Safety resources Engineers

The AIChE s Center for Chemical Process Safety has a wide variety of process safety resources. The Center for Chemical Process Safety (CCPS) was established to focus on engineering and management practices that will prevent or mitigate catastrophic process safety accidents. The CCPS has a dynamic program of publications, seminars, training courses, and research. Some topics will be covered briefly here, but for the most up-to-date information, visit www.ccps aiche.org. 

The AIChE was formed in 1908. It is the world s leading organization for chemical engineering professionals with over 45,000 members located in over 100 coimtries. The AIChE provides a global network, support, and technical information for chemical engineering practitioners, academia, governmental employees, and other specialists. However in this context, we must focus on the Center for Chemical Process Safety (CCPS) for the process safety resources. 

The safety and health function impacts virtually every function within a company or organization, and the safety and health professional does not work solely within a safety and health cocoon. There are safety and health components involved in virtually every aspect of every issue that arises within the operations. Each and every law or regulation has a direct or indirect impact on the safety and health function. Safety and health impact production, quality, environment, human resources, engineering, and virtually every department or function in any operation. The primary reason for this integration by the safety and health function is the interaction with the personnel within and outside of the operations. 

A toller may need to use resources outside their company to measure physical properties, conduct safety or other testing, engineer changes to piping or other facilities and equipment. This need frequently occurs for products in the initial development or commercialization stage. The toller should maintain confidentiality agreements with their suppliers and subcontractors commensurate with the proprietary nature of their client companies processes. Provision to allow disclosure of information to third parties should be addressed in the contract between the toller and the client. It may be structured so that the client must approve the toller s release of information to third parties. 

The American Institute of Chemical Engineers (AIChE) has a 30-year history of involvement with process safety for chemical processing plants. Through its strong ties with process designers, builders, operators, safety professionals and academia, the AIChE has enhanced communication and fostered improvement in the high safety standards of the industry. AIChE publications and symposia have become an information resource for the chemical engineering profession on the causes of accidents and means of prevention. 

In some cases equipment suppliers and tradenames are noted, however these citations should not be considered an endorsement of products or services. They are cited strictly for illustrative purposes. Also recognize, that neither I, nor the publisher guarantee any designs emanating from the use of resources or discussions presented herein. Final designs must be based upon strict adherence to local engineering codes, and federal safety and environmental compliance standards. 

For over 30 years the American Institute of Chemical Engineers (AIChE) has been involved with process safety and loss control issues in the chemical, petrochemical, hydrocarbon process and related industries and facilities. AIChE publications and symposia are information resources for the chemical engineering and other professions on the causes of process incidents and the means of preventing their occurrences and mitigating their consequences. 

Given the breadth of activities that management systems address, there will almost certainly be variations in how they are applied. For example, the system your company s human resources department uses to recruit and hire new employees will probably differ in form and structure from Central Engineerings system for safety design. However, by analyzing some representative management systems you can arrive at some broad common traits. 

The other global dimension of the systems approach is the need for the existence of policies which address human factors issues at senior levels in the company. This implies that senior management realizes that resources spent on programs to reduce error will be as cost-effective as investments in engineered safety systems. 

The EPA should also consider creating a national "Center for Engineering Research on Environmental Protection and Process Safety" that would provide both unique state-of-the-art laboratory facilities and computational resources to chemical and process engineering researchers from academia, federal laboratories, and industry. 

A specialty of geology concerned with earth processes, earth resources, and engineering properties of earth materials and relevant to (1) the protection of human health and natural ecosystems from adverse biochemical and/or geochemical reactions to naturally occurring chemicals or to chemical compounds released into the environment by human activities and (2) the protection of life, safety, and well-being of humans from natural processes, such as floods, hurricanes, earthquakes and landslides, through land-use planning. 

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