Profile
Background:
David graduated with a 1st class honours degree in chemical engineering from Imperial College, London in 1978. In 1982 he was awarded a PhD, also in chemical engineering at Imperial College, for his research in computer aided design.
From 1981 he worked in London and New York on techno-economic evaluation of petrochemical processes for Chem Systems, who were an international firm of chemical industry consultants and process developers. Afterwards, he developed oil refinery models and analysed oil pricing. Between 1990 and 2002 he researched health, safety and environmental (HSE) matters, in particular inherent safety, in the Department of Chemical Engineering at Loughborough University, while leading the Plant Engineering research group. He was promoted to senior lecturer for teaching excellence. He served on all the major University committees and was elected President of Loughborough Association of University Teachers. From 2002 until 2006 he was a self-employed safety consultant and Visiting Fellow at Loughborough and he also taught at Nottingham University and the University of Manchester Institute of Science and Technology (UMIST). He has delivered many commercial training courses.
David has worked for the last 14 years at KBR Energy Solutions Consulting (formerly Granherne) and is their Risk, Safety and Health Manager. He has been Lead Safety and Lead Working Environment Engineer on many projects, both onshore in the Russian Federation, where he helped to introduce hazard and operability (HAZOP) studies, and offshore around the world. He provides the intellectual leadership for the risk-based approach to HSE in conceptual design, starting with consideration of inherent safety and sustainability and has developed practical methods.
From June 2015 to March 2019, David was Lead Working Environment Engineer for the Kvaerner-KBR joint venture, which designed and built the Johan Sverdrup Utilities and Living Quarters Platform for Equinor (formerly Statoil), with partner organisations in Indonesia, Norway, Sweden and Poland.
David is currently working on various offshore oil, gas, including Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG), and carbon dioxide storage projects.
Key awards:
IChemE Hutchison Medal for: Inherently Safer Design – Present and Future, J.P. Gupta, D.W. Edwards, Trans Instn Chem. Engrs, 80, B, 115-125, (2002).
IChemE Franklin Medal for outstanding service in the fields of occupational health, safety, loss prevention and care for the environment.
Professional activities and qualifications:
- IChemE Safety Forum
- Fellow of the Institution of Chemical Engineers (FIChemE)
- Chartered Engineer (CEng)
- Chartered Scientist (CSci)
- Lloyd's Register Quality Assurance, Quality Management System Lead Auditor
- Certified TÜV Functional Safety Engineer (ID: 4729/12)
- Member of the Institution for Occupational Safety and Health
- National Examination Board in Occupational Safety and Health (NEBOSH) National General Certificate
- Trained First Aider