dr sam mannan can point to the exact moment when he first became aware of the importance of process safety while working at a desalination plant in 1978 shortly after graduating from college in bangladesh one day a boiler exploded sending a heavy piece of iron hurtling toward where he was standing missing him by only a few feet but it was close enough to rattle the young engineer another safety related incident the 1984 union carbide pesticide plants methyl isocyanate leak in bhopal india which killed thousands of people in the area and injured more than one million also made an impression on mannan at the time i still was young and didnt understand all the issues but over time i came to the realization that it was not just the fault of union carbide or even the industry but that the whole engineering profession had failed said mannan who is currently director of the mary kay oconnor process safety center i then looked into engineering history and found that engineering is about serving mankind and helping improve the standard of living of humanity this outlook eventually led him to college station and the texas a&m engineering experiment stations mary kay oconnor process safety center (mkopsc) the center was established by mike oconnor in 1995 in memory of his wife mary kay oconnor an operations superintendent killed in an explosion at the phillips petroleum complex in pasadena texas in 1989 the centers focus was what mannan had witnessed firsthandthe importance of safety in the chemical industry mannan was brought in to be director of the center in 1997 and has become an internationally recognized expert in process safety although it is now commonly talked about within the engineering profession at one point process safety was not a popular research topic among chemical engineers it was viewed as a rudimentary subject that only goes as far as basic lab safety rules (eg wearing goggles lab coats closed-toe shoes etc) process safety is now front and center in chemical engineering and that has a lot to do with the influence of the mkopsc over the years one of mannans greatest career accomplishments safety is now a required course for all chemical engineering students at texas a&m university students in other engineering majors have the opportunity to earn a safety certificate or minor in the subject and the artie mcferrin department of chemical engineering also offers a master of safety engineering program as a result of their success at texas a&m mannan says other schools and universities around the world have taken notice and adopted similar programs theyve seen what a success the program has been and have seen the impact its had on graduates he said id like to see this process safety program that we have developed and had success in to be adopted worldwide so were putting a lot of effort into pushing these programs in other countries weve been very successful in doha qatar; china india and colombia so for a handful of countries weve been very successful we want to keep going and make it happen everywhere to date the center has graduated about 65 doctoral students and around 60 masters degree students graduates from the center are in high demand and working for industry during the chemical engineering departments most recent visit from the accreditation board for engineering and technology inc they had this to say about the center: the mary kay oconnor process safety center and required courses as part of this center provide an unparalleled opportunity for undergraduate students in the program to understand process hazards the chemical engineering program has a strong international reputation due to this industrial focus in their undergraduate program as a result students are highly sought for in industrial positions after graduation with a budget of nearly $4 million a year the mkopsc has expanded a great deal in the past two decades at the beginning mannan ran the center with only an assistant and a couple of student workers but the staff has now grown to more than 100 the center has also formed a consortium for industry this consortium has helped fund research projects from the department of defense the national science foundation the department of the interior with its growth mkopsc has also developed a strong continuing education program courses are taught by engineers with extensive experience in the fields of industrial chemical research and process safety knowledge the courses such as industrial hygiene engineering and risk analysis safety engineering are important to the changing landscape and promoting the centers goal of making safety second nature although process safety has been around for nearly 30 years many question why events like the west texas plant explosion are still happening according to mannan it is not a simple one-dimensional question on the industry side some of the main issues are the reluctance to adopt or seek new technologies and not studying incidents after they occur to learn how whatever happened can be prevented in academia not many schools have adopted process safety programs so the mkopsc has been working with other schools in the hope that they will adopt a program similar to what texas a&m currently has its been a slow process but its picked up over time said mannan in his efforts to help make safety second nature in engineering among all existing chemical plants mannan is also passionate about teaching the public the difference between hazard and risk when it comes to chemicals to explain the difference he uses a specific analogy: in a kitchen you have to have a knife because without one it would be impossible to cut vegetables meats etc but at the same time that knife could also be used to injure or kill someone intentionally or unintentionally which is the risk when it comes to using one said mannan the same is true of all chemicals we have in society most industrial chemicals are in these warehouses because they serve a purpose said mannan there is a benefit we make products out of it which serve mankind but at the same time if they are not used properly theyre going to cause problems it is known that some chemical plants operate under the radar with the public unaware of how close in proximity they are to these chemicals to inform the public about these sites and the hazard they carry mannan and a group of researchers created the potential to cause harm to the public (pchp) index the group gathered data through public resources and identified the flammability toxicity and reactivity rating for each chemical at each site they visited those things combined resulted in a hazard rating they then looked at how much of the chemical was present and the length and width of the building using a landview tool from the environmental protection agency they looked at how many people lived within a 2-mile radius the higher the amount of chemical and higher the number of people within a 2-mile radius the base hazard rating was revised upward proportionately many decades after his first harrowing experience with lab safety mannan continues to further the centers mission to make safety second nature another testament to his reputation mannan was recently appointed to the department of energys hydrogen and fuel cell advisory committee which advises the secretary of energy on hazard assessment risk analysis vulnerability assessment and process safety management "weve done quite well from being not known at all to be a nationally and internationally known organization mannan said we are producing students who are taking on leadership positions in industry we are recognized by not only the us government but the media also as the place to go to get information on process safety