Thought leaders from around the world came together to look at current global safety challenges and potential solutions in the areas of academia, industry, regulation and society-at-large. Their report, Process Safety for the 21st Century, was launched earlier this month at the 10th World Congress of Chemical Engineering (WCCE10) in Barcelona, Spain.
The report sets out a road map for the future of process safety as a discipline, in various areas of society. The Institution of Chemical Engineers (IChemE) Safety Centre led the project together with the Mary Kay O’Connor Process Safety Center (MKOPSC). It received input from contributors in the U.K., Europe, U.S., Asia and Australia – working as engineers, consultants, managers, regulators, academics, operators and senior executives. The report overwhelmingly addresses the issue of a growing population, taking inspiration from IChemE’s Chemical Engineering Matters policy document which sets out challenges for the chemical engineering profession in general.
According to the United Nations DESA report in 2015, the global population will reach 8.5 billion people by 2030, a 15% increase. This growth will generate further demand for food, water, energy and healthcare – and work is already being done in science and engineering to tackle the impact this will have on the planet. Process Safety for the 21st Century digs deeper in to the sustainable and responsible production of these resources, with the need for good process safety practices at the forefront.
For more information, visit: www.ichemesafetycentre.org
