Process Safety in Engineering Education - Pro's and Con's of Different Approaches

• Published in: Chemical engineering transactions 2016-01, Vol.48
• Main Author: Ulrich Krause
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• ISSN: 2283-9216
• DOI: 10.3303/CET1648146

At some universities process engineering graduates quit having heard little or even nothing about process safety. Consequently, in their professional live they have two options to tackle process safety issues: training on-the-job or leaving process safety issues entirely to specialists or external consultants. Firstly, the question arises what might be an "optimum" level of safety-related knowledge to be taken up during chemical and process engineering university programmes. Secondly, the professional profile of the Health, Safety and Environment (HSE) Manager is discussed. HSE managers in industry have to cover a wide range of different items ranging from occupational safety and health to hazardous materials management and environmental protection including even legal problems. Hence, they have to be all-rounders with a good engineering background, but inevitably they will have limited knowledge concerning details of process safety. In this case the question is, if this professional profile is matching the needs of an increasingly specialised production. Thirdly, there is a need of a - certainly not excessive - number of specialists in process safety with in-depth knowledge on hazard analysis, risk and consequences assessment, safety data testing and design and application of protection measures. Currently, such experts - at least as far as Germany is concerned - are not available right after graduation. The author discusses the different strategies how the demands of the three options mentioned can be considered in process engineering university programmes. Special emphasis is given to an education profile provided by ProcessNet some years ago, to the consecutive bachelor and master program "Safety and Hazard Defence" offered (in German language) cooperatively at the two universities in Magdeburg, Germany, and to a new master programme in English language under development. The paper also highlights eleven years of experience with the course offered in German and the feedback from former graduates.