As a permanent and most senior member of the ESReDA Bureau of Directors (BoD), Henri Procaccia is viewed as something of a sage by association members. Given that Henri’s experience in reliability and risk assessment stretches over four decades, along with his personal involvement with EUReDATA since its inception in 1973, it’s not surprising that he has achieved elder statesman status.

Alongside Cyp van Rijn and Hans Wingender, Henri was instrumental in the merging of EUReDATA and ESRRDA which took effect in 1992, and it is testament to his commitment to the association that Henri has retained the same level of enthusiasm that marked his days as the first vice chairman of ESReDA.

It was Henri who organised and hosted the first ESReDA seminar in the beautiful city of Chamonix, which was devoted to equipment ageing and maintenance. This was to be the first in a series of seminars on safety and maintenance, organised by Henri and his Electricité de France EDF colleagues in France.

Other included, Operational Safety (Lyon 1993), Maintenance and System Effectiveness (Chamonix 1994), Rotating and Machinery and Maintenance (Chamonix 1996), and Industrial Application of Structural Reliability, which was organized by a new ESReDA project group launched by Henri in 1997.

To mark the 30th birthday of EUReDATA/ESReDA, a Lifetime Management of Structures seminar was held in Paris in 2003. Recalls Henri: “I don’t know if it was the Paris charm or the French food and wine at the gala dinner, but I was elected Honorary Member of ESReDA”.

“When I retired from EDF at the end of 1990 decade,” explains Henri, “I took the charge of treasurer of ESReDA until now, staying on at the ESReDA BoD where I am now the oldest director at the age of 70.”