(403b) An Initiative on Safety across the Chemical Engineering Curriculum Scott Fogler

Sometimes chemical process safety is taught in a separate safety course within the
chemical engineering curriculum, and sometimes it is taught only in the senior year as a
part of the process design course. The purpose of this initiative is to provide faculty and
students with real case studies and resources so that process safety can be more
effectively and easily learned throughout the curriculum and become an integral part of
chemical engineering culture.
To achieve this culture, safety modules have been developed to be used as homework
problems in every core chemical engineering lecture course (http://umich.edu/~safeche/).
Each module consists of viewing a Chemical Safety Board Video, filling out an analysis
of the accident, doing a course specific calculation, assigning the NFPA symbols and
filling out a Bow Tie Diagram for the accident. For example, in the chemical reaction
engineering course, the T2 laboratories accident and the ExxonMobil Refinery Fire are
examples presented and analyzed. In addition to the core lecture courses, six video
snippets (2-5 minutes each) on Laboratory Safety are included on the website.
In addition to the modules, tutorials are given on such things as the NFPA diamond, the
Bow Tie Diagram, the Fire Triangle, the Process Safety Triangle and A Safety Analysis
of the Incident. The solutions to the homework problems are also given on the website,
but instructors will have to email the author to receive the password to enter the solutions.
The website is free and accessible to all.Sometimes chemical process safety is taught in a separate safety course within the
chemical engineering curriculum, and sometimes it is taught only in the senior year as a
part of the process design course. The purpose of this initiative is to provide faculty and
students with real case studies and resources so that process safety can be more
effectively and easily learned throughout the curriculum and become an integral part of
chemical engineering culture.
To achieve this culture, safety modules have been developed to be used as homework
problems in every core chemical engineering lecture course (http://umich.edu/~safeche/).
Each module consists of viewing a Chemical Safety Board Video, filling out an analysis
of the accident, doing a course specific calculation, assigning the NFPA symbols and
filling out a Bow Tie Diagram for the accident. For example, in the chemical reaction
engineering course, the T2 laboratories accident and the ExxonMobil Refinery Fire are
examples presented and analyzed. In addition to the core lecture courses, six video
snippets (2-5 minutes each) on Laboratory Safety are included on the website.
In addition to the modules, tutorials are given on such things as the NFPA diamond, the
Bow Tie Diagram, the Fire Triangle, the Process Safety Triangle and A Safety Analysis
of the Incident. The solutions to the homework problems are also given on the website,
but instructors will have to email the author to receive the password to enter the solutions.
The website is free and accessible to all.