Eng. Sivaneswaran Kannan
VP Group Process Safety, ADNOC, UAE
Eng. Sivaneswaran Kannan is a highly accomplished Chartered Chemical Engineer with over 26 years of experience in the energy sector. He holds a Masters in Chem-Polymer Engineering and a Degree in Chemical Engineering from the University of Technology Malaysia. He is a Fellow with the Institute of Chemical Engineers (IChemE) and the Energy Institute (EI) and Chartered Engineer (CEng) with Engineering Council of UK.
Currently, Siva serves as Vice President, Group Process Safety within the Group Health, Safety and Environment Function at ADNOC in Abu Dhabi. He is renowned for his expertise in project delivery and process safety engineering, having led numerous offshore and onshore projects. Siva’s extensive experience in HSE risk management has seen him develop and implement safety frameworks and strategies for global energy corporations, significantly enhancing their safety performance.
As a Conference Advisor for the SPE International Health, Safety, Environment, and Sustainability Conference and Exhibition (2024 and 2026 editions), Siva continues to contribute his knowledge and expertise to advancing safety and sustainability in the industry. Siva also serves as Vice Chair, Safety Committee IOGP, CEng, CPD and Professional Interview, volunteer in IChemE as well many other taskforces in Energy Institute. Siva is also recipient of the prestigious International SPE Health, Safety and Environment Award for 2026
Industry Talk
- Date
- Time
- RoomKhalifa University Auditorium (C00068)
From Data to Decisions to Policy: Engineering Process Safety Excellence in the Energy Industry
For four decades, the oil and gas industry steadily reduced its fatal accident rate. In 2025, that trend reversed. IOGP member companies reported 52 fatalities in 40 separate incidents, up from 32 in 2024, and the fatal accident rate rose by 75%, even as reported work hours fell by 7%. Progress in safety is not permanent: it holds only as long as engineered barriers, disciplined maintenance and sound leadership decisions hold.
This keynote shares a practical industry perspective on how process safety data can be turned into decisions, and decisions into policy. Drawing on IOGP 2025 safety performance and process safety event data and industry operating experience, it explores three signals: Most Tier 1 process safety events start with a loss of containment; one in eight Tier 1 consequences harms a person; and more than a quarter of 2025 fatalities occurred during maintenance, inspection and testing, where design, change and maintenance decisions meet operational reality.
The session then connects these lessons to industrial engineering: leading indicators and barrier analytics, predictive integrity and AI, and human factors and systems thinking. It closes with a call for deeper collaboration between academia and industry: research the barrier, not just the failure, and open the data so lessons are shared. Participants will leave with practical takeaways on using data to build safer and more sustainable industrial systems.