Frank G. Bercha, DSc., PhD, PEng. Principal Engineer

Dr. Bercha provides principal engineering services on projects requiring technical specialization in risk and reliability, integrated human factors and reliability, advanced statistical methods, as well as offshore engineering, pipeline engineering, and constructability for unique conditions. In the last 3 decades, he has directed numerous risk assessment projects supporting land use planning in Alberta, including the risk mapping and risk based setback guidelines establishment for the City of Edmonton in year 2000. He has served as chair of the ISO WG8 Technical Panel 2a developing international standards for Arctic offshore operations safety and reliability, and actively participates in various national and international professional technical societies. He has authored over 150 refereed publications, presented these at various national and international conferences, and has written and published two books: Risk Analysis Methods and Applications and Building Safety Architecture, which are currently available on Amazon and Xlibris publishers. His general background includes over 50-years varied engineering experience involving project management, probabilistic analysis, design, resident engineering, geomatics, Arctic research, teaching, technology transfer, and expert consulting and testimony. Principal project applications include risk based land use planning, offshore structures in open water and marine ice and iceberg populated waters, exploratory drilling, offshore oil and gas facilities, emergency response probabilistic modelling, hydrocarbon pipelines, road, marine, and air transportation systems, and power generation facilities in North America and worldwide. Dr. Bercha is experienced in polar, temperate, and equatorial onshore and offshore environments, with extensive experience throughout Canada, US-Alaska, Gulf, and California locations, and the Russian Arctic. Dr. Bercha has also carried out projects in south-east Asia, Australia, South America, and Europe. As president of the Bercha Group since 1975, and previous experience as a Project Manager at Acres Consulting Services 1972-1975, he has substantial experience in project management, finance, negotiation, technical writing and presentations, and business development.

Dr Bercha completed his PhD (Civil Engineering, Probabilistic Structural Mechanics) at the University of Calgary in 1972, preceded by his 1963 BASc at the University of British Columbia. More recently, in 2012, he completed a DSc in Architecture (Building Safety Architecture) by correspondence at the Atlantic International University. He is a registered engineer in Alberta, Saskatchewan, and BC, and has been registered in Ontario, Nova Scotia, and Newfoundland as well as in Texas and California. Dr Bercha has been the principal engineer and president of the Bercha Group since 1975. Additionally, he has served as principal engineer or project manager for over 400 engineering and risk assessment projects over a 50-year period in Canada and internationally. He has had responsibility for up to 150 employees and subcontract personnel in national and international locations while the Bercha Group consisted of several multi-national companies in Canada, USA, Colombia, Malaysia, and Indonesia.

 Hugh Allen, BSc., PEng. Project Engineer

Hugh Allen is a senior Project and Pipeline Engineer with over 50 years experience in management, design, operations, public communications, safety and risk management in oil and gas projects. In the last 20 years, he has specialized in risk management working with the Bercha Group on numerous risk analysis projects for rezoning, public safety, land use controls, code requirements, and other specialized areas of risk management and engineering.  . He completed his BSc in Mining Engineering at University of Alberta in 1974 and is a member of APEGA.  He worked for ATCO Pipelines for 32 years and has designed several High Pressure gas transmission pipelines in the Edmonton area and was Manager of Construction for 9 years for both in-house and Contract construction.  He was the ATCO representative, from 1985 to 2006, on several CSA committees including the Technical Committee on Pipeline Design and Materials.  As Group Leader, Projects he was responsible for the Project Management of all projects over $1M, and later developed the ATCO Pipelines Integrity Management Plan. After retirement from ATCO he worked for Enbridge as Manager, Risk and Schedule on Alberta Clipper (2000 km of 36” pipeline and facilities at $5 billion) and Woodland Pipeline Project (150 km of 36” in Northern Alberta).  He was the subject matter expert for the Enbridge Pipeline Construction Computer Training Program.  He has worked with Bercha Group on projects with ATCO and Enbridge and then as Assistant Project Manager for Bercha Group on the City of Edmonton Planning Department project to develop setback guidelines for residential, industrial and energy development in Clover Bar Industrial, Southeast Industrial, and Horsehills Industrial areas as well as the other areas of the City. 

 Milan Cerovsek, BSc, MSc, PEng. Senior Engineering Specialist

Milan Cerovsek has over 40 years  experience in risk and reliability engineering in a variety of transportation, oil and gas, offshore production, aeronautical, and civil and municipal projects with emphasis on engineering reliability, risk analysis, economics, and statistical methods. He completed his BSc. in mechanical engineering in 1983, and MSc in mechanical engineering in the area of reliability analysis at the University of Belgrade in his native Yugoslavia. He is a member of APEGA, and has participated in over 50 projects primarily in risk assessment with the Bercha Group since their association began in 1993. He has been responsible for the development of fault tree, event tree, and computer simulation models, including probabilistic and Monte Carlo simulation algorithms, for risk, reliability, and cost-benefit assessments. Major projects in which he has participated have included the EER systems and human performance reliability analysis including computer simulation of human performance in emergency conditions for Transport Canada, the Sable Offshore Energy Project Safety Case, and risk assessments of various pipeline and multi-modal transportation systems. In the year 2000 he was responsible for conducting the calculations and participating in the risk contour mapping of the City of Edmonton. He has also done economic risk and cost-benefit analyses for transportation systems, offshore projects, pipelines, and multi-modal systems. He has authored or co-authored over 20 national and international technical publications, and numerous project reports. His general engineering experience includes design of mechanical systems, avionics, risk and reliability analysis, HAZID and HAZOP’s, ergonomic simulation, and project management.

John Morrall, PhD, PEng, Senior Transportation Engineer

Dr. Morrall is adjunct professor of Civil Engineering at the University of Calgary and provides specialist transportation consulting services to the Bercha Group. Following graduation from Carleton University in 1966, he was employed as a Transportation Engineer with the Metropolitan Toronto and Region Transportation Study and the Department of Highways of Ontario. He joined the University of Calgary after completing his Ph.D. at the University of Waterloo. He was a visiting fellow at the Australian Road Research Board in 1984 and 1985. In 1996 he was a visiting professor at the School of Mountain Highway Engineering at the National University of San Juan, Argentina. His research and professional interests include all aspects of the planning, design, and economics of rural and urban highways. In particular, his highway interests have focused on rural two-lane highways. He has been on project teams evaluating the need for and location of passing lanes in Alberta, B.C., the Mountain National Parks, Saskatchewan, Ontario, Montana and California. Other projects of note have included risk assessments for posted, FLB, gated, and other typical level road-railway crossings (with Bercha), assessment of risks and operational impacts of natural gas pipelines in road right of ways (with Bercha), an investigation of side friction demanded and margin of safety on horizontal curves, a study of long combination vehicles on two-lane highways, development of slow moving vehicle model for Highway 63, and determination of passenger car equivalents for recreational vehicles for Alberta Transportation and Utilities. Studies for Parks Canada have included development of a system of passing lanes for the Trans-Canada Highway, Kootenay Parkway and the Icefields Parkway in the Mountain National Parks. Also for Parks Canada he developed a traffic management plan for traffic control during avalanche stabilization in Rogers Pass. He is a registered professional engineer in Alberta, British Columbia and Ontario, a member of numerous national and international professional societies, including the Transportation Association of Canada, and has published or presented over 80 papers in his areas of specialization. He has worked as a subcontractor with the Bercha Group on numerous transportation risk assessment and feasibility projects, including TIA’s of proposed subdivision re-zonings in the Calgary area and development permit risk assessments in the Edmonton area and Regina involving Dangerous Goods road risks.