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 hydrogen journey. 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 safely adopt hydrogen as a replacement for fossil fuels.

There can’t be many people in the country who know or care more about the safe handling of hydrogen than Andrea Rodgers.

One of BOC’s most experienced engineers , Andrea is known for her impressive track record of keeping hydrogen fuel switching projects on course. Her experience means she is well-versed in the challenges that inevitably present when a client is trialling hydrogen for the first time. She knows what to do when, for example, a vent stack design isn’t correct, or the right permissions haven’t been obtained from regulators. She has advised on fire and emergency arrangements and planning consultations.

Andrea has always been an environmentalist and hobby ecologist. After leaving university, she joined the Water Industry, delivering energy saving projects, before taking on Safety, Health Environment and Quality roles in diverse industries such as lumber and nuclear. She joined BOC in 2012 to work on liquified gases projects, and has since worked on numerous energy projects in LNG, hydrogen and nuclear industry deployments. She has recently overseen a number of highly successful industrial hydrogen fuel switching trials in the glass and cement industries.

Andrea’s number one priority is to keep people and property safe by minimising risk. “It’s important to accept that you can never fully eliminate risk,” she explains. “It’s about following a risk management principle of ‘as low as reasonably practicable’, but importantly, having the data and documentation to demonstrate that’s what we are doing”.

Andrea considers hydrogen safety to be about a cumulation of experiences. Anyone knowledgeable about the properties of hydrogen can predict certain challenges: for example, it's flammable range. However, practical experience and knowledge in applying and developing critical and detailed safety solutions to these challenges and maintaining our existing standards and procedures is what sets Andrea and BOC apart.

As Andrea puts it: "Any engineering consultant may be able to understand the risks of hydrogen, but do they fully understand how to overcome them safely? It's about engaging with the diverse disciplines of engineering and application solutions, which can really only be gained through experience."