Andrew Hopkins

Professor Andrew Hopkins is an internationally-renowned presenter, author and consultant in the field of industrial safety and accident analysis.

Hopkins has been awarded a prize by the European Process Safety Centre for “extraordinary contribution to process safety”, the first time this has been awarded outside of Europe.

Hopkins has been involved in various government occupational health and safety (OHS) reviews and completed consultancy work for major companies in the resources sector, as well as speaking regularly to audiences around the world about the causes of major accidents. He delivers presentations to organizations both within and outside Australia, and the topics include the BP Texas City Refinery Disaster, Mindful Leadership, Lessons from Longford (on the Esso Gas Plant Explosion) and Safe Behaviour Programs.

He is a recipient of the 2008 EPSC Process Safety award. Hopkins was an expert witness at the Royal Commission into the causes of the Esso’s gas plant at Longford in Victoria in 1998.

More recently he was a consultant to the U.S. Chemical Safety and Hazard Investigation Board (CSB) during its investigation into the 2005 explosion at BP’s Texas City Refinery and was an expert commentator in the CSB film about the disaster.

There is an increasing emphasis on the importance of managing ‘human factors’ to achieve improved safety and business performance in the oil and gas industry. Major accidents, including those at Texas City and the Macondo blowout have highlighted the importance of addressing this aspect of performance.

Based on Hopkins’ critical analysis of major incidents such as BP Texas City and, more recently, Macondo in the Gulf of Mexico, FutureMedia has produced DVD workshops that offer his expertise.