Hal Thomas, an Engineering Associate - Process Safety, has been with Air Products for 35 years. He received a BSME from Bucknell University, is a registered professional engineer in the state of PA and is a certified functional safety expert, CFSE. His first ten years were spent in process controls with the balance in process safety & reliability. He is their lead trainer in the use of fault tree and layer of protection analysis and is currently leading their internal effort to improve compliance and understanding of IEC 61511. For the past several years he has also chaired the Center for Chemical Process Safety Subcommittee for Equipment Reliability Data in their effort to develop the technical information necessary to establish an industry wide failure rate database.