Is Your Safety Critical Equipment Safe?

Thomas Anderson, PE

Mr. Anderson is a member of BakerRisk’s Structures Group. His expertise has focused on the analysis structures subjected to both conventional and impulsive loadings including existing steel, cold-formed metal, reinforced and unreinforced masonry, wood, and reinforced concrete structures subject to postulated blast loading. Mr. Anderson’s expertise also extends to protective building design, where he has executed non-linear single-degree-of-freedom analysis techniques to determine component and overall building damage levels to design detailed blast-resistant buildings, blast separation and protective walls, high pressure test enclosures, and protective barriers.

Anay Raibagkar, P. ENG., MS

Mr. Raibagkar is a principal engineer in the protective structures group. His work focuses on Non-Linear Dynamic analyses of various types of existing buildings (steel, concrete, and masonry) to determine their blast capacity for different loading scenarios.  He is also experienced with designing retrofits for existing buildings to achieve the desired level of protection against blast loads. Mr. Raibagkar is also a voting member of CSA S850:23 – Design and assessment of buildings subjected to blast loads committee.

Anay is also the Manager of Software Development where he oversees the production of all BakerRisk software.

Murtaza Gandhi, PE, CFSE

Mr. Gandhi is a member of BakerRisk’s Process Safety Group. He is a Process Safety Engineer with over 19 years of experience in controls and safety systems and over 12 years of experience in qualitative hazard and risk analysis. Mr. Gandhi manages Fire and Gas Systems (FGS) and Hazardous Area Classification (HAC) services at BakerRisk, where he has reviewed boilers and heater Burner Management Systems (BMS) to NFPA85 and NFPA86 standards.

Since 2020, he has led the Low Carbon Energy Risk Management group at BakerRisk which comprises of hydrogen and hydrogen carriers, biofuels, and Battery Energy Storage Systems (BESS) sub-groups. He has been a continuous member and leader of ISA at the student, local, and national levels since 2001 and the Hydrogen Technology Committee at CGA. He is the primary committee member for NFPA 715 Gas Detection Standard and is a contributing author on ISA TR84.00.07 Fire and Gas Detection and TR84.00.05 Burner Management System.

Karen Vilas, MBA

Ms. Vilas currently serves as CEO of BakerRisk and FORTRESS. Karen brings a rare combination of technical expertise, field-tested leadership, business strategy, and personal purpose to one of the most critical areas of industrial safety.

Recognized globally as a leader in process safety, her career has focused on helping multinational petrochemical corporations identify hazards, manage risk, and keep people safe. Most notably, she has experience in modeling consequences and risks at oil refineries, natural gas facilities, storage facilities, and olefin units. Known for her unwavering commitment to innovation and customer satisfaction, Ms. Vilas provides unique risk mitigation and risk management solutions by focusing on providing high-quality, highly protective buildings in high-hazard environments.

David Black, ARM

Mr. Black is a member of BakerRisk’s Process Safety Group. He serves as BakerRisk’s managing consultant for the insurance risk and fire protection service areas. He has over 30 years of experience in industrial property loss prevention and risk engineering, primarily in the oil, gas, petrochemical, and power generation industries.

Mr. Black has developed and currently oversees BakerRisk’s flagship Fire Hazards and Mitigations Analysis (FHMA) service. The FHMA methodology and related computer modeling tools were developed to assist clients in performing focused, comprehensive analyses of their operation’s fire risks, as well as the mitigation resources available to limit fire consequences. In addition to FHMA, he is also BakerRisk’s subject matter expert in fire protection systems’ inspection, testing, and maintenance. Mr. Black currently leads a series of testing and assessment investigations, including Firewater Pump Performance Testing, Underground Network Gradient Testing, and Fireproofing Gap Analyses.