Chilworth to make India a major hub for process safety

Chilworth Technology, a global provider of process safety consulting, training, and laboratory testing services and part of the 2.5 billion-euro German major Dekra, is planning to make India a major hub in its international operations.

Chilworth has already opened three offices in India at Mumbai, Hyderabad and Delhi, employing 35 process safety experts. It is planning to recruit more.

The company is contemplating to open a research laboratory in India as the second in Asia-Pacific after Shanghai, Vahid Ebadat, CEO of Chilworth Asia Pacific and Chilworth Technology's Chief Technical Officer, told Business Today.

Chilworth is the leader in process safety and provides consultancy that enable facilities that deal with hazardous materials, prevent fires, explosions and accidental chemical releases. Chilworth offers its expert advice and training to various industries such as chemical, pharmaceutical, oil & gas (onshore & offshore), petrochemicals, food, fine chemicals and other industries dealing with hazardous materials.

"At present we have five laboratories in the US, UK and Shanghai, and will look at starting another in India as the country and region have huge potential," says Ebadat. He said the company is open on the size of investment in India.

"One of the laboratories in the US is 100 acres in size and is used to simulate huge explosions to assess/investigate industrial process safety", he said.

"India has a large talent pool and we are looking to recruit more engineers who will work alongside their colleagues from other Chilworth locations on global projects, particularly those in the Middle East and the Asia-Pacific region", says Ebadat.

He said that although many of the leading Indian companies have incorporated safety measures that match international standards, a real concern is level of process safety competency of the employees. Ebadat, who is an expert on process safety, is also a regular instructor at training courses in fire and explosion hazards, controlling electrostatic hazards, and dust explosions. His research has formed the basis for many safety guidelines in the industry.

In the US, the National Fire Protection Association (NFPA) and the Occupational Safety & Health Administration (OSHA) of the US Government, and the Centre for Chemical Process Safety (CCPS) have developed and put in place advanced process safety guidelines. It is an international benchmark and many countries, including India, are following the same guidelines to ensure safety of people, facilities, business, and the community.