Speakers Name:
William Cowdroy
Job title:
Consulting Director
Organisation:
ERM
Biography:
William Cowdroy is a Consulting Director at ERM leading their UK Technical Safety services in Diversified Energy, which includes Oil & Gas (upstream, midstream and downstream), Hydrogen (production, transport and storage) and CCUS.
William specialises in Process Safety and Functional Safety, primarily supporting operators of high‑hazard facilities to design, operate and maintain their plants and safety critical systems to protect people, the environment and their assets.
With a 14-year career rooted in Chemical Engineering, William began working on major industrial assets including a Carbon Capture Pilot Plant at Ferrybridge Power Station, Trimble County Power Station in the United States, and Stanlow Oil Refinery. He later moved into Process Safety and Risk Management, developing his expertise through roles at DNV, ESC and ERM. His cross‑sector experience includes Diversified Energies, Chemicals, Pharmaceuticals, Biosafety, Manufacturing and Defense, giving him a broad perspective on risk across complex, high‑hazard industries.
William is also an experienced project manager for major capital and energy transition programmes with emerging regulatory frameworks. Notably, he led the Safety, Planning, Permitting and Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) for Equinor’s Hydrogen to Humber (H2H) Saltend Project, one of the UK’s flagship blue hydrogen developments, delivering planning consent in 2024.
In parallel to his leadership roles, William remains actively involved in delivering process & functional safety studies including regularly chairing HAZID, HAZOP and LOPA workshops; conducting Reliability Analysis using RBD and FTA techniques; and leading Process Safety Management audits. He also regularly delivers Functional Safety activities and assessments to ensure compliance with international standards IEC 61511 and IEC 61508.