(743a) Student Handbook for Process Safety

In its investigation report of the T2 Laboratory explosion, the U.S. Chemical Safety Board recommended that AIChE and the Accreditation Board for Engineering and Technology (ABET) modify the university chemical engineering curricula to increase awareness of chemical reactivity hazards.  In 2011, ABET approved new program criteria for accredited chemical engineering programs.  In part, the criteria includes “the engineering application of these basic sciences to the design, analysis, and control of chemical, physical, and/or biological processes, including the hazards associated with these processes.”  This criterion has been in effect since the fall of 2012.  All accredited chemical engineering programs must now include content addressing the hazards and control of the hazards of processes.

The Center for Chemical Process Safety (CCPS) has responded in part to this recommendation by initiating project #242, Student Handbook for Process Safety.   The scope of the book includes the development and evaluation of tools for application of process safety principles throughout the chemical engineering curricula.  It may also be used as a resource for a stand-alone process safety course.  The target audience is primarily chemical engineers at the junior and senior level and recent graduates new to industry.  It however can be applied to all engineering disciplines.  This paper will give an overview of the need to include process safety basics in university curricula and give details on the content and use of the book.