Promoting safety teaching: An essential requirement for the chemical engineering education in the French universities

Abstract

The essential contribution of education to safety and loss prevention is emphasized in this paper. It provides a review of the chemical engineering undergraduate and graduate French curriculum “Process safety”. First, the specific situation of the French chemical engineering departments is situated in the Bologna Accord. Then the three main ways to teach occupational health, safety and loss prevention in chemical engineering cursus are discussed. The principle of a layered approach is reported with the corresponding levels of outcomes, competences and safe work practice expectations.The content of the undergraduate safety mandatory program of the French University Institutes of Technology (IUT) is indicated for the concerned chemical engineering departments.Finally, some selected detailed lists of the different safety mandatory and elective courses concerning the corresponding French Master degrees (topics – time allocation and European Credit Transfer and accumulation System ECTS) in two Chemical Engineering Schools ENSIC Nancy and ENSIACET Toulouse are commented.