Roles and Responsibilities of a Process Technician

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In 1994, the American Chemical Society sponsored a project called Foundations for Excellence in the Chemical Process Industries. The goal of the project was to develop voluntary industry standards for chemical process industry technical workers (laboratory and process technicians). The ACS has been supported in this research by a wide array of community, industrial, and educational institutions. The standards developed under this project were designed to assist educators in curriculum development, instructional strategies, and chemical and process technology program design. 

The standards developed by the ACS identify the knowledge and skills that process technicians need when they begin work in a manufacturing environment. This identification of standards is part of a much larger grassroots movement toward the development of two structured professions laboratory and process technician. These two professions have developed in response to the technology revolution. 

Employers are requiring prospective employees to have one or more of the following (1) formal training, (2) state-approved certification, (3) a technical degree, (4) experience, (5) satisfactory scores on a preemployment test, or (6) a combination of these attributes. The chemical processing industry and various educational institutions have entered into formal partnerships to facilitate the technical training of employees. 

The key reasons driving the development of these technical programs are (1) rapid advances in technology, (2) desire to eliminate accidents in the workplace, (3) potential catastrophic risks, and (4) new regulations and guidelines from the government. The Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) recently enacted a process safety management (PSM) standard that requires employers to train their employees on process fundamentals. This standard applies to initial certification and recertification of employees. (See Chapter 2 for more details on the PSM standard.) 

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Handling stress, conflict, cultural diversity, and sexual harassment are all important aspects of a process technician sjob. The people who make up the workforce within a plant are typically diverse and well educated. Diversity training identifies and reduces hidden biases between people with differences. Work relationships can be expected to last as long as 35 to 40 years, so it is important to fit in on your unit. Understanding your assignments, multiple roles, and responsibilities and contributing to the overall team effort is important to a successful work career. 

Because of the sophistication of new automated control systems and the complexity of the growing list of responsibilities, the requirements for a process employee changed. No longer can they be someone who could come in off the street without training or experience and be trained for the job in a few days or even a few weeks. The fact that operators, instrumentation technicians, and analyzer technicians are now more frequently referred to as technicians implies a change in their roles. The definition of technical is having special or practical knowledge of a mechanical or scientific subject. 

Process technicians play a major role in the production and manufacturing of chemicals They operate and maintain the systems that combine raw materials and modern reaction technology to form new products. The foundation upon which this industry rests is modern chemistry. As noted earlier in this chapter, chemistry s the study of the characteristics or structure of elements and the changes that take place when they combine to form other substances. A reactor is designed to make or break chemical bonds, thereby changing the molecular structure of raw materials. In short, a reactor is a device used to convert raw materials into useful products through chemical reactions. Process operators are responsible for the safe and efficient operation of the reactor and its associated equipment. 

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