Freelance Industrial Hazard & Risk Subject Matter Expert

About dss+

At dss+, you don’t just deliver projects, you help save lives, improve performance, and build a more sustainable future.

We are a purpose-led global consultancy partnering with organisations in high-risk and asset-intensive industries to solve complex operational challenges across safety, operational excellence, and sustainability.

With a heritage rooted in DuPont’s industrial operations, we combine deep expertise, practical problem-solving, and digital innovation to deliver measurable and lasting impact for our clients.

Why This Role

dss+ is currently developing a proposal for a client in Saudi Arabia to support the creation of a National Industrial Hazard Index (IHI).

The IHI is intended to provide a consistent methodology for measuring and classifying the inherent hazard level of factories across Saudi industrial cities. It will combine multiple industrial hazard dimensions into a practical, evidence-based and auditable framework, drawing on available information relating to hazards, incidents, hazardous materials, occupancy, machinery and factory characteristics.

More importantly, the IHI is intended to become a risk-based decision-making tool that can help inform:

• The frequency and depth of factory inspections

• Requirements for specialist inspection expertise

• Escalation and intervention protocols

• Emergency preparedness priorities

• The allocation of regulatory resources

To support this work, we are seeking credible and independent industrial hazard and risk specialists who can bring fresh external perspectives to the proposed methodology.

This opportunity would suit senior experts who remain active within industry, government, regulatory bodies, research institutions, international risk or safety organisations, or other relevant technical institutions. We are particularly interested in specialists who can constructively challenge established thinking and contribute practical insights from outside existing dss+ methodologies and frameworks.

Your Impact at dss+

As an Independent Industrial Hazard & Risk SME, you will provide expert challenge and validation during focused technical workshops with the dss+ project team.

You will review the proposed Industrial Hazard Index through the lens of current industry practice, regulatory experience and technical evidence. Your contribution will help ensure that the resulting methodology is credible, practical, transparent and suitable for application across a diverse industrial landscape.

Depending on your background, you may contribute expertise across one or several of the following areas:

1. Hazardous Materials

Hazardous-material properties and inventories, including:

• Toxicity, flammability and reactivity

• Physical state and storage conditions

• Inventory volumes and concentration

• Applicable hazard thresholds and classifications

2. Process Hazards

Industrial process characteristics and operating conditions, including:

• Operating pressure and temperature

• Chemical reactions and reactive systems

• Toxic services

• Batch and continuous manufacturing processes

3. Fire and Explosion Potential

Factors influencing the likelihood and potential severity of fires and explosions, including:

• Fuel inventories and ignition potential

• Confinement and congestion

• Combustible dust

• Hazardous-area classification

4. Storage, Handling and Logistics

Loss-of-containment and material-movement risks associated with:

• Tank farms and bulk storage

• Warehouses

• Bulk transfers and loading operations

• Material segregation and compatibility

• Secondary containment

• Internal transportation and logistics

5. Equipment and Energy

Stored, mechanical, thermal and electrical energy associated with:

• Pressure systems

• Fired equipment

• Lifting operations

• Molten materials

• Rotating machinery

• Other energy-intensive industrial equipment

6. Industrial Health and Hygiene

Acute and chronic occupational exposure to hazards such as:

• Carcinogens

• Silica and metals

• Noise and vibration

• Heat

• Radiation

• Biological agents

7. Human Occupancy Density

Workforce and third-party exposure within industrial hazard footprints, including:

• Employees and contractors

• Visitors

• Occupied buildings

• The location, concentration and vulnerability of exposed populations

8. Off-site Receptors and Escalation

Potential consequences extending beyond factory boundaries, including effects on:

• Surrounding communities

• Hospitals and schools

• Critical infrastructure

• Environmental receptors

• Neighbouring industrial facilities

• Domino and escalation scenarios

Key Responsibilities

You will:

• Participate in focused expert review and validation workshops

• Challenge the proposed hazard parameters and assessment criteria

• Review the weighting and scoring logic used to combine different hazard dimensions

• Assess whether proposed hazard thresholds are technically credible and proportionate

• Advise on the evidence required to support hazard classifications

• Identify potential gaps, unintended consequences or areas of over- or under-weighting

• Consider whether the methodology can be applied consistently across different factory types and industrial sectors

• Provide perspectives from current industry, regulatory or institutional practice

• Help ensure the methodology is evidence-based, auditable and practical for regulatory decision-making

• Contribute targeted technical recommendations within your areas of expertise

We do not necessarily require a separate specialist for each risk area. A strong expert may cover several dimensions where they have credible, demonstrable experience.

Who You Are

You are a recognised specialist with deep practical expertise in industrial hazards, process safety, fire and explosion risk, occupational hygiene, regulatory inspection, emergency preparedness or a closely related discipline.

You bring independent judgement, strong technical credibility and the confidence to challenge proposed approaches constructively. You can distinguish between theoretically robust methods and those that will work in practice across varied industrial environments.

Experience

You are likely to bring:

• Significant experience within high-hazard, safety-critical or asset-intensive industrial environments

• Deep specialist expertise in one or more of the eight risk areas outlined above

• Current or recent practical exposure within industry, government, a regulatory body, an international risk or safety organisation, research, academia or another relevant institution

• Experience developing, applying or reviewing risk-assessment, hazard-classification or regulatory methodologies

• Knowledge of industrial inspections, major-hazard regulation, emergency planning or risk-based regulatory decision-making

• Experience reviewing technical parameters, thresholds, scoring systems or evidence requirements

• Exposure to a range of manufacturing, processing or industrial operating environments

• Experience contributing to multidisciplinary technical reviews or expert workshops

Experience of industrial regulation or operations within Saudi Arabia, the GCC or comparable international settings would be beneficial but is not essential.

Capabilities

You will be able to:

• Apply strong technical and analytical judgement to complex risk questions

• Challenge assumptions and methodologies in a constructive, evidence-based manner

• Translate specialist knowledge into practical assessment criteria

• Evaluate interactions between different industrial hazard dimensions

• Communicate complex technical concepts clearly to multidisciplinary stakeholders

• Contribute effectively during focused expert workshops

• Maintain independence of thought while collaborating with the wider project team

• Provide concise and actionable technical recommendations

Education and Professional Standing

You are likely to hold:

• A Bachelor’s or Master’s degree in engineering, chemistry, occupational hygiene, fire engineering, safety, risk management or another relevant technical discipline

• Relevant professional accreditation, chartership or specialist certification, where applicable

• Fluency in English; Arabic language capability would be beneficial

• Equivalent senior-level professional and industry experience will also be considered.