Posted By The toecap I've sent you some mail

Posted By Paul Leadbetter Try this HSE site: http://www.hse.gov.uk/chemicals/index.htm Paul

Posted By AlB Thanks Descarte. The HSE website is useful, but are there any other resources in addition? I suppose I could get some BS but I can't afford to fork out a couple of hundred quid for standards etc!

Posted By jom If the company is running a COMAH site, then what does COMAH require them to place in the public domain about their hazards and safety management? They may be required to publish to the local community a summary of their Safety Report. That would be useful to read. Take care to be quite open with your intentions, given current security concerns. John.

Posted By AlB That's a fair point Merv, and I'm surprised it's taken that long to be mentioned. However, the role is a H&S generalist, part of a larger team of H&S specialists, which include chemical and engineering safety specialists, therefore the role is more towards the general day to day evaluation and control of risks and hazards, including safety culture development etc than engineering and chemical safety. Additional training on chemical plants will be provided by the employer, but I obviously want to learn as much as I can before then, should I be offered the post. My experience has been in a high risk industry (quarrying and manufacturing) and I'm no newby to hazardous environments - I'm a fully qualified explosives supervisor etc etc, so I have some technical understanding as well. Hope this reduces your fears a bit Merv.

Posted By Jeffrey Watt http://www.cia.org.uk/newsite/ Useful for background and what is current in the industry. If you have any chemical knowhow from your explosives experience consider what segregation and possible synergistic effects that could occur in what this new employer works with. If you have never done a HAZOP read up. Bone up on your isolation of hazardous energy, multi lock out, lock boxes etc. Any stuff on Emergency Response Teams, how far is the site from a full time fire brigade station and 24/7 accident and emergency. Merv's concerns were relevant, your reply is justified. I went from a technical college to a site heavy in chemical processes as a junior guy, just had me Nebosh cert, had to start somewhere. Jeff

Posted By Nicholas Morris Having worked in the chemical and other maunfacturing industries and other sectors, in my experience a lot of the day to day issues are similar throughout (slips/trips/falls, manual handling etc). Its the areas that require less frequent attention that are more specialised, and these can be almost specific to the organusation

Posted By Merv Newman A second reading of the thread leads me to go with Nicholas. In my experience the majority of accidents are not process related. Chemicals, mining or whatever. What you tend to get are the "domestic" type accidents : slips, trips and falls. Your comment on developing a "safety culture" is probably the most important aspect of the new job. Do please let us know if you get the job. Merv

Posted By Jeffrey Watt Alan http://www.inchem.org/pages/about.html#cicads An excellent resource for chem info. Jeff

Posted By Glyn Atkinson Merv, Is the risk assessment factor in "ladies underwear" a higher risk above the stocking lines? Now THAT is one hell of a specialist subject for H&S professionals. i had to read Merv's list twice to make sure I was reading it correctly! It's no wonder you're into fine wine and foreign living if you have survived that type of environment! My hat goes off to you, sir !! PS - Likelihood vs Severity score for a response to the question - Does my bum look big in this ????

Posted By AlB Just an update for anyone interested. Went for the third interview but didn't perform as well as I had planned and knew I could do. Failed to bring across some key points I wanted to highlight, but there we go. Just heard that I did not get the post. I'm disapointed but understand the decision - lack of experience in Petrochemical. But, as one opportunity closes, another one opens. Thanks for all the information and help. AlB