Safex Newsletter No.84 July 2026


It is remarkable that we are already approaching the midpoint of 2026. This has been a particularly busy and productive period for Safex International, highlighted by our Congress in Lisbon. We once again extend our sincere thanks to our hosts, Orica, for their support and hospitality. In particular, we acknowledge Amanda Santos from the Lisbon office for her dedication, attention to detail, and significant contribution to making the Congress such a success.

The Congress brought together 184 participants representing 26 companies from across the globe. Delegates returned with a shared message: the event provided valuable learning and reinforced awareness of the safety challenges and objectives facing our industry worldwide. These insights will be shared with our membership as part of our continued commitment to achieving zero harm.

I extend my sincere gratitude to all attendees for their participation, engagement, and support. This was one of the most successful Congresses I have had the privilege of attending.

This Newsletter opens with a message from our Chairman, John Rathbun, who reflects on the Congress and the highly successful CEO meeting.

Andy Begg has brought together contributions from the Expert Panel and individual Associates, resulting in the following insightful articles on incidents and safety management:

Also included are Vignettes of Lisbon and Surroundings, photographed and compiled by Noel Hsu, which provide a visual reflection of the Congress venue and its surroundings.

I trust that you will find this Newsletter both interesting and informative. As this is my final edition as Secretary General of this outstanding organisation, I would like to express my sincere appreciation to every contributor who has supported the Newsletter over the past 12 years.

Piet Halliday , Secretary General

Dear Safex Members,

It was great to see everyone who attended the XXI Congress in Lisbon, Portugal and see so many energized attendees! The speakers were well prepared and proud about their work and sharing their findings. I was particularly pleased to see the strong numbers of attendees in both the workshops as well as the main congress. I would also go as far as to say that the hotel and the convention center right next door were solid choices. Thank you Dr. Halliday, Dr. Held and Ms. Amanda Santos (of this congress’s sponsor Orica) for all the work that you did to make this Safex congress a true success !

While in Lisbon we had a gathering of the member company CEOs for a luncheon followed by a presentation. We had a record 14 CEOs in attendance, who represented the largest explosives companies in the western world and many of the Governors of the Board of Safex. After a legal compliance reminder on what topics we needed to avoid while together, we then engaged to talk about Safex itself, it’s purpose and it’s sustainability.

I was pleased to see solid commitment demonstrated by the CEOs. We revisited the Salzburg Manifesto and walked through the various bullet points that we committed to and challenged ourselves on how well we were living up to them. We identified where we think Safex is doing well in terms of sharing, preserving and transferring knowledge to where we think we have opportunities to improve. It was heartening to see the passion that the other CEOs had towards helping each other and our employees on this mission.

One area that we all recognized we could improve on was on reporting incidents and near-misses. From this discussion, we all committed to share an annual goal of five events that provide solid learnings and will be beneficial for others in our community.

Another area that was identified as an opportunity was the incorporation of member companies or attendees from India and China. In the past we made specific initiatives to get more participation from the great and growing companies that exist in both countries but it was clear from attendee list, that we have work to do to get the member companies from those countries to be actively involved with Safex and the rest of the world.

Finally, after the congress, I was so pleased to see the social media posts of so many of the speakers who shared that they were a presenter at the Lisbon congress. You can truly see the pride that they are sharing something that helps others in our industry. Most of the presenters were younger than myself so I feel that this transfer of responsibility and stewardship to the next generation of explosive safety leaders is particularly heartening. I’ve always believed that our industry is special in the sense of our collective commitment to look out for each other and to share our learnings to save lives. I am very pleased with the direction of the organization today, the commitment of the CEOs towards Safex’s sustainability and the younger members of our community stepping up and taking leadership roles within Safex.

With that, I would personally like to thank Dr. Piet Halliday for his 27 years of service to Safex both as a Governor as well as the Secretary General for the past 12 years. At the congress we recognized his successor Dr. Martin Held as the next Secretary General. I would also like to thank Andy Begg for his 30 years of participation as a Governor, speaker, workshop leader and most importantly to me (but to others as well) a mentor. My success in this industry and the learnings surrounding the safe operations of our activities is to a large degree directly the result of listening to Andy and for that I am deeply grateful.

Like Piet, I announced at the congress that I too will be stepping down and working with the Board of Governors to identify the next Chairman of the organization. I feel that the organization’s health is strengthened with a regular change of leadership and that after the Lisbon Congress, it is a good time to do so. I am very thankful for the opportunity to give back to the industry in this way and serving this fantastic organization.

With the special invite of EPC of France, we will be gathering for the XXII Congress of Safex in Nice, France in 2029! I am planning on attending already and will look forward to seeing many of you there. Thank you all for your support, use and participation in Safex. This is a volunteer-based organization that needs constant and consistent commitment. It’s success is the success of all of us.


Sincerely

John D Rathbun