At Hazardex Live 2026, Richard Hellebrand, Board Member of IMechE's Process Industries Division, will be examining the critical role of asset integrity in preventing major process safety events, drawing on recent European and global incident data.

Despite advances in engineering design, a significant proportion of loss-of-primary-containment (LOPC) events continue to stem from mechanical integrity failings, including poor maintenance, inadequately managed bolted joints, and corrosion mechanisms. Using case study examples, the presentation highlights how gaps in technical knowledge, inspection strategies, and management of change can escalate into catastrophic outcomes.

About the speaker:

Richard Hellebrand has been a Chartered Mechanical Engineer since 1988 and has worked in the process industries for more than forty years. He is a Fellow of both IMechE and the Energy Institute. For much of his career, he was the Responsible Engineer at multi-plant sites manufacturing smokeless fuels, agrochemicals, speciality organic chemicals and polymers, delivering improvements in asset integrity, reliability, safety and energy efficiency. Richard currently leads Process Safety Management for Westlake Corporation’s chemical manufacturing plants across Europe and Asia.