Principal Technical Safety Engineer

Job Summary

• The Principal Technical Safety Engineer will provide senior technical leadership and specialist expertise in Technical Safety and Process Safety Engineering across engineering design projects within the Oil & Gas industry.
• The role is responsible for ensuring that technical safety requirements are effectively incorporated into the design of facilities and systems throughout the project lifecycle, from concept selection and FEED through detailed engineering, construction support, commissioning and handover.

Main Responsibilities
Technical Safety Leadership

• Provide technical leadership and specialist advice on Technical Safety and Process Safety Engineering activities.
• Act as the senior technical focal point for technical safety matters within assigned projects.
• Establish technical safety philosophies, design criteria, specifications and engineering requirements.
• Ensure that technical safety considerations are incorporated into the design from the early project stages.
• Provide technical direction to Technical Safety Engineers and other engineering disciplines.
• Review and approve technical safety deliverables within delegated authority.
• Provide technical support to project management and engineering leadership on safety-critical design issues.

Safety Studies & Risk Assessment:
Lead, facilitate or provide technical oversight for major process safety and risk assessment studies, including:

• HAZID – Hazard Identification Studies
• HAZOP – Hazard and Operability Studies
• SIL Assessment / SIL Classification
• LOPA – Layer of Protection Analysis
• QRA – Quantitative Risk Assessment
• Bow-Tie Analysis
• Fire and Explosion Risk Assessment
• Escape, Evacuation and Rescue Analysis
• Dropped Object Studies
• Fire and Gas Mapping
• Toxic and Flammable Gas Dispersion Studies
• Blast and Explosion Analysis
• Emergency Response and Emergency Systems Analysis
• ALARP demonstrations and risk reduction assessments
• Safety Critical Element identification and performance standard development.
• Ensure that recommendations arising from safety studies are properly documented, assigned, tracked and incorporated into the design.

Design Safety & Engineering Assurance:

• Review engineering designs to identify hazards and ensure appropriate risk reduction measures are incorporated.
• Ensure compliance with the approved Design Safety Philosophy and project specifications.
• Review P&IDs, plot plans, equipment layouts, cause-and-effect diagrams, shutdown philosophies and other engineering documents from a technical safety perspective.
• Participate in multidisciplinary design reviews and technical audits.
• Review safety-related design calculations, reports, specifications and studies.
• Ensure appropriate separation distances, hazardous area classifications, escape routes and access requirements are incorporated into facility designs.
• Provide technical input into equipment and system specifications for safety-critical systems.

Fire Protection & Fire and Gas Systems:

• Provide technical oversight of fire protection and fire and gas engineering activities.
• Review fire and gas detector layouts and coverage assessments.
• Review firewater demand calculations and fire protection philosophies.
• Provide input into fire protection systems, deluge systems, passive fire protection and emergency shutdown systems.
• Ensure appropriate fire and gas detection, alarm and mitigation strategies are incorporated into facility designs.
• Review fire and explosion protection requirements for process and utility facilities.

Functional Safety & Safety Instrumented Systems:

• Provide technical leadership in the application of functional safety principles.
• Review Safety Instrumented System (SIS) requirements and safety functions.
• Participate in SIL classification, SIL verification and safety requirements specification activities.
• Ensure compliance with applicable functional safety standards.
• Review Safety Instrumented Functions (SIFs), voting architectures, proof-test requirements and associated documentation.
• Provide technical guidance on Emergency Shutdown (ESD), Fire & Gas (F&G) and other safety-critical control systems.

Hazardous Area Classification:

• Review and provide technical guidance on hazardous area classification studies.
• Ensure appropriate classification of hazardous zones in accordance with applicable standards.
• Review hazardous area drawings and ensure appropriate equipment selection and installation requirements.
• Coordinate hazardous area classification requirements with Electrical, Instrumentation, Process and Mechanical disciplines.

Technical Safety Deliverables:
Provide technical leadership and review of deliverables including, but not limited to:

• Technical Safety Philosophy
• Design Safety Cases
• HAZID/HAZOP reports
• Risk Assessment Reports
• QRA reports
• Fire Protection Philosophy
• Fire and Gas Philosophy
• ESD Philosophy
• Hazardous Area Classification
• Escape, Evacuation and Rescue Studies
• Safety Critical Element Registers
• Performance Standards
• Safety Requirement Specifications
• SIL Assessment and Verification Reports
• Consequence Modelling Reports
• Emergency Response Studies
• Technical Safety Datasheets and Specifications
• Technical Safety layouts and drawings.

Regulatory & Standards Compliance:

• Ensure engineering designs comply with applicable Nigerian regulations and regulatory requirements.

Ensure compliance with relevant international codes and standards, including applicable requirements of:

• IEC
• ISO
• API
• NFPA
• ASME
• NORSOK
• IMO, where applicable
• Client/company specifications and standards.
• Monitor changes in applicable legislation, standards and industry practices and advise the project team accordingly.

ALARP & Risk Management:

• Ensure project risks are systematically identified, assessed and reduced to **As Low As Reasonably Practicable (ALARP)**.
• Provide technical justification for risk acceptance and risk reduction decisions.
• Identify safety-critical risks and recommend appropriate safeguards and mitigation measures.
• Maintain and support project risk registers relating to process and technical safety.
• Ensure residual risks are properly documented and communicated.

Interface & Multidisciplinary Coordination:

• Coordinate technical safety activities with Process, Mechanical, Electrical, Instrumentation & Control, Civil/Structural, Piping and other engineering disciplines.
• Ensure technical safety requirements are reflected consistently across multidisciplinary engineering deliverables.
• Participate in design reviews, model reviews, constructability reviews and project technical meetings.
• Interface effectively with Clients, consultants, vendors, contractors and regulatory authorities.

Project & Client Support:

• Provide technical safety support throughout the project lifecycle.
• Participate in Client meetings, technical clarification sessions and design reviews.
• Prepare and present technical safety reports and recommendations to Clients and senior management.
• Support tendering and proposal activities by developing technical safety scopes, man-hour estimates and deliverable lists.
• Provide technical input into project schedules and resource requirements.

Construction, Commissioning & Operational Support:

• Provide technical safety support during construction, commissioning and start-up activities.
• Review Management of Change (MOC) proposals from a technical safety perspective.
• Participate in pre-start-up safety reviews (PSSR).
• Support commissioning and start-up teams in resolving safety-related technical issues.
• Provide technical input into operating and maintenance philosophies where required.
• Support incident investigations and safety-related root cause analysis where required.

Requirements

• Bachelor's Degree in Chemical, Process, Mechanical, Petroleum Engineering or another relevant engineering discipline.
• Master's Degree in Process Safety, Engineering Management or a related discipline will be an advantage.
• Professional engineering registration/membership with a recognized professional body is preferred.
• Relevant certification in Process Safety or Functional Safety will be an advantage.
• Minimum 15 years of relevant experience in Technical Safety / Process Safety Engineering within the Oil & Gas industry.
• Demonstrable experience working within an Engineering Design / EPC / EPCM organization.
• Significant experience in FEED and detailed engineering projects.
• Proven experience leading or providing technical oversight for HAZID, HAZOP, SIL, LOPA, QRA and other process safety studies.
• Strong experience in technical safety design for upstream, midstream, downstream, LNG, gas processing, refinery, petrochemical or related Oil & Gas facilities.
• Experience with both greenfield and brownfield projects will be an advantage.
• Experience interfacing with international Clients, engineering consultants and EPC contractors is desirable.
• Proven experience leading multidisciplinary engineering teams and mentoring junior engineers.

Application Closing Date
Not Specified.

How to Apply
Interested and qualified candidates should send their CV to:  using the Job Title as the subject of the email.

Share this job: