05/21/2026
WHA is proud to share that Dani Murphy will be presenting at the 2026 Dangerous Goods Emergency Management Conference for Emergency Response Assistance Canada. Her presentation brings awareness to the engineering and response challenges of emerging technologies and emphasizes how hazardous fluid properties impact use conditions, design, and regulation. .
Learn more and register for the conference at https://loom.ly/MMLMj6o
You can read the full abstract of her presentation below...
Effective safety engineering requires recognition that hazardous fluids are not interchangeable. Differences in physical and chemical properties across liquid and compressed fuel gases and oxidizers directly influence system design, regulatory requirements, failure modes, and emergency response. Applying the same design or response assumptions across dissimilar dangerous goods can introduce unintended risk.
This presentation outlines a property-based approach to safety engineering that tailors design and response planning to the specific fluid and technology in use, with hydrogen used as a primary example. The discussion focuses on engineering for abnormal and incident scenarios, highlighting how containment, dispersion, detection, and response strategies must be adapted based on the fuel and technology in use.
Challenges associated with unique, new and emerging technologies are also addressed, particularly where evolving standards, limited operational experience, and non-conforming designs may obscure fluid-specific hazards. Case studies illustrate incidents in which engineering practices appropriate for one fluid were applied to another, resulting in adverse events.
By emphasizing fluid behavior, this presentation highlights the need for adaptive engineering, informed compliance decisions, and coordinated emergency response planning. The lessons presented apply across conventional and emerging dangerous goods and support safer, more resilient systems.
