Liz Copland

As an environmental geoscientist, my focus coming out of University was on sustainability and finding a position that would allow me to see the impact of managing risk and ensuring environmental compliance.

I never thought I would be applying these concepts within an industrial engineering environment, or that eventually I would work on some of the largest storage and processing terminals in the UK.
Environmental Risk Tolerability was and is, an incredibly important part of operational compliance for our clients.

This means that often my team are conducting Environmental Risk Assessments (ERA’s) on tank farms with several hundred tanks surrounded by numerous sensitive environmental receptors.

While I work within an integrated team of Engineers and Surveyors, my personal focus is on Environmental Risk Tolerability and working with our clients to assess what the risk of NOT implementing protective layers is.

Secondary & Tertiary containment modelling, hydrostatic and hydrodynamic bund modelling, and tank rupture modelling create a visual illustration of what a loss of containment looks like, but it also highlights the impact and consequences of such an event on the surrounding receptors.

Environmental Scientists are not always the most popular people working within industrial environments as it’s our job to ensure we’re protecting the land, watercourses, ecosystems and communities surrounding these areas.

The progress we’ve made over the past decade has been tremendous, and there’s certainly been a pivot within the larger organisation as more women join our Engineering, and Surveying disciplines.

As we progress towards net zero and decarbonisation, there will be a noticeable shift in regulator standards. I’m looking forward to the challenge of helping clients form new strategies to meet these targets