Sharing good practice in process safety teaching

Abstract

The teaching of safety is one of the most important and transferrable subjects in the undergraduate chemical engineering curriculum. However, whilst different institutions have a broadly similar approach to educating students in core topics such as transport processes, approaches to safety teaching are somewhat more variable. This paper describes, analyses and reflects on our approach to safety teaching. It was found that not only are the requirements for accreditation of the degree programme by the Institution of Chemical Engineers (IChemE) met, but the majority of the IChemE Safety Centre’s (ISC) recommendations are also covered. Student feedback on the 3rd year Safety and Loss Prevention (S&LP) module showed that the course has been consistently well received by the students, pointing to good course structure and coherence being a significant factor. Analysis of the outcomes of the 2020 final examination for S&LP, using Bloom’s taxonomy, supported existing plans to change the mode of assessment of S&LP to a significant coursework project. Finally, plans for a future revision of the S&LP module are presented to serve as one exemplar of good practice in safety teaching, which not only meets the requirements of the accrediting body and industry, but is also enjoyed by students.