Graduates’ Competency in Essential Process Safety Topics Required in the Downstream Industry

Document Type : Research Article

Authors

Petroleum and Chemical Engineering Programme Area, Faculty of Engineering, Universiti Teknologi Brunei, Tungku Highway, Gadong BE1410, BRUNEI DARUSSALAM

Abstract

One of the strategies to mitigate industrial accidents is by developing competent engineers in process safety where graduates play an important role. This research investigates the essential process safety topics in the downstream industry and determines graduates’ competency on these topics via a survey questionnaire. Responses from students, graduates, and employees with chemical engineering and process safety backgrounds are analyzed. Fire prevention and protection and management topics i.e., hazard and risk management and process safety management, are ranked with the highest importance. On the other hand, asset integrity and reliability, economics, process control, software, toxicology, and risk management are the top graduates’ knowledge that dissatisfied the employees. The connection between these topics depicts students are unable to visualize the relations due to lack of industrial operation exposure thus they underestimate its importance for process safety in the industry. To mitigate this gap, direct learning with industry and personnel is commonly highlighted by participants.

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