UPL inks pact with Gexcon to work on mitigating industrial accidents

Agro chemical firm UPL Ltd on Thursday announced signing of a pact with Norway-based consulting firm Gexcon AS for setting up of a Centre of Excellence (CoE) in Gujarat, which will focus on research activities to help estimate and mitigate industrial accidents.

As per the memorandum of understanding (MoU), the UPL Ltd will provide the main infrastructure for establishing the proposed Centre at Ankleshwar in Bharuch district, and Gexcon will lend its expertise and knowledge.

"We have signed the MoU yesterday night and a definite agreement will be entered soon hopefully in about next two months and thereafter the work will begin," UPL Group Director Vikram Shroff told PTI.

The proposed centre will be put in place with an investment of about one million dollar in a phased manner. Initially, it will focus on the 'process safety and risk management' for pesticides and toxic chemicals and later will work on other sectors as well, he said.

The MoU also involves use of the Gexcon's process safety and risk management technology for UPL plants worldwide and improve the company's standard, he added.

Shroff further said, "The capability to develop and implement these standards will help UPL to reduce the risks from their operations to environment, personnel and assets."

Commenting on the MoU, Gexcon global CEO and president Sturle H Pedersen said: "We look forward to supporting UPL in their process transformation to better identify, manage and deliver innovative ideas in process safety and risk management while handling hazardous chemicals."

Gexcon has over 35 years of experience in developing safety and risk management software. The firm's software and services have been used to assess a wide range of incidents. Its FLACS software is used extensively for explosion and gas dispersion modelling.

The proposed CoE will be equipped to provide solutions to sponsored projects from industry. There will be a separate section on virtual reality and audio video facilities developed by Gexcon AS.