MyJHB

Stuff from Johannesburg

South African Chemical Industry to Tackle Process Safety at Upcoming Conference

JOHANNESBURG – FEBRUARY 11, 2026 – The Chemical and Allied Industries’ Association (CAIA) will host its Process Safety Conference 2026 on 4–5 March at the Business Leadership South Africa Auditorium in Sandton, bringing together industry leaders, safety professionals and academic experts to strengthen process safety practices across the sector.

Deidré Penfold, executive director of CAIA, explains why the topic of process safety is imperative: “In the chemical industry, process safety is not just a plant-level concern; it underpins the entire value chain. It ensures that the way chemicals are manufactured, handled, stored and moved is managed responsibly, so that risks are controlled long before they result in injury or loss of life, and costly damage to infrastructure and capital equipment.”

The two-day conference will provide a platform to explore global trends, share practical insights and reinforce a culture of safety in high-risk industrial environments. The programme features keynote presentations, expert panel discussions and real-world case studies designed to support organisations in managing complex safety risks and building resilient operations.

Internationally respected process safety specialist David Moore, President and CEO of AcuTech Group, will deliver the keynote address. The programme also features contributions from leading specialists, including Dr Rohan Perera, CBRN risk?mitigation expert at CRDF Global; Terrence Moothusamy, director and technical signatory at MHI Risk Engineers; Samantha Kachikira, director and partner at ISHECON (Pty) Ltd; Charlene Wassenaar, former VP SHERQ at Natref and Process Safety Auditor at CAIA; and Tom Zhao, Vice President for Digital Power at Huawei South Africa.

The event will focus on strengthening process safety culture, human reliability assessment, practitioner competency and regulatory frameworks, including the Chemical Weapons Convention, while also exploring the intersection of climate resilience and process safety. The programme will also highlight international developments and practical case studies, with sessions covering auditing and leadership in process safety management, emergency preparedness and inherently safer design.

“The Process Safety Conference 2026 aims to equip organisations with the knowledge and leadership perspective needed to prevent incidents, strengthen safety performance and support responsible, sustainable operations across the chemical and allied industries,” notes Penfold.

The conference is open to professionals operating in the wider chemicals value chain as well as those who wish to expand their knowledge in process safety space.

Registration costs are R7,500 (excl. VAT) for CAIA members and R10,000 (excl. VAT) for non-members. Registration deadline: 27 February 2026.

Register here

CLICK HERE to submit your press release to MyPR.co.za.

Links:

Boilerplate and Editor’s Notes:

More Info on South African chemical industry to tackle process safety at upcoming conference here: https://www.caia.co.za/responsible-care/process-safety-conference-page/

Source – MyPR

Free Press Release Submissions from MyPR.co.za

Category: Tag: ,

The Geological Miracle of the Witwatersrand

The very existence of Johannesburg is a geological fluke. Unlike most major global cities, Johannesburg was not built near a river, a coast, or a natural harbor. It sits 1,753 meters above sea level on a rocky ridge called the Witwatersrand (Ridge of White Waters). This ridge is the edge of the world’s largest known gold deposit, formed over 2 billion years ago when an ancient inland sea began to evaporate, leaving behind layers of gold-bearing conglomerate.

When George Harrison, an Australian prospector, stumbled upon an outcrop of gold on the farm Langlaagte in 1886, he triggered a “gold rush” that changed the course of African history. Within a decade, a dusty collection of tents and wagons transformed into a permanent city of brick and mortar. The “Main Reef” proved so vast that it eventually produced nearly 40% of all the gold ever mined in human history. This geological wealth dictated the city’s layout: the mining belt runs east-to-west across the city’s center, creating a physical divide between the wealthy northern suburbs and the industrial, working-class south. Today, while most mines within the city limits have closed due to the extreme depth and cost of extraction (some mines reached over 3.9 kilometers underground), the physical legacy remains in the form of “mine dumps”—massive yellow-white hills of crushed rock and sand that define the Joburg skyline.