Welcome to BOC’s ‘Hydrogen People’ blog series. In each edition, we tell the story of a team member who plays a vital role in driving our organisation’s understanding and experience of hydrogen safety. From production to storage to transportation, every step of the hydrogen value chain is delivered by specialist experts who understand how to help our clients adopt hydrogen as a replacement for fossil fuels.

Ali Siam is Plant Manager at BOC’s Middlesborough and Teesside sites. Ali is new to the role, but not the company: “I’ve been with BOC for 12 years, starting in projects and then moving into on-site operations management.”

As soon as Ali arrived at Teesside, which has a 100-year history of safely producing industrial gases, he recognised the same safety-first culture that was already familiar to him from working elsewhere in the organisation.

Ali finds that operations management aligns with his natural mindset: “I’ve always loved solving problems and managing changing environments.”

“Safety is always the highest priority”, explains Ali, “it’s instilled from the start with the induction and training, through to the culture of open communication and honest conversations. We have meetings to help drive improvement, and we make sure we build out diverse teams with different perspectives.

“This can really help generate some creative thinking when we’re dealing with operational challenges or wanting to explore new technologies.”

Ali also points out the enormous wealth of expertise available through BOC’s parent company, Linde: “Hydrogen knowledge and best practice is shared globally, and we make sure to capture and absorb that knowledge within the organisation.”

As Ali sees it: “Hydrogen isn’t necessarily more dangerous than other chemicals. For example, while it’s true that its small size can make it vulnerable to leaks, this is a challenge you can solve with a system specifically designed for hydrogen, like the one at Teesside, and a suitable management system including adequate maintenance and inspection regimes."

As with any chemical, "minimising the risk is about sound engineering principles, suitable design and operational excellence. Think about when you fill your car with petrol. You can’t leave the hose in your car and walk off. That’s a safety feature built into the way it’s designed to reduce the likelihood of ignition. We apply the same mindset when we design systems to produce, store and transport hydrogen.”

BOC’s Teesside plant is the UK’s largest hydrogen production site with a hydrogen gas pipeline supply. The Teesside plant is a major supporter of the region’s industry and its efforts to decarbonise. “People don’t always realise just how much industry BOC enables”, says Ali.

Ali is excited about BOC’s role in the future of decarbonisation: “The future of hydrogen is really exciting, and BOC has a major role to play in the drive towards Net Zero and helping the region and nation meet their targets.

“It’s the same pride I feel everyday working at BOC knowing the range of customers we serve. From lifesaving oxygen to gases used in critical manufacturing processes ... I get a lot of job satisfaction from being here.”