In 2012, ABET instituted the requirement for chemical engineering undergraduate programs to include in their curriculum “engineering applications of these sciences to the design, analysis and control of processes, including the hazards associated with these processes.” As a response, departments have either implemented a designated process safety course, or have integrated the process safety topics across the curriculum [1]. A combination of these two approaches is suggested to be the best solution as noted by Pintar [2], and follows best practices in integrated learning methods by reinforcing concepts in multiple courses that are all related.

In the Department of Chemical and Biological Engineering at Iowa State University, we have used this combination approach. We began implementing individual modules into some courses, such as Reaction Engineering, in 2009. A dedicated process safety course was introduced in 2012, and it has been a required course since the 2013-2014 academic year. In addition to this course, concepts in process safety are also addressed in the Unit Operations Laboratory, Process Dynamics and Control, and Process Design.

In this presentation, we will discuss how these courses work together to reinforce process safety concepts across the curriculum. The dedicated process safety course follows the material presented in Crowl and Louvar’s Chemical Process Safety text [3], while concepts such as government regulations, inherently safer design, and hazard identification are also discussed in the Process Design course. The Unit Operations lab addresses Job Safety Assessments, while the Process Dynamics and Control course addresses safety integrated systems, control logic related to safety, fault trees and probability of failure of safety functions.

References:

[1] Sean J. Dee, Brenton L. Cox, Russell A. Ogle, "Process Safety in the Classroom: The Current State of Chemical Engineering Programs at US Universities," Process Safety Progress, vol. 34, no. 4, pp. 316-319, 2015.
[2] A. J. Pintar, "Teaching chemical process safety: A separate course versus integration into existing courses," in ASEE Annual Meeting, Charlotte, NC, 1999.
[3] Daniel A. Crowl, Joseph F. Louvar, Chemical Process Safety: Fundamentals With Applications, 4th ed., Boston: Pearson, 2019.