In my first few weeks as a risk engineer, I was involved in a project that would be used to assist emergency responders in the event of a fire. I quickly realised that my undergraduate degree did not cover risk and safety analysis in the same depth as the industry, and there was so much to learn on the job. For example, before working on this project, I never knew that there are different types of fire scenarios and that attributes of fires can be modelled. I am very grateful to have supervisors and colleagues who are so willing to help with my learning and development.

My second project involved toxic vapour dispersion, and the aim was to model a release and analyse how far the dispersion can spread. Similar to my first project, a lot of on the job learning was required. I was provided with training to understand how to conduct computer modelling and more importantly, to understand the impact of the results.

I have also had the opportunity to attend risk assessment workshops as a technical scribe, which involves recording the minutes in a technical discussion. My first experience of being a scribe allowed me to learn more about the client’s facility, day-to-day operations and more about their industry.

The latest project that I’ve worked on is conducting a Quantitative Risk Assessment (QRA). This risk assessment is the most extensive quantitative analysis that I have encountered to this date! Together with the tight deadline requested by the client, this gave me a better insight on how highly regarded time management skills are in consulting.

So far, I have enjoyed working as a risk engineer as I have the chance to be involved in a wide-range of projects from different clients. It feels very rewarding to know that the work I am contributing to is increasing the client’s knowledge and awareness of process safety, as well as improving safety in the workplace through hazard identification. I look forward to learning more about risk management and process safety through my future projects!