Advancing Industrial Health and Process Safety in Chemical Engineering

Advancing Industrial Health and Process Safety in Chemical Engineering   

Henry Y. Wang

Department of Chemical Engineering

The University of Michigan

Ann Arbor, Michigan 48109.

    The chemical and other relevant processing industries represent a significant contribution to the global economy. Companies engaged in this business sector produce a wide variety of products, including LNG, gasoline, paper, explosives, plastics, fertilizer, cement, drugs, health supplements, food products, glass, soap, ceramics, and various petrochemicals. Many facilities in these companies handle hazardous/toxic materials and manage significant amounts of fuels and energy. Despite the chemical processing industry has one of the best safety records of all manufacturing sectors, the fact remains that when something goes wrong in this industry, it can have catastrophic consequences. This lecture is to give an overview of various elements in a well established Process Safety Management (PSM) program with a main focus on the identification of potential hazards and hazardous conditions associated with the processes and equipment involved in the chemical processing industries. These include methods of predicting the possible severity of the associated hazards and propose means to prevent, control or mitigate them. Techniques for performing process hazard analysis, risk assessment, and accident prevention that can be applied in an academic learning environment will also be discussed.