Ben Harrison
Mr. Harrison’s obtained his Master’s degree in Civil Engineering from Texas A&M University in 1996 with an emphasis in structural engineering. Mr. Harrison has experience in the design of new buildings to resist blast loads, evaluation of existing buildings for response to blast, design of building blast upgrades, explosion incident investigations, and the design of blast containment chambers. In addition, he has performed numerous site surveys to collect data on existing buildings and analyzed the level of building response for blast loads. This was done as part of consequence analysis for petroleum and chemical plants in response to OSHA 1910.119 requirements. To aid in upgrading buildings identified as inadequate for blast, Mr. Harrison has developed upgrades to enhance the blast capacity of steel frames and a single-degree-of-freedom analysis technique to streamline the implementation of the upgrade design. Mr. Harrison has been involved in several explosion incident investigations during his professional career.
Mr. Harrison’s blast effects and design experience is grounded in his testing and explosion incident investigation experience. He has performed full scale explosive field testing of blast resistant portable buildings and he has conducted component level tests of window and door systems in an air driven shock tube. His explosion incident investigation experience includes the 2005 explosion at BP’s Texas City refinery, the Humberto Vidal Building explosion in Puerto Rico, and the December 2007 explosion at T2 Laboratories in Jacksonville, FL.
Daniel L. Machiela
ABS Consulting
1-865-671-5843
DMachiela@absconsulting.com
Dan Machiela is a Senior Risk/Reliability Engineer with ABS Consulting. Mr. Machiela has 28 years of experience as an engineer in the nuclear, chemical, petroleum, and environmental fields, specializing in safety/hazard analyses, auditing, safety and accident prevention program development and implementation, training, licensing, power plant operations, system design, and environmental remedial actions.
Mr. Machiela performs process safety management (PSM) and risk management program (RMP) tasks for a variety of clients in the chemical, petroleum, pulp and paper, and consumer products industries related to ensuring compliance with OSHA's PSM regulation (29 CFR 1910.119) and EPA's RMP rule (40 CFR 68). These tasks include developing PSM program plans, performing compliance audits, developing implementation plans, developing specific procedures and guidelines, and performing hazard analyses of processes covered by the PSM regulation. Mr. Machiela has also participated in hazard and operability analyses of selected operations for several major national refineries and consumer-product production facilities, in addition to leading a hazard analysis of plans to remediate a mixed waste burial pit.
Before joining ABS Consulting, Mr. Machiela was an engineering supervisor for Bechtel National Inc.
David K. Whittle
ABS Consulting
1-865-671-5819
DWhittle@absconsulting.com
David Whittle is the Director of Process Safety Services for ABS Consulting. During his 23 years in the industry, he has been involved in a broad range of process safety and risk management activities for domestic and international clients, including companies in the petroleum, petrochemical, chemical, manufacturing, pulp and paper, pharmaceutical, semiconductor, and other allied industries.
Throughout his career with ABS Consulting (formerly JBF Associates, Inc.), Mr. Whittle has led, reviewed, participated in, and/or audited hundreds of process hazard analyses (PHAs) or PHA revalidations for a wide variety of industries using various hazard analysis techniques (hazard and operability [HAZOP] analysis, what-if/checklist analysis, failure modes and effects analysis, etc.). In addition, he has been involved in a broad range of process safety and risk management activities, including program assessment, development, implementation, and auditing. He was previously employed by Exxon Company, U.S.A., where he served in several technical capacities.
Mr. Whittle has coauthored several books and papers, including:
- Revalidating Process Hazard Analyses (published by the American Institute of Chemical Engineers' [AIChE's] Center for Chemical Process Safety [CCPS])
- "Six Steps for Effectively Updating and Revalidating PHAs"
- "How to Effectively Revalidate PHAs"
- "Lessons Learned from HAZOP Analyses of HF Alkylation Units"
- "Lessons Learned from HAZOP Analyses of Fluidized Catalytic Cracking Units"
He was also a technical reviewer of Hazard Evaluation Procedures, Second Edition with Worked Examples, which was published by AIChE's CCPS and is referenced in Appendix D of OSHA's process safety management regulation (29 CFR 1910.119).
Donald K. Lorenzo
P.E.
ABS Consulting
1-865-671-5842
DLorenzo@absconsulting.com
Don Lorenzo is the Director of Training Services for ABS Consulting. He has 27 years of experience in hazard analysis and risk assessment for the petroleum, chemical, nuclear, and manufacturing industries. He is an expert in applying process safety management techniques ranging from hazard and operability (HAZOP) analysis, what-if/checklist analysis, and failure modes and effects analysis (FMEA) to fault tree and event tree analyses. He was previously a development engineer for Union Carbide Corporation.
Mr. Lorenzo is the author of the American Chemistry Council books entitled A Manager's Guide to Reducing Human Errors and A Manager's Guide to Quantitative Risk Assessment. He is also the coauthor of the Center for Chemical Process Safety books entitled Guidelines for Hazard Evaluation Procedures, Second Edition with Worked Examples, and Guidelines for Risk-based Process Safety Management .
Since joining ABS Consulting (formerly JBF Associates, Inc.) in 1983, Mr. Lorenzo has led dozens of HAZOP, what-if/checklist, and FMEA studies for a wide variety of batch and continuous processes.
Mr. Lorenzo has developed a series of instructional videotapes on process hazard analysis techniques. In addition, he is a lecturer for risk assessment courses offered by the American Institute of Chemical Engineers.
Mr. Lorenzo is a registered Professional Engineer (P.E.) in the state of Tennessee and a Certified Technical Trainer.
Gary Fitzgerald
ABS Consulting
1-210-495-5195
GFitzgerald@absconsulting.com
Mr. Fitzgerald joined the Navy at the beginning of his professional life. He served as an Engine Room Supervisor and Leading Engineering Laboratory Technician for the submarine USS Silversides. Following his six years in the Navy, Mr. Fitzgerald spent six years in commercial nuclear power in the areas of Heath Physics, Chemistry and Training. Mr. Fitzgerald left the nuclear industry to complete his BS in Mechanical Engineering. He did so at the University of Texas, San Antonio with honors, and in three and a half years. He co-authored two professional papers while pursuing his BSME.
Mr. Fitzgerald's experience is concentrated on VCE blast load calculations, modeling high explosives, pressure vessel bursts (PVBs), BLEVEs and chemical runaway reactions. He has performed over 60 medium-scale VCE experiments that resulted in a proprietary VCE prediction methodology. He is one of ABS Consulting’s primary engineers for facility siting of petrochemical buildings. He is on the API RP 752 task force writing the revision to the industry guide for facility siting. He is also a member of the CCPS steering committee revising the book on how to perform VCE, BLEVE and PVB calculations. Explosion consequences he evaluates typically include blast loads, cratering and fragment generation. Consequence evaluations can range from simple blast curve methods to numerical codes using computational fluid dynamics such as FLACS. He also has extensive experience with AUTODYN 2-D and 3-D hydrocode for modeling of condensed phase and compressed gas explosions and structural response from these events. Many of these blast loads predictions involved postulated terrorist threats on land and at sea for both the public and private sectors.
James J. Rooney
P.E.
ABS Consulting
1-865-671-5814
JRooney@absconsulting.com
Jim Rooney is a Senior Risk/Reliability Engineer and the Manager of Web Training Services for ABS Consulting. He has more than 25 years of experience in quality engineering, reliability engineering, risk assessment, and process safety management. He is a Fellow of the American Society for Quality (ASQ).
Mr. Rooney has broad experience in applying techniques such as fault tree analysis, failure modes and effects analysis, Ishikawa diagrams, scatter diagrams, Pareto charts, and hazard and operability analysis. He has performed numerous risk and reliability analyses on nuclear, chemical, and petroleum systems.
Mr. Rooney is an ASQ-Certified Biomedical Auditor, Certified HACCP auditor, Certified Quality Auditor, Certified Quality Engineer, Certified Quality Improvement Associate, Certified Quality Process Analyst, Certified Quality Manager, Certified Quality Technician and Certified Reliability Engineer.
Mr. Rooney is a registered Professional Engineer (P.E) in the state of Tennessee.
James R. Thompson
ABS Consulting
1-281-673-2853
jthompson@absconsulting.com
Jim Thompson is a Senior Risk/Reliability Engineer with ABS Consulting. Mr. Thompson has over 30 years of industrial experience in operations and process safety management with DuPont and INVISTA. Before, joining ABS Consulting as a Senior Process Safety Consultant, he was a PSM coordinator at INVISTA's Victoria, Texas plant. He has worked on developing and implementing PSM programs for over 15 years and was a practice leader for DuPont, where he was prominent in PSM activities at the corporate level, served as the leader of the corporate PSM operating procedures/training team, and as a member of the corporate PSM strategy team, the corporate PSM leadership team, the process technology team, the PHA team, the facility siting team, and the PSM auditing team. He also participated in numerous PSM audits at a variety of facilities. His work areas at ABS Consulting include: assisting clients in all aspects of PSM/RMP development, PSM management system implementation, auditing, conducting PHAs and assessing company safety culture.
He is active in the AIChE Process Plant Safety Symposium (and chaired the 2006 PPSS), the Texas Chemical Council EHS Seminar and the Mary Kay O'Conner Process Safety Center. He was recognized as the Texas Chemical Council Safety Professional of the Year for 2001, and has published a number of papers and presentations related to PSM, as well on ammonia and butadiene safety. Mr. Thompson holds a B.S. degree in chemical engineering from the University of Texas at Austin.
John A. Leonard
CSP
ABS Consulting
1-865-671-5865
JLeonard@absconsulting.com
John Leonard is a Project Manager with ABS Consulting. His experience encompasses more than 35 years of HS&E management in the chemical manufacturing industry and 7 years of process safety management (PSM) consulting within the chemical industry.
Mr. Leonard's experience in industry includes developing PSM programs, performing risk assessments and safety audits, and training employees in HS&E management activities.
Mr. Leonard currently manages PSM assessments, compliance audits, PSM and risk management program (RMP) management system development, hazard assessments, and risk communication activities for clients in the chemical, petroleum, and manufacturing industries.
Johnny Waclawczyk
Mr. Waclawczyk's career has focused on design and analysis of structures subjected to blast loads since 1991. He has designed complete blast resistant buildings and specific building retrofits to mitigate the effects of explosions. These designs include roof systems, wall systems (both load bearing and non load bearing), and doors for a variety of facilities including, commercial buildings, chemical plant control rooms, high explosives containment structures, and blast chambers. He has also designed blast containment chambers, fragment shields, and barriers. He has overseen the construction/fabrication of these types of designs. Mr. Waclawczyk is familiar with recognized blast design documents such as TM5 1300, Structures to Resist the Effects of Accidental Explosions, DOE/TIC-1128, A Manual for the Prediction of Blast and Fragment Loads on Structures, ISC Security Criteria, GSA Security Reference Manual (Blast Design & Assessment Guidelines), SG 22, Safety Guide 22, and ASCE Design of Blast Resistant Buildings in Petrochemical Facilities.
Mr. Waclawczyk has used state of the art finite element codes to analyze the nonlinear response of structures under blast loads. He has developed 2-D and 3-D models for analysis of building components, structural frames, and blast containment vessels utilizing shell elements, solids, and full contact impact surfaces. Mr. Waclawczyk is familiar with multiple shock and gas loading prediction on structures due to detonation of high explosives, unconfined vapor cloud explosions, bursting pressure vessels, and venting dust explosions. He has used multiple industry accepted codes to predict the incident and reflected pressure waves for use in the design and analysis of various structures. Mr. Waclawczyk is also experienced in terrorist threat scenario evaluation and consequence analyses. He has been involved in numerous projects to predict site-wide structural damage due to possible terrorist explosion threats. He has served as lead structural engineer for entire facility terrorist threat assessments.
Mr. Waclawczyk has used his knowledge of blast phenomena and the effects of blasts on structures in support of accident investigations. The focus of these investigations was to determine the explosion energy, source location, and probable causes of initiation. These accidents have included unconfined vapor cloud explosions and bursting pressure vessels.
Lee N. Vanden Heuvel
ABS Consulting
1-865-671-5848
LNV@absconsulting.com
Lee Vanden Heuvel is the Manager of Incident Investigation/Root Cause Analysis Services and the Manager of Training Services for ABS Consulting. He has over 20 years of experience in plant operations and analysis. His current responsibilities are in the areas of root cause analyses (RCAs), incident investigations, human factors, safety analyses, and economic/decision analyses.
Mr. Vanden Heuvel has assisted organizations in many different industries with developing and implementing incident investigation and RCA programs. He has also led and participated in incident investigations for many different types of industries, including chemical, refining, healthcare, manufacturing, machining, waste disposal, nuclear power, and food processing.
Mr. Vanden Heuvel coauthored ABS Consulting's Root Cause Analysis Handbook. He was also a coauthor of the Center for Chemical Process Safety's Guidelines for Investigation of Chemical Process Incidents, Second Edition, and Guidelines for Risk-based Process Safety Management .
Previously, he served as the project manager and lead analyst for a large quantitative risk assessment program at the Oak Ridge National Laboratory. He also worked for 8 years at a nuclear power plant in operations, engineering support, and training.
|
