TEACHING AND LEARNING INDUSTRIAL SAFETY IN CHEMICAL ENGINEERING: COOPERATIVE WORK BASED ON THE ANALYSIS OF CASE STUDIES OF ACCIDENTS IN THE CHEMICAL INDUSTRY

In the field of Chemical Engineering, Industrial Safety training is an important discipline for professional future that can be very useful in preventing accidents and reducing the risk associated with exposure to chemicals and handling of equipment in an industrial plant. Due to its importance, the teaching-learning process for Safety should be considered as an integral part of the curriculum of engineering [1] and not as a secondary complement of other courses. In the current curriculum of Chemical Engineering degree from the “Universitat Politècnica de Valencia”, this discipline has been newly incorporated in a fourth-year elective course called "Industrial Safety ", as a part of the itinerary called “Design and Safety” [2]. Since it is an optional subject, only a third of the last-year students course it, and as a consequence, only some graduates receive specific training on this important matter for their professional life. Therefore, it was decided to incorporate safety training to core subjects for all students of Chemical Engineering. In detail, safety was through two experimental subjects in second and third year [3] and a theoretical-experimental subject of fourth year. This paper focuses on this last subject called “Chemical Engineering Process". The first two academic years, education in safety raised as a guided classroom practice where students analyzed the information of an Material Safety Data Sheet of a chemical and made its practical interpretation following the guidance of the lecturer. The evaluation of the degree of learning in this area showed unsatisfactory results and also that a deeper comprehension was needed. Therefore, in the third academic year, methodology was changed in order to improve learning in the safety concepts and also to make the students more involved in their own learning. Methodology selected was cooperative learning, involving the oral presentation of a safety topic in groups. The selected topics were based on case studies of recent accidents in chemical companies. Oral presentation was evaluated by the teacher and two students in accordance with a rubric, and safety skills were also evaluated through a written exam. This paper describes the new methodology carried out and shows the results obtained in recent academic years, comparing the results obtained with the current methodology and with the previous one. The main conclusions will be taken as a reference to continuing training on Safety in core subjects of Chemical Engineering degree.

References:
[1] D.C. Hendershot, W.Smades (2007). “Safety culture begins in the classroom” from Process Safety Progress, 26 (2) (2007) 83
[2] B. Garcia Fayos, M. Sancho, J.M. Arnal. “Aplicación de metodologías activas de aprendizaje en una nueva asignatura de Grado en Ingeniería Química”. Proc. of Congreso Nacional de Innovación Educativa y Docencia en Red (INRED) 2015. DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.4995/INRED2015.2015.1640
[3] M. Sancho; B. Garcia-Fayos; J.M. Arnal. “Tracking of safety learning in two last years of chemical engineering degree”. Proc. of International Technology Education and Development Conference (INTED 2015), Madrid (Spain) (2015).