Trevor Kletz's impact on process safety and a plea for good science – An academic and research perspective

Abstract

To provide even a short summary of Trevor Kletz’s career The December 1984 disaster in Bhopal was a wake-up all for the industry and a call to arms for all stakeholder roups. Government regulators, industry, academia and all ther stakeholder groups responded to this erstwhile unthinkble disaster with regulatory programs, industry standards, esearch, education and training. Many started talking about nherent safety concepts and other safety barriers that had ailed to cause the tragedy. Trevor Kletz, a quiet and unasuming man with the education and training of a chemist in is own characteristic manner had already been talking about nherent safety concepts much earlier. A decade before the hopal tragedy occurred, Trevor Kletz had published and spoen numerous times about inherent safety concepts in his legantly classic paper with the intriguing title, “What you on’t have can’t leak.” In appearance, a diminutive man, Trevor Kletz is a giant in he field of process safety. He has single-handedly influenced his field more than anyone else has had the opportunity to nfluence their respective fields. Amongst a lot of others, this uthor’s own career has been influenced to a great extent by revor Kletz. I am proud to recognize Trevor as a great friend, eacher and mentor. In this paper, I have tried to shed light n some of Trevor Kletz’s teachings and my opinion of what e might have said about different topics on process safety. ven though the author is indebted to Trevor Kletz for his eachings, the opinions expressed in this paper are solely the uthor’s own. The industrial revolution brought prosperity and along ith it the use of hazardous processes and complex techologies. Growing economies and global competition has led o more complex processes involving the use of hazardous hemicals, exotic chemistry, and extreme operating condiions. The growth of industry and as a result the economy is