personnel.

There are hazardous areas throughout industry where special attention must be paid to the operation of equipment to ensure safe and reliable operation of process plant and protection of the operators working in such environments.

HazardEx International 2008 is bigger than ever and will be held at a brand new, purpose built EXEC Centre at the East of England Showground.
The conference features a full two-day international conference programme and is co-located with an extended exhibition supporting the global hazardous area marketplace.

The HazardEx Awards celebrate excellence in the hazardous area environment, and will be run for the fourth consecutive year. The conference and exhibition is scheduled for February 27th and 28th, 2008 with the Awards Gala Dinner, featuring star of TV game show Catchphrase Roy Walker, planned for the first evening.

The conference programme offers a diverse choice of topics for delegates interested in safety in the hazardous area. Day One’s speakers will review and describe the developments that have occurred in directives and standards with special regard to ATEX, IEC61508/61511 and the IECEx certification scheme.

Industry experts will explain new technologies that will become key in hazardous area operations. Emerging technologies, such as intrinsically safe networking and wireless communications, will be discussed in detail.

Day Two of the conference will feature case study and fire safety sessions that will give delegates practical advice ranging from the lessons learned from a major incident such as the Texas City disaster to the application of new technologies in the hazardous area.

A keynote speaker will set the scene for each day. Taf Powell, HSE Chief Inspector and Investigation Manager for the Buncefield Inquiry will present a paper on the implications of the findings so far in the Buncefield Inquiry. Ron Bell, who is currently project leader for the committee responsible for the revision of IEC 61508, will present an insight in the workings of functional safety now and in the future.

The conference will be concluded by a panel session, which will debate how plant safety is going to change in the future. The Great Debate will involve discussion of how high redundancy systems can be utilised and compared with safety instrumented or plant-wide control systems.

After presentations from the leading experts in the field, delegates will get a chance to cross-examine the speakers who will be available as a panel forum.