Wood Pellet and Bioenergy Safety Summit heads to Prince George, B.C.

Join us for our sector’s largest safety summit, as wood pellet producers, operators of biomass power and heating facilities, suppliers and regulators from across Canada meet to discuss evolving trends and regulatory topics.

This annual event is hosted by the Wood Pellet Association of Canada’s Safety Committee, in co-operation with the BC Forest Safety Council, WorkSafeBC and media partner Canadian Biomass. To learn more and register for this event, click here.

Day 1: Nov. 15

This hands-on summit will provide an update on current safety initiatives that are creating a safer foundation for our industry. We will hear from operators about their key learnings and experiences to date and identify priorities for 2024.

We will  also examine future trends in safety such as process safety management and how it will impact the way workplace hazards are handled, and what the industry can do to be prepared for new PSM regulations. Topics include:

• Getting to safer through PSM
• Best practices and key learnings from around the world
• The new national standard: CSA Z767 and how we’re adapting
• What PSM looks like for Canada’s pellet sector and next steps
• Getting buy-in at all levels

Day 2: Nov. 16

We will host a full-day free workshop that explains the human factor approach used to understand why workplace incidents occur. This workshop is targeted at wood pellet plants and operators of biomass power and heating facilities.

The workshop will focus on a rigorous seven-step methodology to systematically understand where and how worker interactions could be optimized to provide assurance that the critical control will be available and reliable when needed and as expected.

Most critical controls are of the engineered type, such as a level indicator and a valve controlled by a DCS system. Other critical controls rely in part or entirely on workers following a safe work procedure, such as closing a valve when observing a high tank level. All critical controls that require human intervention must be compatible with the abilities and limitations of workers so the desired performance of the critical control can be achieved.

Who should attend:

• Process safety engineers
• Operations personnel
• Control systems programmers
• Maintenance personnel
• Supervisors
• OHS personnel

In addition to this full-day in-person training session, participants will receive continued support as they adopt and integrate the human factor approach into their current risk management processes.

The workshop facilitators are:

• Jenny Colman, MSc., CRSP. Human Factor Specialist. Risk Analysis Unit
• Jennifer Fung P.Eng, CRSP. Sr. Engineer (Chemical), OHS Practice and Engineering Support

The two-day summit will take place at the Prince George Conference and Civic Centre. Breakfast and Lunch will be provided.

Registration fee: $75 per person. Click here to register.

Gordon Murray is the executive director of the Wood Pellet Association of Canada.