Plastics, chemicals and refining company LyondellBasell teams up with the American Institute of Chemical Engineers (AIChE) to teach college professors from around the world about process safety so they can in turn better prepare their students for entering the chemical industry. LyondellBasell hosted an industry-led faculty workshop at its Houston Engineering Center January 9-11 as part of AIChE’s Undergraduate Process Safety Learning Initiative, which brings chemical engineering faculty to industry-led workshops that teach them how to incorporate process safety training into their curriculum.
Last year, LyondellBasell reportedly donated $750,000 to the AIChE Foundation to support the organization's Undergraduate Process Safety Learning Initiative, a multi-pronged initiative that will define how the next generation of chemical engineers are prepared to enter the workforce. The initiative is a global effort and core priority of the AIChE Foundation's Doing a World of Good campaign, which focuses on bringing chemical engineering expertise to bear for the good of society. LyondellBasell is part of the campaign's Founders' Circle and has made a major commitment to the process safety learning initiative, according to the company.
More than 30 engineering professors from 16 colleges and universities, including seven Middle Eastern universities, reportedly attended the workshop to learn how process safety is put into industrial practice and the importance of process safety to the design and operation of chemical and refining plants. LyondellBasell safety experts led the workshop and reviewed safety best practices and industry case studies with the faculty members. Additionally, visiting professors toured LyondellBasell manufacturing sites to see how process safety solutions are implemented in real life so that these practices can be shared in the classroom.
Some of the topics covered in the workshop included loss prevention strategy, hazard identification methods and risk assessment, dispersion and consequence modeling, inherently safe design, and evaluating the availability of safeguards.
For more information, visit: www.lyondellbasell.com
