Interactive training aims to prevent disaster

Abstract

Many chemical plant disasters have been precipitated by an unplanned change in process, a change in equipment, or a change in personnel. In the Occupational Safety & Health Administration's process safety regulations, training in management of change is required for plant workers. To assist companies with that training and with changing the attitude of workers toward change, the American Institute of Chemical Engineers' Center for Chemical Process Safety, New York City, has developed an interactive computer-based training module. The approximately three-hour course requires users to read passages, answer multiple-choice questions, and deal with situations such as scheduled maintenance and changes in process or personnel. The program allows plant personnel to sit at their computer workstations to complete the training and—if they aren't careful—blow up a virtual plant. The scenarios, such as replacing a catalyst in a process or making a process decision just before a three-day weekend, are based on real-li...