At aeSolutions, our commitment to charitable and volunteer work is a reflection of our core values, which are centered on being results-driven, inclusive, and relentless. We are dedicated to making a positive impact on the communities in which we operate, beyond our mission of creating safer communities through our engineering work. One of the ways we give back is through charitable organizations that align with these core values and our mission, where our team members engage in volunteer work. As part of our 25th anniversary celebration, we’re proud to spotlight the following examples: aeSolutions Goes Back to School Each February aeSolutions celebrates Engineers Week, a time to celebrate and say thank you to the engineers making a difference in the world. This is also a time to increase public dialogue about the need for engineers. Members of the aeSolutions team recently helped students in local schools make paper airplanes as they explained the importance of engineering as a career as part of Engineers Week. FIRST ROBOTICS Erich Zende leads a FIRST robotics team that aeSolutions has sponsored for several years. The team, FRC Flash 1319, is made up of students from several different Greenville County high schools. Almost all of the students have pursued higher education, often in STEM-related fields. Erich supports the students in the mechanical and electrical prototyping, design, and fabrication phases of their projects. He also transports the team’s robot and pit setup to and from events. FIRST Robotics is an international organization dedicated to transforming the culture to inspire students to be leaders in science and technology. FIRST was founded in 1989 to inspire young people's interest and participation in science and technology. For more info about the team, links to the robotics team’s website and social media sites can be found below: FIRST Robotics Team Flash 1319 (frcflash1319.wixsite.com) FRC Flash 1319 | Facebook Flash 1319 (@FRCFlash1319) / Twitter FRC Flash 1319 (@frcflash1319) • Instagram photos and videos (1082) FRC Flash 1319 - YouTube Meals on Wheels Twenty aeSolutions employees from the Greenville, SC office volunteer to help deliver meal to local people who are homebound. Each week, two aeSolutions volunteers deliver Meals on Wheels during their lunch. aeSolutions is a corporate partner with Meals on Wheels, and we have been helping deliver meals since 2011. It is more than daily nourishment; it is also delivering friendship to those who spend a lot of time alone. More info: Meals On Wheels Greenville, SC Photo: Steve Morrison delivers a meal. Other charity involvement: Leukemia and Lymphoma Society, Special Olympics, Back to School supply Drives, St. Anthony of Padua School – Gala sponsor, Food drives, Blood drives aeSolutions also sponsors and participates in United Way’s Hands on Greenville, the Upstate’s largest annual day of service. Last year, 2,100 community volunteers rolled up their sleeves to serve across Greenville County — an estimated economic impact of $250,000. aeSolutions employees volunteering at Hands on Greenville

Company to Continue to Focus on Employee Development and Recruitment and Growing Client Services as it Looks to the Future Greenville, SC – July 13, 2023 – aeSolutions, a consulting, engineering, and systems integration company that provides industrial process safety and automation products and services, today announced that the company is celebrating the 25th anniversary of its founding. Founded by Brian Merriman, Mike Scott, and current president Ken O'Malley, the company opened its first office location in Greenville, South Carolina, in 1998. With a focus on value-driven engineering, aeSolutions set out to solve the complex challenges faced by industrial clients. The company’s commitment to serving clients nationwide quickly drove expansion into new locations and ventures. In 2001, aeSolutions opened a 14,000 square foot fabrication shop, which allowed the company to provide cost-effective and safe solutions for integrated Burner Management Systems (BMS) and Combustion Control Systems (CCS). Two additional office locations followed, first in Anchorage, Alaska (2007), and then in Houston, Texas (2010), and during the Alaska oil market boom, the company grew to 175 employees. The company’s service offerings began to expand rapidly with the addition of a Process Safety Management division. That team grew to include other new areas of expertise and knowledge in areas such as Process Risk Management and Alarm Management. When the leadership team at aeSolutions recognized the need in the process industry for a database-driven safety lifecycle platform, one that was created by engineers for engineers, the aeShield software solution was born. aeShield, which has helped to greatly improve the safety of the process industry, has grown into its own organization and is now headed by co-founder Mike Scott. Along with its remarkable successes, aeSolutions has experienced its share of difficulties. The combination of the death of Chief Executive Officer Brian Merriman in 2014, followed immediately by the oil market crash in 2015, created a challenging time for the company. Combined, these two events required aeSolutions to develop new leaders and to diversify in new geographies and markets all at the same time. These challenges helped forge the company into a more mature and resilient organization. “Throughout aeSolutions’ ups and downs, the thing I have been most proud of is the consistency with which we have prioritized the retention and development of our people. We have many long-tenured employees who could work anywhere, and they choose aeSolutions as their professional home. Our Company Vision places our employees as top priority with the understanding that if we treat our employees well, our clients will be the beneficiaries,” said O’Malley. “And when it comes to our clients, we work every problem from a risk-management approach, always striving to be a guide and not a guard. Our clients trust us to be a relentless and inclusive partner that holds the entire project team accountable in pursuing the right solution - which isn’t always the easiest - while balancing risk and reward. I am very proud of my company’s ethical and even-keeled behavior even during the very hardest of times.” “Leading this company has been a humbling experience. People do not follow the smartest person or even the person with the best ideas. They follow the person they trust to be of consistent character, someone who shows enthusiasm for the future and has a vision for what is possible,” O’Malley continued. “I am so proud of our employees and leadership team, who inspire me by consistently putting the greater good ahead of their own interests. They all seek to embody aeSolutions’ core values.” As aeSolutions celebrates and looks beyond the quarter-century mark, the company will continue to prioritize supporting its employees in pursuit of their full potential. The leadership team at aeSolutions understands that its people are the company’s most important resource and that its people provide the depth and breadth of the company’s domain expertise. Accordingly, the company will continue to make significant investments in creating and improving employee development programs and creating new opportunities for growth. Additionally, aeSolutions will continue to strive to be guides for its clients’ success both in their projects and overall. aeSolutions is a stand-alone when it comes to its expertise in areas of regulatory compliance and critical automation and safety systems. Areas of expertise include guiding clients in the development of Process Safety Management programs; facilitating hazards analysis workshops; and designing, building, configuring, testing, and starting these systems up in the field. Going forward, the company will work to continuously improve the linking of its front-end consulting services with its back-end engineering and automation teams in order to execute larger, more complex projects and to ultimately bring real, lasting value to its clients on a larger scale. “aeSolutions has come a long way from its days as a start-up when we would meet in the bonus room at Brian Merriman’s house. We had little to no air conditioning and had to contend with squirrels eating the electrical wiring in Brian’s attic. We spent as much time trying to catch squirrels as we did executing project work,” said O’Malley. “To see what the company has become fills me with tremendous pride. We have consistently been a steadfastly hard-working, ethical, high-value, dependable partner and are always seeking win-win outcomes. I am thankful for the support of our employees, leadership team and clients, and I look forward to the exciting future we have ahead of us.” About aeSolutions In business since 1998, aeSolutions is a consulting, engineering and systems integration company that provides industrial process safety and automation products and services. They specialize in helping industrial clients achieve their risk management and operational excellence goals through expertise in process safety, combustion control and safeguarding, safety instrumented systems, control system design and integration, alarm management, and related operations and integrity management systems. For more information, visit www.aesolutions.com. Media Contact Kari Walker for aeSolutions Kari@redironpr.com @KariWalkerPR

We asked a few our engineers to answer: Why did you get into Engineering? How do we/engineers make an impact on the greater community? Founded by NSPE in 1951, EWeek(link is external) (February 19–25, 2023) is dedicated to ensuring a diverse and well-educated future engineering workforce by increasing understanding of and interest in engineering and technology careers. Today, EWeek is a formal coalition of more than 70 engineering, education, and cultural societies, and more than 50 corporations and government agencies. Dedicated to raising public awareness of engineers' positive contributions to quality of life, EWeek promotes recognition among parents, teachers, and students of the importance of a technical education and a high level of math, science, and technology literacy, and motivates youth, to pursue engineering careers in order to provide a diverse and vigorous engineering workforce. Each year, EWeek reaches thousands of schools, businesses, and community groups across the U.S.

aeSolutions to Present and Exhibit at AIChE 2023 Spring Meeting and 19th Global Congress on Process Safety Process Safety Group Manager Don Connolley to Serve as Vice-Chair of the CCPS International Conference for the 2023 GCPS Greenville, SC – March 2, 2023 – aeSolutions, a consulting, engineering and systems integration company that provides industrial process safety and automation products and services, today announced that the company will be presenting and exhibiting at the AIChE 2023 Spring Meeting and 19th Global Congress on Process Safety (GCPS). The conference will be held at the George R. Brown Convention Center at the Hilton of the Americas in Houston, Texas from March 12th to 15th, 2023. The annual AIChE Spring Meeting and GCPS is the key technical conference for practicing chemical and process safety engineers, and covers the industry's critical needs more broadly and in-depth than any other industry conference. Additionally, the company announced that Don Connolley, CSP, Process Safety Group Manager at aeSolutions, is Vice-Chair of the Center for Chemical Process Safety (CCPS) International Conference for the 2023 GCPS. On the morning of Tuesday, March 14th, Dave Grattan will deliver a presentation at a session of the Plant Process Safety Symposium titled, “Using Small Data to Support Decision Making When LOPA Fails: The Case for Incorporating Site Specific Process Safety Data into Our Calculations, and How to Do It”. On the morning of Wednesday, March 15th, Lauren Caldwell will present a paper titled “Ten Fingers and Ten Toes: Applying Machinery Safety Principles in a Process Plant” at a session of the Loss Prevention Symposium. Don Connolley will co-chair the GCPS Joint Session, “Case Histories and Lessons Learned” Wednesday afternoon. More Event Info: AIChE 2022 Spring Meeting and 19th GCPS Presentation Schedule: Dave Grattan (Presenting) & Keith Brumbaugh SESSION TIME: Tuesday, March 14th 1:30 - 3:00 PM SESSION TITLE: Focused Risk Analysis Approaches and Techniques in Support of LOPA PRESENTATION TITLE: “Using Small Data to Support Decision Making When LOPA Fails: The Case for Incorporating Site Specific Process Safety Data into Our Calculations, and How to Do It” LOCATION: George R. Brown Convention Center, 361 Link to paper: https://www.aesolutions.com/post/using-small-data-to-support-decision-making-when-lopa-fails Lauren Caldwell SESSION TIME: Wednesday, March 15th, 8:00 – 9:30 AM SESSION TITLE: Engineered Safety Systems and Mitigation Technologies I PRESENTATION TITLE: “Ten Fingers and Ten Toes: Applying Machinery Safety Principles in a Process Plant” LOCATION: George R. Brown Convention Center, 370 Link to paper: https://www.aesolutions.com/post/ten-fingers-and-ten-toes-applying-machinery-safety-principles-in-a-process-plant Don Connolley SESSION TIME: Wednesday, March 15th, 1:30 – 5:00 PM SESSION TITLE: “GCPS Joint Session: Case Histories and Lessons Learned” LOCATION: Ballroom of the Americas, A-F (Level 2) WHERE: George R. Brown Convention Center at the Hilton of the Americas in Houston, Texas - Booth 107 WHEN: March 12th -15th, 2023 REGISTRATION:https://www.aiche.org/conferences/aiche-spring-meeting-and-global-congress-on-process-safety/2023/registration-info To arrange a meeting with a member of the aeSolutions team, contact info@aesolutions.com. About aeSolutions In business since 1998, aeSolutions is a consulting, engineering, and systems integration company that provides industrial process safety and automation products and services. They specialize in helping industrial clients achieve their risk management and operational excellence goals through expertise in process safety, combustion control and safeguarding, safety instrumented systems, control system design and integration, alarm management, and related operations and integrity management systems. For more information, visit www.aesolutions.com. Media Contact RedIron PR for aeSolutions kari@redironpr.com

Industrial Process Safety and Automation Company aeSolutions Announces Achievements for 2022 and Plans for 2023: Company to Focus on Expanded Client Services and Employee Development and Recruitment in 2023 Greenville, SC – February 22, 2023 –aeSolutions, a consulting, engineering, and systems integration company that provides industrial process safety and automation products and services, today announced company milestones achieved and overall performance for 2022. The company’s achievements included the launch of two new lines of business, a year-over-year growth of 12 percent, several key hires and promotions, and an increased focus on employee recruitment and development. “In 2022, aeSolutions continued to position itself to better serve our clients and partners,” said Ken O’Malley, president of aeSolutions. “We maintained our focus on oil, renewables, chemicals and petrochemicals, and entered the Green Hydrogen renewable energy and machine safety markets. We established two new business lines – Plant Protection Systems and Migrations and Upgrades – that will enable us to more fully assist our clients with larger, more complex projects, and our revenue has recovered and exceeded pre-covid levels.” New Business Units/Divisions Plant Protection Systems A new Plant Protection Systems business was created by combining the Fired Equipment, Safety Instrumented Systems, and Combustible and Toxic Gas Detection service lines under one senior leader. This single vertical business is responsible for the design and delivery of the critical systems that protect people and the environment. Migrations and Upgrades A new Migrations and Upgrades business was established. This team guides clients to develop phased project road maps that minimize or eliminate the interruption to production and deliver upgraded, future-capable systems. O’Malley added, “Growth in 2023 will come from a tighter alignment of our organizational structure with our well-known brand and service lines, which places a single senior leader at the top level of accountability for delivery and client satisfaction from concept development through turnover and startup. We are excited about the changes and looking forward to an incredibly productive 2023.” Key Personnel Appointments Promotions ● Carolyn Bott, Associate Process Safety Group Manager (GM): A seasoned process safety engineer with a bachelor’s degree in Chemical Engineering and certification in Safety Engineering, Bott has experience working in the Chemicals, Petrochemicals, Oil & Gas (Onshore and Offshore), and Energy industries. Appointment Key Product/Deliverable Highlights Available as a turnkey solution, the FGS 1400 MK II is pre-engineered, preconfigured and prepackaged, and is suitable for a wide variety of applications. Scalable from small to large industrial installations, the solution is based on industry standard safety and control system platforms and is designed to provide combustible and toxic gas detection and fire protection. In 2022, the FGS 1400 MK II was updated to utilize Siemens latest generation Simatic ET 200SP HA input/output (I/O) cards. Company Culture/Initiatives In 2022, aeSolutions adopted an employee-opt-in hybrid office model that allowed the company to better align its commercial real estate with the needs and preferences of its business leaders and team members. Restructuring in this way enabled the company to reduce its annual commercial real estate leases by almost half, freeing up resources for investment in employee development and company growth. Additionally, the company formalized a talent development strategy and program that includes the launch of a new learning management system and the rollout of a formal employee-directed coaching program. Plans for 2023 In 2023, aeSolutions will continue to strive to be an employee-centric company with a primary purpose of supporting each stakeholder in the pursuit of their fullest potential. As a company, aeSolutions believes that client success can only come from a supported, valued workforce. About aeSolutions In business since 1998, aeSolutions is a consulting, engineering and systems integration company that provides industrial process safety and automation products and services. They specialize in helping industrial clients achieve their risk management and operational excellence goals through expertise in process safety, combustion control and safeguarding, safety instrumented systems, control system design and integration, alarm management, and related operations and integrity management systems. For more information, visit www.aesolutions.com. Media Contact Kari Walker for aeSolutions Kari@redironpr.com @KariWalkerPR

Update Provides a Migration Path for Existing FGS 1400 Installations Greenville, SC – October 10th, 2022 – aeSolutions, a consulting, engineering, and systems integration company that provides industrial process safety and automation products and services, today announced the release of an update to its FGS 1400 MK II Safety Instrumented Fire & Gas System (FGS) solution. Scalable for large industrial installations, the solution is designed to provide fire and gas protection based on a safety-rated control system. Available as a turnkey solution, the FGS 1400 MK II is pre-engineered, pre-configured, and pre-packaged, and is suitable for a wide variety of applications. The system has been updated to utilize Siemens process automation Simatic ET 200SP HA input/output (I/O) cards in place of existing I/O cards that are on Siemens’ mature product list and are being phased out. To ensure continuity of operations, the update will provide existing aeSolutions clients with an upgrade path to maintain their existing FGS 1400 MK II products. As the update is rolled out, aeSolutions can supply migration fabrication kits that will enable end users to easily migrate to the ET 200SP HA I/O cards. Moving forward, aeSolutions’ product lines will only offer the new ET 200SP HA I/O cards in the FGS 1400 products. “When spare parts are no longer available, this important update to the FGS 1400 MK II provides a migration path to future aeSolutions’ product lines that will only offer the new ET 200SP HA I/O cards,” said Warren Johnson, senior project manager at aeSolutions. “Our customers come from a range of sectors and include companies in the oil and gas, chemical, pharmaceutical, agricultural chemical, and hydrogen production industries. Businesses with a need for industrial-grade fire and gas systems look to aeSolutions to offer products that meet and exceed industry standards and expectations. While not all fire and gas systems are required to conform to ISA and IEC safety standards, our customers recognize the benefits of such a high-reliability system even for lower-risk applications. aeSolutions is proud to continue to set the standard by providing our customers with superior, up-to-date products.” As the premier solution for fire and gas alarm and control, the FGS 1400 MK II can be built on demand and combines required functionality into the latest generation of TÜV-certified safety programmable logic controller (PLC). The FGS 1400 MK II was designed to the same levels of safety availability and reliability as the systems that aeSolutions designs for Safety Instrumented Systems (SIS). By using the latest generation of a safety integration level (SIL) 3 safety-certified PLC as the logic solver, the FGS 1400 MK II provides the same demanding levels of performance required by the International Society of Automation (ISA) and International Electrotechnical Commission (IEC) safety standards for safety-critical applications. Additionally, the FGS 1400 MK II meets Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) requirements for fire protection, has Nationally Recognized Testing Laboratory (NRTL) certification for fire and gas, and is Factory Mutual (FM)-approved to be in conformance with the requirements of the National Fire Protection Association (NFPA) 72 and FM 3010 standards for fire alarming and mitigation control. The FGS 1400 MK II has also been FM-approved to be in conformance with FM Approvals’ Combustible Gas Standard 6320, Toxic Gas Detection Standard 6340, and American National Standards Institute (ANSI)/ISA 12.13.01 Performance Requirements for Combustible Gas Detectors standard. The FGS 1400 MK II has approval for either simplex or redundant processors, a variety of I/O configurations, including remote I/O, and a battery back-up/ charger subsystem. A critical component of the system is an FM-approved secondary power supply system consisting of a charger panel and an associated self-contained battery system. To support system design, aeSolutions has developed an FM-approved battery sizing tool that confirms the battery system design based on the specific requirements of each application. By using the same hardware/software platform as the Siemens Simatic PCS7 series, the FGS 1400 MK II can be integrated into the entire plant system solution. It offers the advantages of common Human Machine Interfaces (HMIs), spare parts, training, engineering/configuration tools, maintenance, and procedures to produce a dramatic saving in both installed costs as well as lifecycle costs. For more information about aeSolutions’ FGS products, visit https://www.aesolutions.com/fire-gas-products. About aeSolutions In business since 1998, aeSolutions is a consulting, engineering, and systems integration company that provides industrial process safety and automation products and services. They specialize in helping industrial clients achieve their risk management and operational excellence goals through expertise in process safety, combustion control and safeguarding, safety instrumented systems, control system design and integration, alarm management, and related operations and integrity management systems. For more information, visit www.aesolutions.com. Media Contact Kari Walker for aeSolutions Kari@redironpr.com @KariWalkerPR

(and where picking safety integrity levels on burner management systems makes sense) Safety is always a primary concern at any industrial site, and for good reason. But how much should you pay for that safety? While that question may have seemed blasphemous in days gone by, in today’s highly competitive business environment, unnecessary costs of any kind cannot be tolerated – and that includes safety instrumented systems, of which burner management systems are one type. Businesses want to optimize every dollar spent and maximize every dollar in return. A right sized safety system delivers the right amount of protection that a facility needs, requiring only the amount of money that can deliver the most risk reduction. This line of thinking becomes especially relevant when trying to identify the correct amount of risk reduction for a legacy burner management system. Selection of an overly conservative replacement system following prescriptive standards can have significant cost impact often without significant additional risk reduction over a BMS that is chosen based on valid safety integrity level selection techniques. The costs associated with upgrading according to prescriptive requirements typically originate from the significant mechanical rework that is required. Sometimes the cost is so high that it doesn’t get management approval. This is where the red flags in the executive suites can start to rise as they start sensing unjustified cost escalations or unmitigated risk exposure. Yes, they want safety, but they want it in context of what they need – enough safety that makes the risk tolerable for the business. “Right sizing” your BMS starts from a good targeted risk assessment of the BMS and fired equipment operation. A good assessment is the one that has a reasonably accurate estimate of likelihood and consequence. If the estimated likelihood is too frequent, or the consequence too severe, the safety integrity level (SIL) target may be set too high. This will result in an overly conservative and unnecessarily expensive system. On the other hand, if the consequence or likelihood is judged too low, the facility’s risks may not be adequately reduced. This also exposes the business to risks that could be ruinous; risks that the business is trying to mitigate. At the same time, the system design also needs to be consistent for similarly situated, similar types of fired equipment. The current prevalent techniques of assessing risk needs to be paired with the right amount of empirically backed experience to achieve this. This is where it pays to have a competent engineering partner that can help calibrate and deliver a right sized solution. Find more info on our Fired Equipment Services Page.

Company to Showcase New Machinery Safety Line of Service at the 2022 South Carolina Manufacturing Conference and Expo Greenville, SC – September 20, 2022 – aeSolutions, a consulting, engineering and systems integration company that provides industrial process safety and automation products and services, today announced that the company will be presenting and exhibiting at the 2022 Mary Kay O’Connor Safety & Risk Conference. Sponsored by the Mary Kay O’Connor Safety Center and Texas A&M Engineering Experiment Station (TEES), the conference will be held at the Texas A&M Hotel Conference Center in College Station, Texas, from October 5-7. The conference offers attendees the opportunity to join more than 500 researchers and industry representatives from around the world to share the latest innovations and developments in process safety. In attendance from aeSolutions will be Process Safety Management Senior Specialist Jesse Brumbaugh, PE; and SIS Engineering Principle Specialist Keith Brumbaugh, CFSE, PE. Several representatives from the company will present at this year’s event. aeSolutions will present “Applying Risk-Based Process Safety and ISA/IEC 61511 to Utilities Units: Today’s Approach to Yesterday’s Equipment”; Jesse Brumbaugh will present on his whitepaper topic “Understanding Flammable Mist Explosion Hazards”; and Keith Brumbaugh will speak on his whitepaper, “A Tale of Two BPCS Credits - A Bayesian Case Study”. WHAT: 2022 Mary Kay O’Connor Safety & Risk Conference WHO: Jesse Brumbaugh, PE SESSION: Fire & Explosion PRESENTATION: 39 - Understanding Flammable Mist Explosion Hazards DATE AND TIME: 10/5/2022, 9:30 AM aeSolutions Team SESSION: Reactive Chemicals & Frontiers of Safety PRESENTATION: 49 - Applying Risk-Based Process Safety and ISA/IEC 61511 to Utilities Units DATE AND TIME: 10/5/2022, 3:30 PM Keith Brumbaugh, CFSE, PE SESSION: Instrumentation PRESENTATION: 81 - A Tale of Two BPCS Credits - A Bayesian Case Study DATE AND TIME: 10/6/2022, 3:30 PM WHERE: Texas A&M Hotel Conference Center in College Station, Texas, Booth 6 WHEN: October 5-7, 2022 REGISTRATION: https://mkosymposium.tamu.edu/registration/ To arrange a meeting with a member of the aeSolutions team at the conference, contact info@aesolutions.com. About aeSolutions In business since 1998, aeSolutions is a consulting, engineering, and systems integration company that provides industrial process safety and automation products and services. They specialize in helping industrial clients achieve their risk management and operational excellence goals through expertise in process safety, combustion control and safeguarding, safety instrumented systems, control system design and integration, alarm management, and related operations and integrity management systems. For more information, visit www.aesolutions.com. Media Contact RedIron PR for aeSolutions kari@redironpr.com

Client Success Model Guides Clients Throughout Entire Project Lifecycle Greenville, SC –September 8th, 2022 – aeSolutions, a consulting, engineering, and systems integration company, today announced the launch of the company’s Client Success Model, which will be managed by the newly formed Project Development team. The Client Success Model is a relationship-focused business strategy designed to help clients achieve their goals while using aeSolutions’ products and services to drive their success. Under the Client Success Model, aeSolutions’ Project Development team will guide clients to drive project development throughout the entire project lifecycle, from concept to go-live. As the Project Development team’s understanding of each client’s objectives and obstacles grows, the value of aeSolutions’ guidance will grow. Benefits derived from the Client Success Model include: A collaborative approach with each client’s team to drive project development from early engagement A strategy that ensures an understanding of client objectives for optimum-value alignment of aeSolutions’ products and services Early identification and removal of obstacles to the client’s success Highest possible alignment between the client’s objectives and the Project Execution teams “At aeSolutions, we are humbled by our role as a trusted guide for our clients’ success,” said Ken O’Malley, aeSolutions co-founder and president. “With our Project Development team, senior leadership is completely committed to the Client Success Model. We are excited to begin formally offering this unique service to our new and existing clients.” "We are committed to growing value for all aeSolutions stakeholders while continuously focusing on the customer. At aeSolutions, we are known for our ability to engage with clients from the very beginning, conceptual stages of projects all the way through to the delivery of incredibly complex, engineered solutions. I am proud to be part of a company that offers complete project solutions built on trusted expertise, and that endeavors to understand clients’ needs in a way that ensures client success.” About aeSolutions In business since 1998, aeSolutions is a consulting, engineering, and systems integration company that provides industrial process safety and automation products and services. They specialize in helping industrial clients achieve their risk management and operational excellence goals through expertise in process safety, combustion control and safeguarding, safety instrumented systems, control system design and integration, alarm management, and related operations and integrity management systems. For more information, visit www.aesolutions.com. Media Contact RedIron PR for aeSolutions kari@redironpr.com

A hazard scenario-based, drill-down audit can uncover systematic issues brewing beneath the surface not often uncovered from a traditional compliance audit. This methodology exposes the pain points and, most importantly, the sources of those points by digging deep into the management system processes around Process Hazard Analysis (PHA)/Layer of Protection Analysis (LOPA), Process Safety Information (PSI), Mechanical Integrity, Operating Procedures, and Management of Change (MOC). The audit findings provide a basis for revising the work flow to achieve the risk management objectives. A drill-down audit focuses on a trail that begins with the PHA/LOPA and the credited Independent Protection Layers (safeguards), then drills down through the management systems to ensure their integrity.  It checks the health of communications and data exchanged at the interfaces of the processes and the people. This approach provides visibility – and proof – into whether the information in the PHA/LOPA has been fully integrated into the process safety lifecycle. The audit methodology validates IPLs (Independent Protection Layers) are embedded in an organization’s operating discipline, meet all defined criteria, are inspected and tested, and are functioning as intended. The following are examples of a drill down audit trail for an Alarm IPL: A review of the PHA/LOPA should verify the operator, alarm sensor, and final elements used by the operator are independent of the Initiating Event and other IPLs for the scenario. A review of PSI would confirm alarm sensors are maintained on the critical IPL list and on the piping and instrumentation diagram; sensor data sheet and final elements are in place; and the basis for the Probability of Failure on Demand is well documented. Review of the mechanical integrity information should verify calibration and proof test procedures are available; testing, calibration and inspections are scheduled at a routine frequency; and calibration and proof test records are reviewed, actioned if required, and maintained.   The auditor interviews maintenance employees to see if they recognize the criticality of the alarm loop, it’s inspection and reliability. The auditor must confirm the alarm, along with consequences of deviation, intended operator action, and specific parameters/authorization for bypass of the alarm are documented in the appropriate operating procedures. The auditor confirms that the operator is formally trained on the alarm and the intended actions, but most importantly interviews operators to check their experience and intended action in the event they get an alarm. Much like a standard compliance audit, the auditor will also need to track a MOC to determine if changes to the alarms credited as IPLs are managed appropriately. Finally, the auditor needs to check the security of the IPL; its access control and with increasing emphasis it’s cyber security. Ultimately, organization’s need to ensure their hazardous processes are being operated within accepted risk tolerance and have a sense of assurance they are effectively managing their risks, identifying pain points, and relieving any undue pressure.

Greenville, SC – October 28, 2021 – aeSolutions, a consulting, engineering, and systems integration company, is excited to announce the release of aeAlarm, a proprietary alarm rationalization tool. aeAlarm is control system platform-agnostic and is adaptable across all industrial sectors. It is effective for projects of all types and sizes, including small project rationalizations and large site-wide efforts. Additionally, the tool creates a platform to compile process safety information and generates customized reports and tables to expedite data tracking for site specific Key Performance Indicators (KPIs). Poor alarm management has been a critical factor in major process safety incidents throughout history. With the introduction of aeAlarm, rationalization teams have easy access to customized templates and dropdowns for severities and maximum time to respond, along with automatic population of alarm priority. aeAlarm processes unique tags one by one and allows the user to fill in consequences, causes, and operator actions. User-defined data fields can be added to incorporate site-specific requirements while maintaining compliance with the recommended documentation described in IEC 62682 and ISA/ANSI 18.2. The template feature allows users to create a rationalization spreadsheet with fields similar to the site’s alarm list. These fields can be filtered to facilitate a consistent rationalization of similar points such as fire and gas, rate of change alarms, safety showers, etc. “aeAlarm, was created to support the alarm rationalization process by providing a clear and concise approach to critical alarm documentation,” said Sarah Manelick, a Principal Specialist at aeSolutions, ISA IC39C Course Instructor and member of the ISA 18 Committee. “Additionally, aeAlarm uses a unique-to-the-industry consequence-based rationalization methodology that is much faster than legacy tag-based methods. This approach leaves more time for implementation and advanced alarm design techniques which together even further improves overall process safety performance.” aeSolutions offers comprehensive Alarm Management Services, including: · Alarm Philosophy Development · Gap Assessment of existing Alarm Philosophy · Alarm Management and Rationalization Training · Facilitation of Alarm Rationalizations using aeAlarm · Alarm Management Program Gap Assessments aeSolutions’ alarm management services help customers improve the performance of their alarm systems and increase the situational awareness of their operators. aeSolutions’ clients recognize there is a direct relationship between the implementation of effective alarm management techniques and the process safety performance of their plant. About aeSolutions In business since 1998, aeSolutions is a consulting, engineering and systems integration company that provides industrial process safety and automation products and services. They specialize in helping industrial clients achieve their risk management and operational excellence goals through expertise in process safety, combustion control and safeguarding, safety instrumented systems, control system design and integration, alarm management, and related operations and integrity management systems. For more information, visit www.aesolutions.com. Kari Walker for aeSolutions Kari@redironpr.com @KariWalkerPR

by Kelvin Severin PE Time is constantly working against operating equipment in a plant. Over time, components of the equipment reach the end of their useful lifespan and need to be replaced. Manufacturers go out of business or are no longer producing parts for antiquated equipment. The technology advances, and new and improved standardized models are developed, causing components to become outdated or obsolete. Many processing facilities in the United States were built decades ago and have never been upgraded. Maintaining aging equipment can be a challenge as parts for the old equipment are often no longer available or very expensive. For example, the manufacturer may no longer exist, or they may no longer produce the parts, or the components do not meet the newest revision of a regulatory standard. If aging equipment is not managed properly in relation to its expected lifespan, it can result in avoidable safety incidents, or maintenance and reliability issues. Most equipment has a specified life expectancy and pushing it beyond its useful life can put an operating facility at risk. Some older systems and instrumentation do not have the technology for diagnostics and therefore have no ability to query or troubleshoot the operating issue, resulting in extended shutdowns. Additionally, companies may face a loss of production and revenue in the event of mechanical issues with a piece of antiquated operating equipment, systems, or instrumentation that causes the process to go offline. A cost-effective first step to address aging equipment is a conceptual level screening checklist, that evaluates equipment systematically to identify deficiencies in the components. Facilities may be unaware of serious issues, and this checklist allows companies to make informed decisions and prioritize potential upgrades to aging equipment. This applies to both long-standing operating facilities as well as companies who recently purchased an existing facility, as they may not recognize the condition of all assets and/or older equipment they acquired. Refer to the aeSolutions blog, “Prioritizing Fired Equipment Upgrades Using Screening Checklists,” for further detail: https://www.aesolutions.com/post/prioritizing-fired-equipment-upgrades-using-screening-checklists After identifying areas of improvement, a plan can be developed for replacing the obsolete components that are approaching the end of their useful life. This plan should assess the safety concerns, mechanical concerns, and operational risks to the facility. It should also include a timeline for how soon the antiquated components should be replaced. The best replacement option is provided with qualities such as reliability and resilience to assure a long lifespan, aligning with regulatory codes, and adaptability to future system upgrades installed at the facility. Every facility should review its equipment to verify its life expectancy and ensure it is safe and reliable for continued operation. Suppose a facility is unable to find replacement parts or utilizes replacement parts sourced outside of the normal supply chain from the manufacturer to adapt to the existing system. In that case, this short-term solution could potentially perpetuate the mechanical and reliability issues. A conceptual level screening checklist can assess the status of aging equipment components, and proactive replacement measures can be taken to create a system of longevity and resilience going forward. Keywords: Obsolescence, Resilience, Robust, Outdated, Antiquated equipment, NFPA 85, NFPA 86, NFPA 87