Frontier 01
The governance frontier
Safety-critical work moves outside the organization faster than the accountability around it. The duty holder stays put; the expertise walks out the door. This is the axis our process-safety practice governs.
Industries we serve
Where the duty to operate is heaviest.
The hazard changes. The accountability does not.
We advise leaders across the process industries — chemicals, pharmaceuticals, oil and gas, industrial gases and renewables — where safety-critical work is increasingly outsourced but the liability never is, and where growth into African markets adds a second frontier of exposure.
One discipline, many sectors.
Across the process industries the same pressure plays out: assets grow more complex, qualified safety engineers grow scarcer, and the gap is filled with external specialists. Outsourcing the execution of a safety task does not transfer accountability for its outcome. Under Seveso III, OSHA PSM, BImSchG and comparable regimes, the operator remains the duty holder, whoever did the work.
Frontier 02
The geographic frontier
The same operators are extending into African markets, where opportunity is real but regulatory frameworks, partners and enforcement differ sharply from the home base. Growth and risk advance together, and the governance chain has to travel with them.
01 · Chemicals
Chemicals
Reactive complexity meets a shrinking safety bench.
Reactive chemistry, aging assets and tightening major-accident regulation make chemicals the archetypal duty-holder sector — and the one externalizing the most process-safety work. HAZOP facilitation, SIL verification and safety-case authoring are increasingly bought, widening the gap between what vendors deliver and what the operator still owns.
+Map the grey zone across outsourced HAZOP, LOPA and SIL work before contracts are signed.
+Build the governance model that keeps you the duty holder under Seveso III.
+Structure provider selection and ongoing technical assurance.
In African marketsStanding up process-safety governance for new and expanding chemical assets, where regulatory frameworks are still maturing.
Seveso IIIHAZOP · LOPA · SILDuty holder
02 · Pharmaceuticals
Pharmaceuticals
Where process safety meets statutory reporting.
Solvent handling, exothermic reactions and containment sit alongside a heavy statutory burden: PHA and HAZOP programs, safety reports, and a permitting interface that does not accept a vendor’s signature in place of the operator’s. This is territory we have governed directly, on German pharmaceutical sites, under BImSchG.
+Run statutory process-safety governance under BImSchG, end to end.
+Own the regulatory interface on permitting and new requirements.
+Keep external PHA and HAZOP work advisory — never the final decision.
In African marketsGoverning statutory and safety obligations for pharmaceutical manufacturing built to serve growing regional demand.
BImSchGSafety reportsGMP-adjacent
03 · Oil & gas / energy
Oil & gas / energy
High consequence, heavy reliance on external verification.
Few sectors carry higher-consequence hazards or lean harder on external verification and specialist analysis. When that work is contracted without a governance chain, the board defends a posture it cannot fully explain. We help operators retain design authority and remain an intelligent customer — including where entry into African energy markets adds a second layer of complexity.
+Govern outsourced PSM and third-party verification against OSHA PSM and Seveso III.
+Preserve the internal authority to challenge external work on its merits.
+Bridge to Africa market entry where growth and regulatory risk converge.
In African marketsThe sector where our two practices meet most directly — structured entry into African energy markets, governed to the same safety standard as home operations.
OSHA PSMVerificationAfrica entry
04 · Industrial gases
Industrial gases
A distributed footprint, a lean central safety function.
Cryogenic and high-pressure hazards are spread across many sites served by a deliberately lean central team, which is exactly why so much safety work is externalized. The risk is not any single vendor. It is standards drifting apart across a distributed network no one governs as a whole.
+Design multi-site externalization governance that holds standards consistent.
+Define decision rights across central function, sites and providers.
+Turn vendor management into technical governance.
In African marketsHolding safety standards consistent as distribution and production networks expand across new regions.
Multi-siteCryogenicsStandardization
05 · Renewables
Renewables
New process hazards, standards still being written.
Hydrogen, biogas, e-fuels and energy storage introduce genuine process hazards into organizations building fast, often with thin safety benches. External expertise is a necessity rather than a choice. When the standards themselves are still forming, the ability to challenge a vendor’s assumptions matters more, not less.
+Establish process-safety governance from first principles for new assets.
+Challenge external work where codes and standards are still immature.
+Support energy-transition entry into African markets.
In African marketsBuilding safety governance into transition-energy projects from day one, where the market and its standards are emerging together.
Hydrogen · biogasEnergy storageEmerging standards
Beyond these five.
The accountability model is sector-agnostic. Wherever safety-critical work is externalized under a non-delegable duty of care, the same three layers — execution, verification, accountability — apply.
Fine & specialty chemicals
Batch and campaign operations with frequent process change and high reliance on external HAZOP.
Food & beverage
Ammonia refrigeration, dust and thermal hazards under a formal process-safety duty.
Metals & materials
High-energy processes and legacy assets where safety expertise is increasingly contracted.
Midstream & storage
Transport and storage integrity governed across dispersed, third-party-operated sites.
Power generation
Conventional and transitional assets balancing reliability against a heavy safety duty.
Water & utilities
Chlorine and process hazards managed by lean teams leaning hard on external support.
Two practices. One governing idea.
Every sector above is served by the same discipline, applied to a different hazard or a different market.
01
Process & plant safety outsourcing advisory
Outsource execution. Retain accountability.
Mapping the grey zone, designing the accountability model, and keeping you an intelligent customer of the work you buy.
Explore the practice →02
Africa market entry & growth advisory
Enter with structure. Grow with discipline.
Structured guidance from market selection through execution, where growth and regulatory risk move together.
Explore the practice →Contact
Operating in one of these sectors?
If safety-critical work is leaving your organization faster than the governance around it, a conversation is the fastest way to find out whether your setup reduces risk or relocates it. We can begin with an assessment against the three-layer model.